{"id":8548,"date":"2012-03-03T14:50:35","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T12:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/03\/rugby-highlanders-find-extra-gear-to-shock-crusaders-in-dunedin\/"},"modified":"2012-03-03T14:50:35","modified_gmt":"2012-03-03T12:50:35","slug":"rugby-highlanders-find-extra-gear-to-shock-crusaders-in-dunedin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-highlanders-find-extra-gear-to-shock-crusaders-in-dunedin\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Highlanders find extra Gear to shock Crusaders in Dunedin"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

March 3<\/span> (Reuters) – The Otago Highlanders celebrated the
\nfirst Super Rugby match at their new Dunedin stadium with an
\nimpressive 27-24 victory over the Canterbury Crusaders on
\nSaturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Tries from hooker Andrew Hore, centre Phil Burleigh and
\nwinger Hosea Gear, as well as 12 points from the boot of flyhalf
\nLima Sopoaga, held off a Crusaders comeback in front of a
\npassionate crowd under the roof at the Otago Regional Stadium.<\/p>\n

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

A malfunctioning stadium clock added extra drama at the
\ndeath with the Highlanders twice booting the ball into touch
\nbelieving the 80 minutes were up, only for the referee to
\ncontinue play. The relief when the end finally came was
\npalpable.<\/p>\n

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

There has not been much to cheer about in Otago rugby
\nrecently with the financial crisis enveloping the provincial
\nrugby union but the Highlanders did their bit to raise morale
\nwith an opening week upset of the Auckland Blues.<\/p>\n

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

The seven-times champion Crusaders are an altogether
\ndifferent proposition and tries from wing Israel Dagg and Andy
\nEllis along with flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal’s 14 point tally meant
\nthe Highlanders had to fight every inch of the way for the
\nvictory.<\/p>\n

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

They grabbed the momentum at the end of the first half when
\n10 minutes of pressure climaxed with Burleigh squeezing through
\nhalf a gap and bulldozing his way across the line to send the
\nhome side in 20-10 up.<\/p>\n

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

The Crusaders came out firing in the second half and had
\noverhauled the Highlanders within four minutes of the restart
\nafter rampaging lock George Whitelock set up Ellis for his try
\nand Bleyendaal made up for missing the conversion by slotting
\ntwo penalties.<\/p>\n

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

The Highlanders were in no mood to have their party
\ngatecrashed, however, and 12 minutes from time quick hands in
\nthe backline got the ball out to All Black Gear and he made no
\nmistake with a classic winger’s finish in the corner.<\/p>\n

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

Sopoaga calmly added the extra points from out wide to give
\nthe Highlanders a lead they would never relinquish and bragging
\nrights in the South Island of New Zealand.
\n (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Peter
\nRutherford)
\n (For the
\nsports blog Left Field go to: blogs.reuters.com\/sport<\/a>))<\/p>\n

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

Please click on for more rugby stories<\/p>\n

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

\n

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

March 3 (Reuters) – The Otago Highlanders celebrated the first Super Rugby match at their new Dunedin stadium with an impressive 27-24 victory over the Canterbury Crusaders on Saturday. Tries from hooker Andrew Hore, centre Phil Burleigh and winger Hosea Gear, as well as 12 points from the boot of flyhalf Lima Sopoaga, held off […]<\/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-8548","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\/8548","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=8548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}