Crusaders humiliate the Rebels
You just knew that when Sam Whitelock stretched his giant hands around the ball in the opening seconds of this match, and scattered defenders like King Kong with a hangover, that the Crusaders were in a cranky mood.
The result? A 85-26 - 13 tries for the victors - rout over the Rebels at AMI Stadium that ensures the Crusaders keep the heat on the Chiefs as they fight for the top NZ conference spot through to the final round of the Super Rugby competition next weekend.
Lock Whitelock had a number of reasons to make a few points in this match; in addition to celebrating his 100th appearance for the Crusaders, he was also captaining the side in the absence of Kieran Read and there was that not-so-trivial matter of getting things back on track following that miserable 23-13 loss to the Chiefs in Suva in the previous round.
OK, the Rebels defended like a mob who poked their head of the changing shed pre-match and decided that having to work in the frigid Canterbury air just wasn’t on, so decided to roam the ground in spirit only. Tackles - they missed more than just a few. At times it was just downright embarrassing, and their coach Tony McGahan would have had good reason to used a few toasty words to direct his boys way after the fixture.
The Crusaders, however, had to be good enough to exploit the Aussies and it all started with Whitelock receiving the opening kick-off and blasting upfield; he really did mean business; a couple of minutes later Whitelock scored the first try of the night, a nice wee plum thanks to No 8 Jimmy Tupou charging down a clearing kick by Rebels playmaker Jack Debreczeni.
By halftime the Crusaders had bagged seven tries - with midfielder Ryan Crotty especially potent by running hard at the line and showing few signs of the calf injury that ruled him out of the Chiefs game - and from there was only a question of whether the inevitable changes in the second half would affect the momentum. The fact is they didn’t. Within 25 minutes of the restart they had added another five tries and several of them were crackers. Replacement flanker Peter Samu, have already scored one for himself, gave the 10,000-strong crowd more reasons to lift the volume when he took off on a long-range foray before sending wing Johnny McNicholl over for his second.
A minute or so later, it was fetcher Matt Todd’s turn to add to the fun. The plucky No 7, probably the best man on the park, fielded the ball inside his own half, found a massive hole up the middle of the park and completed a run of around 60m to score.
Another plus for the Crusaders was that their scrum. The red and black pack turned the ignition switch from the beginning, and coach Todd Blackadder was so confident he was able to replace Owen Franks with Mike Alaalatoa in the 30th minute.
Now for the Hurricanes in the final round in Christchurch next Saturday. Judging by this effort, the Crusaders will be well up for it.