Crusaders turn on the power to thrash Reds

Crusaders turn on the power to thrash Reds

Sportal.co.nz    20.Jul.2013Getty Images

Crusaders power switches to full voltage at play-offs time in the Investec Super Rugby competition and the Reds were on the receiving end of a 38-9 shock at AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday night.

Demonstrating a superior tactical plan, one that involved moving the ball through short passes close to rucks and mauls, even in their own 22m area, the Crusaders denied the Reds their traditional methods of play. The visitors were not helped by inconsistency in their tight quarter where key lineout ball was conceded at inopportune times while the scrum was unable to provide the necessary platform.

Crusaders first five-eighths Dan Carter was a maestro in leading the offensive strategy for his side with an all-round display that demonstrated that his powers are nowhere near being in decline. A try, three conversions and three penalty goals were matched by his hand in three other tries as a result of his passing and placement skills.

The Reds employed their sweeping defensive system through halfback Will Genia and first five-eighth Quade Cooper. But a lack of kicking to their positions left their usual tactical options virtually redundant and certainly cut down their counter-attacking options. Key players for the Reds both Genia and Cooper were marginalised and taken completely out of the match equation.

While possession was shared in the first half, the Reds never got within try-scoring distance of the Crusaders' line and were lucky not to concede two more tries at least. Their frustrations were demonstrated after a break by replacement No.8 Radike Samo. Genia was on hand in support, but the Crusaders defence was able to deny the Reds the ball.

Flanker Liam Gill, who fought a lone battle for his side at the breakdown, had cause for sympathy with the Crusaders after driving from a ruck at the line but, as had been the case with two similar instances for the home team in the first half, the video evidence was deemed inconclusive.

Carter opened the scoring with a second minute penalty goal but it was around the eighth minute after a break by fullback Israel Dagg, which was followed by a strong surge at the line by lock Luke Romano that the Crusaders gained the initial momentum. After referee Jaco Peyper asked for a video assessment of a prospective try a scrum was called.

The Crusaders made the most of their feed for Carter to send a short pass to centre Crotty running back on the angle sliced through to score under the posts.

Quade Cooper posted the first points for the Reds with a 19th minute penalty goal which he repeated in the 27th minute. Carter added his second in the 24th minute.



But then a stunning mid-field break by lock Sam Whitelock who beat the tackles of Reds No.8 Jake Shatz and halfback Will Genia before setting up a quick ruck which saw Dagg and wing Zac Guildford move the ball to Carter who, lurking wide, pushed off the tackle of fullback Ben Lucas to score.

While he couldn't add the conversion from wide out, he landed a 39th minute penalty goal.

Cooper opened the second half with a penalty goal but in the 52nd minute, Dagg running close to the ruck drew the defence before unloading to prop Wyatt Crockett who ran a superb line to find Todd in support and he was able to get a pass to wing Tom Marshall to effectively end the Reds hopes.

The Reds had a belated and sustained, if unimaginative, period on attack around the three-quarter mark but as Cooper attempted a set-up in the Crusaders 22m area he was swamped by home defenders.

Carter got a foot to the ball to kick it ahead in the ruck. Replacement hooker Ben Funnell toed it on and then replacement halfback Willi Heinz nailed wing Dom Shipperly who was unable to hold the ball. It was cleared to touch but the Crusaders won the lineout, and Richie McCaw marked his first touch of the first-class season but contributing to a driving run which saw Carter take another gap and find Crotty in place for his second try of the night.

Never beaten in a play-off game at home, the Crusaders will hit the road to play their semi-final in either Hamilton or Pretoria depending on the outcome of the Brumbies-Cheetahs game in Canberra on Sunday.

Scorers:

Crusaders 38 (Ryan Crotty 2, Dan Carter, Tom Marshall tries; Carter 3 con, 3 pen; Tom Taylor pen) Reds 9 (Quade Cooper 3 pen). HT: 21-6

what a freaking scary performance from the crusaders, made the reds team look like a team full of no names dominating them in every facet of the game. take a not my saffa brus, cos this is what u call a dominating performance, i think some of u need to learn the definiton of dominating they way its so incorrectly applied in some of the comments, LMAO, :oP

but back to the topic in hand, before this match i didnt think that any team could beat the home team in the finals, but now i dont think any team can beat the crusaders, inculding the chiefs at home who have won their last two against the crusaders or the bulls, and Lord have mercy on the brumbies should they win, cos they were pwned in canberra by the crusaders, whats going to happen should they have to face them in chch, o_O

not sure who won man of the match, but it should of been carter, with crotty coming a close second. both had massive games but the reds weak midfiled was an added bonus for crotty.
with nonu on the wrong side of 30 and SBW still MIA, im starting to warm up big time on crotty for All Black selections, very dependable with great awareness on both attack and defence.

daggs mojo is well and trully back after it went AWOL for a while, the second test against france has been the launch pad which has seen him looking as bad ass as ever, easily the best fullback anywhere for the last 7 weeks.

McCaw was below average, cant see the losse forwards changing one bit next week and rightly so. McCaw barely had 15mins to strut his stuff though and he will get better as time ticks down, word around the campfire is the trainers have been working him like a dog behind the scenes as works to get the ring rust out of his system.

WTF was up with cooper, cant wait  for the cookie dough addict mackenzie to pick cooper for the wallabies, cos he was equally as shit as carter was awesome.
no impact on attack and was caught out of position on defnece many times, though his defence was not as bad as others in his team.

dont know whats wrong with genia, but his form is poor. i still consider him to be the worlds best halfback, but his reputation is whats keeping that uchiha title, not his form which has been well below not just his standards, but the standards of the average halfback in spXV.

big call from mackenzie to sub horwill of, i know he was next to nothing during the game, but considering the situation they were in, reds would have been better of with him then without him, but full credit to odonaghue who was awesome when he came on.
IMO the subbing of horwill was a statement by XXXXL mackenzie to players in contention for the wallabies more then anything.

cant wait for the chiefs vs the crusaders next week, chiefs have to play close to a perfect game, cos if the crusaders play 60% of what we saw last night, tis game set and macth to blackadder and co.

oops, almost forgot.

@redsneck,

wheres the reds undefeated streak against NZ teams now???

how do u like them apples, LMFAO, :oD

@redsneck,

i do love how the cursaders performance coupled with cooper the hopeless coward has made u STFU, :oD

useless cooper + useless mackenzie = useless reds & useless walabies, LMAO, :oP.

Lot of people taking up the Crusaders but at home the Chiefs will be extremely hard to beat.

It won't be easy for the Chiefs either as they then have to go on and beat the Bulls.

That was an awesome display of men against boys.

The Reds were ravaged for 80 minutes. I really enjoyed that.

I cannot see anyone stopping them from taking ... what is it ?? their 8 Super Rugby title??

Carter is playing some incredible rugby.

He is the difference.

Best rugby player on the planet currently if you ask me!!!