{"id":10586,"date":"2012-05-06T12:52:26","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T10:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/05\/rugby-chiefs-cruden-instrumental-in-win-over-lions\/"},"modified":"2012-05-06T12:52:26","modified_gmt":"2012-05-06T10:52:26","slug":"rugby-chiefs-cruden-instrumental-in-win-over-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-chiefs-cruden-instrumental-in-win-over-lions\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Chiefs’ Cruden instrumental in win over Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

May 5 (Reuters) – Aaron Cruden again underlined his
\ncredentials as the long-term successor to Daniel Carter in the
\nAll Blacks with a superb all round performance in guiding the
\nWaikato Chiefs to a 34-21 victory over the Lions in their Super
\nRugby clash on Saturday.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Cruden scored a try, set up another for winger Lelia Masaga
\nand was perfect with his goalkcking as he slotted four
\nconversions and two penalties for the table-topping Chiefs, who
\nmoved to 44 points with the bonus-point win.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We are pretty pleased we scored a few tries, but there were
\nalso a few lapses too and we let them run too much,” said Chiefs
\ncaptain Craig Clarke, who scored his first Super Rugby try.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Scrumhalf Brendon Leonard grabbed the bonus-point try
\nfollowing a speculative kick and chase.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chiefs success this season has been built on smothering
\ndefence and a much improved forward performance that has given
\nflyhalf Cruden the time to dictate play, which he did with
\ncomposed efficiency against the Lions in Pukekohe.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Coach Dave Rennie chose to rest several of the forwards that
\nhad helped the Chiefs to eight successive wins but it made
\nlittle difference as the Hamilton-based side smashed into
\ntackles and the breakdown on the way to equalling their most
\nwins in a Super Rugby season.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They also won nine games in 2009, when they finished
\nrunners-up to the Bulls, though with six matches remaining are
\nalmost certain to add to that total.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lions used their massive pack to score all three of
\ntheir tries, with replacement lock Cobus Grobelaar bashing over
\ntwice from rolling mauls following attacking lineouts, while
\ncaptain Joshua Strauss smashed over from in close.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Elton Jantjies converted all three tries, though the Lions
\nplayed most of the game hemmed inside their own half and made
\ntoo many errors in their execution.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“When we stuck to our game plan it worked for us but we gave
\nthem a lot of ball and they’re a side that punishes you,” said
\nGrobelaar. “We were playing a lot of catch-up rugby but the guys
\nshowed good character.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We just need to work on our basics and there are things to
\nimprove.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 5 (Reuters) – Aaron Cruden again underlined his credentials as the long-term successor to Daniel Carter in the All Blacks with a superb all round performance in guiding the Waikato Chiefs to a 34-21 victory over the Lions in their Super Rugby clash on Saturday. Cruden scored a try, set up another for winger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-10586","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}