crusaders hold on for victory over the stormers,,,

The Crusaders held on to beat the Stormers 14-19 for the third consecutive time at Newlands stadium in Cape Town on Saturday.

The victory is the Crusaders fourth in a row over the Stormers across all venues as the last Stormers victory was in April 2010.

The Stormers looked set to end their losing streak against the Crusaders early in the match as went out to an 11-0 lead.

The Crusaders however fought their way back into the match and once they got in front they held a vice-like grip on proceedings for the rest of the encounter.

The Stormers line out struggled throughout the match but in the first eight minutes they lost three lineouts and luckily for the hosts the Crusaders failed to capitalise initially.

The Stormers scored the first points through two Joe Pietersen penalties either side of an unconverted Siya Kolisi try.

The Crusaders started their fight back in style with a 22nd minute try under the posts by flanker Matt Todd, and flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal added the conversion.

The Crusaders continued to hold the upper hand, creating pressure in the Stormers' half, and Bleyendaal knocked over two penalties to ensure the visitors returned to the change rooms at the break with a 13-11 lead.

On their return, the Crusaders continued where they left off and pinned the Stormers down for a six-minute passage of play, but without reward.

The home team weathered the storm with desperate defence, which stopped the Crusaders just short of the try line at least four times through 26 phases of continous play.

Stormers eighthman Duane Vermeulen was yellow-carded in the 55th minute and the teams exchanged penalties in quick succession through Bleyendaal and Pietersen to retain the two-point margin on the scoreboard.

Unable to regain the initiative, the Stormers were forced into a largely defensive role for the rest of the encounter.

Ten minutes from the end, Bleyendaal rounded off the scores with a 35-metre penalty which put the visitors five points ahead.

In the final ten minutes the Stormers chose not to kick for posts when they were awarded penalties and continued to press for a try.

The Crusaders defence in the final stages was immense as was the ferocious attack by the Stormers but the visitors defence was up to the task and time ran out for the Stormers who had to settle for their third defeat of the season.

The Crusaders were playing without three of their star All Blacks in Dan Carter, Kieran Read and Israel Dagg and the result moved them into fifth place overall and second place in the New Zealand conference.

The Stormers took a losing bonus point from the match but they remain behind the Bulls and lie in fourth place in the South African conference which is led by the Sharks.

The Crusaders travel to Durban next week to face the Sharks while the Stormers travel to Bloemfontein to play the Cheetahs who are second in the South African conference.

Final Score Stormers 14 (11) Crusaders 19 (13)

Scorers

Stormers
Tries - S.Kolisi
Pen - J.Pietersen 3
Con -
Drop -
Cards - D.Vermeulen (54th min yellow)

Crusaders
Tries - M.Todd.
Pen - T.Bleyendaal 4
Con - T.Bleyendaal
Drop -
Cards -

Match Officials
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Ref 1:Stuart Berry
Assistant Ref 2:Linston Manuels
TMO : Shaun Veldsman

Teams

Stormers

15. Joe Pietersen , 14. Gio Aplon , 13. Juan de Jongh , 12. Jean de Villiers (captain) , 11. Gerhard van den Heever , 10. Elton Jantjies , 9. Dewaldt Duvenage , 8. Duane Vermeulen (vice-captain) , 7. Rynhardt Elstadt , 6. Siya Kolisi , 5. Andries Bekker , 4. De Kock Steenkamp , 3. Frans Malherbe , 2. Deon Fourie , 1. Pat Cilliers

Reserves: , 16. Martin Bezuidenhout , 17. Brok Harris , 18. Don Armand , 19. Nizaam Carr , 20. Nic Groom , 21. Damian de Allende , 22. Jaco Taute

Crusaders

1. Wyatt Crockett, 2. Corey Flynn, 3. Owen Franks, 4. Luke Romano, 5. Samuel Whitelock, 6. George Whitelock (c), 7. Matt Todd, 8. Luke Whitelock, 9. Willi Heinz, 10. Tyler Bleyendaal, 14. Johnny McNicholl, 12. Ryan Crotty, 13. Robbie Fruean, 11. Zac Guildford, 15. Tom Marshall

Replacements : 16. Ben Funnell 17. Joe Moody 18. Dominic Bird 19. Jordan Taufua 20. Andy Ellis 21. Adam Whitelock 22. Shane Christie

well done crusaders, talk about histor repeating itself, and the ultimate bonus is im on track to make a 100% correct picks on superbru, much needed as im currently dead last.

but this game pretty much went the exact same way i thought it would, a tight torrid affair that required crusaders to live up to the legacy set by crusaders of past.

stormers lineouts were shocking, a complete shambles and if that wasnt bad enough, the crusaders scrum also schooled them.
smart lineout tactics from the whitelocks in the forward pack completely ripped apart the stormers & i couldnt believe how stupid the stormers were to keep on going for the lineout in the dying stages, talkm about a glutton for punishment..
if u watch sam whitelock and luke romano during the lineouts, they were completely focused on what their oppisite numbers were doing, they didnt care about the fouries thrwos, or the calls being made, they simply just watched what bekker & steenkamp did and pressured them big time.
stormers ended up just throwing the lineouts as quick as possible so the crusaders couldnt counter it, this in turn meant the platform for rolling lineouts were always disjointed and in a shambles.

full credit to tyler blyendaal, dont want to say i told u so, but ive posted many posts about how much of a danger this dude is, and he displayed the most accurate tactical kicking game ive ever seen in the last few years, the term he had the ball on a string was never more appropriate with blyendaal.

tough luck to the stormers, theyre still a class team, but they and their fans should all be use to losing to the crusaders by now, :o)