Blues battered in second half

– The Crusaders sealed their reputation as escape artists with a come-from-behind 33-24 win over the Blues in Christchurch yesterday.

In their third last-gasp victory in as many weeks, the injury-hit Crusaders overturned a 19-point deficit to remain unbeaten after four Super Rugby matches.

They were down 24-5 early in the second half but overwhelmed the Blues to extend their winning streak over the Aucklanders to six straight matches.

The Crusaders were down three tries to one at the break but roared back with four unanswered tries in the second half.

“It’d be quite nice if we started before half-time,” quipped captain Sam Whitelock (above), whose team also trailed by 21 points against the Reds and 17 against the Highlanders before charging home in both games.

The result displayed their depth, with the seven-time champions missing Israel Dagg, Seta Tamanivalu and Matt Todd, as well as ex-Wallaby Digby Ioane.

It was poor reward for a great first-half effort after the Blues were slammed by coach Tana Umaga over their insipid form.

Eliminating the errors and poor discipline of previous weeks, the Blues scored three first-half tries, two of them to hard-running centre George Moala.

Debutant Manasa Mataele put the home side on the board but they trailed 21-5 at halftime.

The Crusaders made a flurry of substitutions after the break and improvements in the forwards saw Peter Samu and Ben Funnell score tries off driving mauls.

They hit the lead with seven minutes to go when Mitchell Hunt converted his own try, then Mitchell Drummond put it beyond doubt with another five-pointer in the last minute. –

Wellington