March 9 (Reuters) – The Waikato Chiefs held off a late
barrage to beat the Canterbury Crusaders 24-19 in a bruising
Super Rugby encounter in Napier on Friday.
The Chiefs, who upset the Auckland Blues last week, scored
tries either side of halftime through flanker Liam Messam and
prop Sona Taumalolo while flyhalf Aaron Cruden punished the
frequent Crusaders penalties with 14 points from the boot.
The Crusaders, playing what was technically a home match,
picked up from a disappointing first half performance with a try
from Robbie Fruean after the break but still slumped to a second
successive defeat after losing to the Highlanders last week.
They will particularly rue scrumhalf Andy Ellis’s attempt at
a quick dropout from his 22 midway through the second half,
which backfired for Taumalolo to crash over the line under a
pile of bodies moments later.
The Chiefs had the best of the first half and but for two
missed penalties from Cruden would have had a bigger lead than
the 16-6 advantage they held at halftime.
Flanker Messam had made the most of the Waikato pressure to
barge over the line in the 26th minute and Cruden added the
extra points and three penalties.
The seven-time champion Crusaders applied some pressure
around the break and centre Fruean got over the line eight
minutes after the restart after a rampaging run and neat offload
from number eight Kieran Read.
Despite Taumalolo’s try, two penalties in three minutes from
Crusaders flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal made it a two point game at
21-19 soon after the hour mark but Cruden slotted his fourth
penalty three minutes from time and the Chiefs held on.
“In patches there it was great for us,” Crusaders captain
Read said in a pitchside interview. “But we couldn’t sustain it
and too many penalties killed it for us.”
Continued…
