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Double hat-tricks help Crusaders to sizeable win over Force

Ethan Blackadder, Leicester Fainga'anuku, Pablo Matera. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Leicester Fainga’anuku and Will Jordan have both scored hat-tricks to power the Crusaders to a 53-15 bonus-point win over the Western Force in Perth.

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Winger Fainga’anuku touched down three times in the first half to set the tone of Saturday night’s Super Rugby Pacific match at HBF Park.

Fullback Jordan then completed the demolition job with three of his own in the second half in the eight-tries-to-two romp.

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“They’re a classy outfit. If you want to compete against them, you have to have an 80-minute performance,” Force stand-in captain Kyle Godwin said. “We weren’t too bad in the first half. But we rested on our laurels there and got punched in the second half.

“It’s disappointing. It’s back to the drawing board again.”

 

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The Crusaders entered the clash under intense pressure after suffering two losses from their past three games – a rare form slump for the 12-time champions.

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Their win over the Force has helped improve their record to 8-3, but the Crusaders’ top-two hopes will be put to the test when they take on the second-placed Brumbies in Canberra on Friday night.

The Force are now a woeful 2-8, but remarkably they are still within touching distance of the eighth-placed Highlanders, with the two teams to clash in New Zealand next Friday.

The Crusaders were forced into a late shuffle on Saturday after several players were forced into the health and safety protocols.

Oli Jager, Zach Gallagher, Mitch Drummond and Dominic Gardiner were all withdrawn on medical grounds, but the Crusaders still entered the match boasting a squad laden with All Blacks.

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The Force also suffered a late blow after in-form winger Manasa Mataele and former All Black Richard Kahui were ruled out due to the head injury assessment protocols.

Fainga’anuku scored the first try of the match in the 12th minute when he barged over from close range.

The Force hit back in spectacular style four minutes later when Kyle Godwin unleashed a perfectly-placed dribble kick for fullback Jake Strachan to run onto.

But the rest of the half belonged to the Crusaders, with Fainga’anuku shining the brightest.

The 22-year-old jumped into the air with his arm outstretched to touch down in the corner while he was being pushed into touch by Godwin.

His third try will end up being one of the easiest of his career, with Fainga’anuku strolling over in the left-hand corner after the Force left him completely unmarked from a scrum.

The scoreline read 18-15 when Force flanker Fergus Lee-Warner touched down early in the second half.

But the Crusaders ran in the next five tries – including three to Jordan – to seal the easy win.

– Justin Chadwick

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1 Comment
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Shane 929 days ago

Leicester fainga'anuku has to be in the starting 15 for the abs,he will be a massive weapon for us

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JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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