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Crusaders outlast determined 'Tahs

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 11:25

Big Crusade: Dan Carter and Richie McCaw

The Crusaders were made to fight until the bitter end by a determined Waratahs team, the 'Red and Blacks' eventually recording a 20-13 - and, ultimately, crucial - Super 14 victory at the AMI Stadium on Saturday.

War of Attrition. Trench Warfare. That the sort of cliched description of this match which promised so much, had so much energy and yet yielded all possibility of romantic and adventure to the dire desire to win, and win the Crusaders did - but only just.

There were two interesting facets to the game. The first had the potential to make the match entertaining - the number of turnovers at tackles. The other was an element of drabness - poor kicking out of hand and poor kicking at goal. The Crusaders missed three easy penalty kicks at goal, the Waratahs two.

It started in thrilling fashion with the Waratahs full of creative energy. It ended in a Crusaders plod and a missed penalty by Carter, as the Crusaders starved the Waratahs of possession.

Even the Crusaders' try came from possession deprivation.

From the first kick-off, flyhalf Daniel Halangahu kicked a perfect diagonal to his right where Lachie Turner took the ball on the full. He played inside to Kurtley Beale who chipped and recovered the ball. Then from far right, Barnes kicked another diagonal to the fat left, for Drew Mitchell but the referee was playing advantage and came back for the tackle penalty against Kieran Read. The Waratahs could have kicked at goal but instead went for the five-metre line-out.

They lost the line-out but it seemed that they had set the pattern for an attacking match. It did not really work out that way.

The first two scores of the half were for scrum penalties. The first one was against Al Baxter and Carter goaled. 3-0 after 7 minutes.

When Tatafu Polota-Nau threw a horrible, skew ball over a line-out Richie McCaw began an attack on the left that went right and came back left where he received a pass with two men unmarked outside of him. McCaw ignored the potential of the overlap pair and made for the line but Turner and Phil Waugh grabbed. Waugh dispossessed his old adversary and the try was saved.

Amazingly, Carter then missed two easy penalties.

From a line-out Turner and Drew Mitchell attacked. the Waratahs won a five-metre scrum and eventually Wyatt Crockett was penalised at a scrum. 3-3 after 30 minutes.

Baxter was penalised at a tackle and then Berrick Barnes broke and Kahn Fotuali'i picked him up, tipped him over and dropped him. Kahn Fotuali'i was sent to the sin bin and Barnes goaled the penalty to make the score 6-all at the break.

In the first half neither side scored a try. In the second half each side scored a try.

Carter had made it 9-6 when Wycliff Palu was silly at a tackle and Barnes had hit an upright. The Waratahs made a penalty into a line-out and the line-out into a maul. They bashed with serious intent - through 27 phases over three minutes and 40 seconds. It was on the left and inched its way to the right where Halangahu slipped a grubber into in-goal from a metre from the line and Rob Horne dived in the ball for the try which Halangahu converted from far out. 13-9 after 51 minutes.

A penalty at a tackle against Beale and another at a scrum against Sekope Kepu took the score to 15-13 with 15 minutes to play.

With Thomas Waldrom leading the charge the Crusaders went through a long period of attack, repulsed buy the Waratahs who won a turnover. They could have cleared but opted to run. Horne was tackled and the Crusaders won a turnover and came bashing back till the television match official could find no reason not to award a try and it was decreed that Fotuali'i had scored in the far corner. 20-13 with three minutes to play.

On full-time Kepu was penalised at a tackle, but Carter missed the kick which would have deprived the Waratahs of a bonus point.

"It was a good effort... but you can't win games without the ball," a disappointed Phil Waugh told television reporters afterwards. "Our discipline was off and we just couldn't get our hands on the ball in those last 20 minutes."

Man of the Match: Who else but Phil Waugh? His fitness had been in doubt before the match but the 80 minutes of his massive effort removed any doubt. He tackled, he won turnovers, he led by example - he was immense.

The scorers:

For the Crusaders:
Try: Fotuali'i
Pens: Carter 5

For the Waratahs:
Try: Horne
Con: Halangahu
Pens: Halangahu, Barnes

Yellow card(s): Kahn Fotuali'i (Crusaders, 39th minute)

The teams:

Crusaders: 15 Colin Slade, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Kieran Read, 7 George Whitelock, 6 Richie McCaw (captain), 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Daniel Perrin, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 Willi Heinz, 21 Adam Whitelock, 22 Jared Payne.

Waratahs: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Daniel Halangahu, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Phil Waugh (capatin), 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Damien Fitzpatrick, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Will Caldwell, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Josh Holmes, 21 Tom Carter, 22 Sosene Anesi.

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Vinny Munro (South Africa), Kane McBride (South Africa)
TMO: Garratt Williamson (South Africa)

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