Crusaders punish sloppy Sharks; Rugby 365

The Crusaders booked a place in the Super Rugby Final with a clinical 38-6 semifinal victory over a sloppy Sharks side in Christchurch on Saturday.

The seven-times champions scored five unanswered tries in a game they dominated from the start thanks to a steady stream of unforced errors from the visitors who were the last South African side in the competition.

 Five tries to nil, and still it does not tell it all. The Crusaders  were just so much better than the Sharks in every facet of the game, and had it not been for the innate courage of the Sharks the hiding would have been heavier.
 
The Crusaders were wonderful and they did what the Sharks had been expected to do only they did it far, far better. They scrummed better, lineouted better, contested the tackle better but above all they kicked and caught much, much, much better - ridiculously better than the men from Durban whose first plan was to kick.
 
The Sharks kicked and the Crusaders made them pay. Kicking is the Sharks first weapon, and it seems pretty well their only weapon. They kick for territory and they kick to put pressure on opponents. In this match they kicked and were hopelessly thrashed for territory, spending the real part of the game defending. The pressure was back on themselves.
 
Some of their kicking was woeful - a penalty kicked dead, a penalty not out, kicks out on the full, a kick-off directly into touch, an insane kick that gave the Crusaders their first try, a kick at goal that was missed when a kick at goal could still have counted - these are just some of the worst. Two of the Crusaders' five tries were started by Sharks' kicks.
 
The Crusaders kicked better, chased better and caught kicks better, and that was not their whole game, just the start to their play. The speed with which they played, their catching passing and running lines - those were their game, based primarily on the ordinary things which their forwards did extraordinarily well.
 
The last time the Crusaders won by this sort of margin was in 2005 when they beat the Hurricanes 47-7 in Christchurch and then went on to win the Final against the Waratahs.
 
The Crusaders kicked off and the Sharks kicked out. From that first (clever) line-out the Crusaders ran the ball. Frans Steyn and Jannie du Plessis were penalised for being offside and inside two minutes Carter made it 3-0.
 
The Crusaders were soon back running but when the Sharks won the first scrum of the match - their best scrum - Steyn kicked the ball directly into touch. The Crusaders ran again.
 
Andy Ellis kicked and the Crusaders recovered the ball; Steyn kicked and the Crusaders attacked. Patrick Lambie kicked a penalty dead, which gave the Crusaders a scrum and they ran again. Lambie kicked and Nemani Nadolo ran. The Crusaders won a Shark's line-out and they ran again. (IN all the Crusaders won four Sharks' line-outs.)
 
The truth is that the Sharks passed and ran far, far better than they kicked - and more profitably. Nadolo grubbered for the goal-line but SP Maria  intercepted the ball. Under great pressure he avoided  Crusaders intent on destroying him and got a pass to Ryan Kankowski who sent a long, magnificent pass to Lwazi Mvovo and suddenly the Sharks were attacking. When they lost the ball well into Crusader territory the Crusaders picked it up and ran with it.
 
Paul Jordaan near the touchline on his left hurried a scruffy kick into midfield to set the Crusaders attacking. Kieran Read ran through Jordaan and scored under the posts. 10-0 after 17 minutes.
 
The weakest part of Crusaders' game was their concession of penalties (12-8), most of them at the tackle. Sam Whitelock was penalised and Lambie goaled. 10-3 after 21 minutes.

The Sharks attacked down the left where Read won a turnover and the next thimng the Sharks were back in their 22 where Marcell Coetzee was penalsied at a tackle. 13-3 after 27 minutes. Jaco Reinach went offside at a tackle/ruck - 16-3 after 30 minutes.

Bismarck du Plessis charged down a clearing kick by Kieron Fonotia in the Crusaders' 22 but the Crusaders won a turnover. Then at the ensuing line-out Dominic Bird was penalised and Lambie made it 16-6 after 34 minutes. The Sharks were well behind but not out of it. Had Lambie goaled the penalty just before the break they would have been within a try.

The Crusaders won the second half 22-0!

The first score came after Corey Flynn, playing his 150th match for the Crusaders, won a turnover off Jean Deysel. Ellis took measures to get a promised penalty but then snatched up the ball, went the other way and gave to Dan Carter who got a pass to Colin Slade who did wonders in controlling and passing the ball to Nadolo who scored. 21-6 after 50 minutes.

There was now no doubt which side would be contesting the Final.

At this stage both sides made changes and the Crusaders went on all-out blitz, which made their try, when it came a bit of a freak.

The Sharks fed a scrum and hooked the ball. Charl McLeod went to fetch it at the back but the ball squeezed out at the locks where Willi Heinz snatched it up and darted over for a try. 28-6 with 15 minutes to play.

A penalty gave the Sharks an attacking line-out. They made a maul which the Crusaders repelled  but were penalised. McLeod tapped darted and gave to Etienne Oosthuizen who lost the ball and the Crusaders broke out with a long kick by Ryan Crotty. Tonderai Chavhanga got the ball and kicked high in the Sharks fashion. Collin Slade of the Crusaders caught the ball just inside his half, beat three, passed to Israel Dagg who gave to Heinz who gave to Johnny McNicholl who plunged over in a tackle. 33-6 with 9 minutes to play.

A penalty gave the Sharks a five-metre line-out but they overthrew the line-out and the Crusaders came away with it. They had a penalty on the left within easy range of the posts but opted for a five-metre line-out. They made a maul and easily rushed it over the Sharks' line for a try credited to Matt Todd.

"Anything you can do, we can do better."

There were just two minutes to work through before Heinz kicked the ball out.

Man of the Match: If you had picked a combined side, you would have been hard-pressed to pick a Shark - even Ryan Kankowski who did so well till his whole side failed. You would pick a Crusader - any one you liked. But my man would be Kieran Read - line-outs, tackling, running, turnovers.

Moment of the Match: Kieran Reid's try. It distilled the differences between the two sides.

Villain of the Match: Nobody at all. The manners of both sides were a credit to the game.

The scorers:

For the Crusaders:
Tries: Read, Nadolo, Heinz, McNicholl, Todd
Cons: Carter 2
Pens: Carter 3

For the Sharks:
Pens: Lambie 2