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The Highlanders remain unbeaten after coming away with a 25-17 victory in a tight affair against the Crusaders at Forsyth Barr. Their victory was just the third in the last 12 outings against the Crusaders.
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It was the Crusaders who opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with left-wing George Bridge who sliced through the Highlanders defence on a lineout set-piece play. Bridge took on Waisake Naholo on the outside to score a magnificent long-range try. Tim Bateman, elevated to the starting side to replace Crotty, delivered the perfectly timed inside ball to free up Bridge.
The Highlanders responded in the ninth minute when the forwards took over inside the five metres, with hooker Liam Coltman barging over from a pick and go to tie things up at 7-7.
Tevita Li found some space down the left-hand corridor shortly after, beating three defenders with power running before feeding Rob Thompson on the inside. Some quick recycling saw Lima Sopoaga stepping his way through the Crusaders defence to score and take the lead 14-7.
On the stroke of halftime, a frenetic passage of play from both sides saw the Crusaders snap up a loose pass and race towards the other end. Number 8 Jordan Taufua looked to have scored but upon review, it was overturned after a knock-on during the lead-up. The Highlanders maintained their 14-10 lead heading to the sheds.
Naholo was sin-binned for a high tackle early in the second half but it didn’t matter as the Highlanders found a way to score through flanker Elliot Dixon, stretching their lead to 19-10.
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Crusaders replacement winger Manasa Mataele setup a beautiful try with a chip and chase down the right-hand touchline, juggling the ball before offloading to replacement halfback Bryn Hall who had an easy passage to the try line, putting the Crusaders back into the game at 19-17.
The Highlanders were able to ice the game with two penalty goals in the last quarter to Lima Sopoaga which kept the game out of reach for the Crusaders. The Highlanders stretched their home winning streak to nine consecutive games while the Crusaders lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2015.
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