BACK-TO-BACK
Super night for champion Crusaders
There was never much doubt that the Crusaders would add Super Rugby title number nine to their collection with a win over the travelweary Lions at their fortress last night, but the way they did it — and the performance of their brilliant No 10 Richie Mo’unga — took the breath away at times.
Mo’unga, might, as All Blacks coach Steve Hansen quipped during the week, be playing behind a RollsRoyce pack, but his was truly a Formula One-type effort.
The 24-year-old was incredible, a player on a different level to anyone else on the pitch, and this felt like a breakthrough performance, even despite the way he played against the Hurricanes last weekend.
He has played only one test — as a substitute against France in Dunedin in June — but there can’t be many better No 10s in the world. Someone here at a cold but increasingly ebullient AMI Stadium said it was like watching a young Dan Carter at the start of his career.
It was and most among the capacity 19,500-crowd would have felt privileged to have seen it.
The poor Lions were always going to be up against it after arriving in Christchurch in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Their only chance was if their lineout drive and scrum could make inroads and neither could; the Crusaders pack driving the visitors back time and again with a cold ruthlessness bordering on cruelty.
And yet, from being down 20-6 at halftime, the men from Johannesburg gave nearly as good as they got after the break and, with the Crusaders a man down for 10 minutes due to Ryan Crotty’s sinbinning, the home side needed to dig deep in order to make it safe.
Scott Robertson’s mantra during the week was for his team to work harder for longer than the opposition and here was proof positive.
The Lions couldn’t settle and play the game at their own pace and so were at a disadvantage almost straight away. Throw in a masterclass from Mo’unga, who set up Seta Tamanivalu’s try with a long, floating pass and made the catch and run up the middle to pave the way for David Havili’s, and kicked everything presented to him, and the Lions were in big trouble by the break.
There was a reply from the Lions after halftime via Cyle Brink’s try — a rare defensive lapse from the Crusaders, but the home side responded with a ridiculously good try to replacement halfback Mitchell Drummond. Almost inevitably, Mo’unga was involved in the buildup twice, the second time when bursting through a non-existent gap with footwork and strength.
Crotty’s yellow card for kicking the ball out of a Lions ruck, combined with a try to impressive hooker Malcolm Marx, would have made for a slightly nervy time for Robertson but a try for Scott Barrett made it safe.
The Crusaders are champions yet
again and deservedly so. Cue the “back-to-back” chants and the breakdancing from their head coach.
Crusaders 37 (S Tamanivalu, D Havili, M Drummond, S Barrett tries; R Mo’unga 3 pens, 4 cons)
Lions 18 (C Brink, M Marx tries; E Jantjies 2 pens, con). Halftime: 20-6.