Crusaders spear floundering Sharks
by Dan Retief | 26 February 2010 (10:25)
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| Zac Guildford© Gallo Images |
The Crusaders scored three tries in the final quarter to thrash the Sharks 35-6 in their Super 14 rugby match played at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Friday.
Blow-by-blow scoring
Kicking off Week Three of the tournament the Crusaders atoned for what for them was an aberration against the Reds by giving a measured performance against a floundering Sharks side.
The Sharks, thanks to a pair of long-range penalties from Rory Kockott (their only points of the game), went to the break only 6-10 down, dropped further back to two Dan Carter penalties (16-6) in the third quarter but then fell foul of the effects of jetlag and their own ponderousness to suffer their third successive defeat while also allowing the Saders a bonus point.
Having got first play of a stiff breeze at their backs the Sharks appeared to have no plan to play to the elements. Ruan Pienaar, whose body language yet again said “I-am-not-a-flyhalf,” kicked the ball poorly out of hand but was not the only culprit in allowing the Crusaders to dominate field position rather than trying to pin them in their own half.
The Sharks dominated the lineouts, winning their own ball and putting pressure on the Cantabrians, and the scrums turned into a battle royal between especially the pair of internationals, John Smit and Wyatt Crockett, with referee Chris Pollock’s rulings tending to favour the All Black loosehead.
It was a game pock-marked by turnovers but the Saders got the better ones as they concentrated on lying shallow and hammering into a sterile Sharks backline who played with so little variation that they were sitting ducks.
And, almost inevitably, it was this stodginess in the backline that pre-empted the flood of points at the end when a telegraphed long pass by replacement centre Riaan Swanepoel was picked off by the speedy Zac Guildford in the 68th minute to race in for his second try and put the match beyond the reach of the tourists.
The Sharks will seek to make propaganda from the fact that they held out for so long against the most successful side in Super Rugby but in truth they managed hardly any periods of sustained continuity and pressure and did not mount a single challenge that might have produced a try.
After Kockott had claimed first blood with a penalty from just inside his own half in the third minute (an unmistakable indication, one would have thought, of the strength of the wind) the Crusaders’ relentless defensive presence resulted in the home-side taking a lead in the 19th minute they would not look like relinquishing.
A smash tackle by Ben Franks on Willem Alberts caused the ball to spill to Johann Muller. The big lock could not gather and in a flash George Whitelock had it up and was charging to the Sharks’ goalline to set up a ruck before the ball was spun out to the left where Guildford cut back across the flow of defenders to score.
Carter’s conversion made it 7-3 and after that it was a case of the famous Crusaders red tide battering away until the Sharks fortifications crumbled.
It was 10-6 at the turnover and the second half started with ominous danger signals for John Smit’s men as Thomas Waldrom burst through only to be somewhat unfairly called back for a forward pass and the Crusaders pack mounted their first clearly dominant scrum.
A pair of Carter penalties, the result of the Sharks being kept under pressure near their posts, advanced the lead to 16-6 before Sharks coach John Plumtree’s efforts to change the pattern by sending on his subs turned to mud.
The laboured efforts of the Sharks backline to move the ball wide resulted in Guildford reading Swanepoel’s intentions and cutting off his long pass before it reached Stefan Terblanche and suddenly it was 23-6.
English signing Andy Goode ran on to make his Super 14 debut in the 63rd minute and departed 10 minutes later -- having been yellow-carded after Dan Carter, looking for an inside break, ducked into his outstretched arm.
Significantly the Crusaders chose a scrum instead of going for the posts, got the momentum, and replacement Adam Whitelock scored as he latched onto the ball after Guildford popped it back infield in the left-hand corner. Carter missed but the Saders were out to 28-6 with only the bonus point to play for.
And bonus point chasing is what the Crusaders do best -- the fourth try turning into a triumph for Canterbury’s thorough recruitment system as two of their newest signings, Joe Wheeler with the key break up the middle and Quentin MacDonald with the touchdown, confirmed that Christchurch remains an almost impregnable fortress.
Scorers were:
Crusaders (10) 35: Tries by Zac Guildford (20 min & 68 min), Adam Whitelock (75 min), Quentin MacDonald (78 min). Dan Carter kicked three conversions and three penalties.
Sharks (6) 6: Rory Kockott kicked two penalties.
Read more on the Super 14 page.
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