News

Crusaders regain their rhythm

April 25 2008

The Crusaders are back on track for a Super 14 home semi-final after an exhilarating 26-22 win over the Blues at AMI Stadium on Friday.

After seeing a 12-0 lead wiped out by two excellent Blues tries, the Crusaders rallied and regained the lead with one of the tries of the tournament, finished off by Corey Flynn.

Stout Blues defence and a late comeback meant the result was always in doubt though, and Stephen Brett's brace of penalty misses kept the Blues in with a shout.

While the win ensures the Crusaders are on track for their title, it might spell the end of the line for the Blues. It's a shame, for on the evidence here they are worthy contenders, but that mid-season slump that has seen them tumble out of the top four over the past five weeks now appears to have cost them too much.

In a breathless first half, the home side threatened to run away with the game. While the Blues tried harder, the passes still did not seem to be sticking, nor did the phases flow. The Crusaders managed on many occasions to hit a couple of rucks quickly and then spread the ball out wide, stretching the Blues' defence in many moments.

From the start, a pattern was set. Troy Flavell inexcusably dropped the kick-off and lost the ball. The Crusaders attacked left and right, although the move petered out with a rather ineffective cross-kick by Stephen Brett.

But it was all Crusaders for the first ten minutes. The Blues lost two line-outs on their own throw, and just couldn't get their attacking lines right. Meanwhile the Crusaders pulled their opposition this way and that, with forwards interchanging with backs out wide. The Blues could not slow it down, neither legally nor illegally, as referee Lyndon Bray pointed out in no uncertain terms to Daniel Braid.

It had to pay off, and it did handsomely. Leon MacDonald - previously guilty of a couple of move-shattering knock-ons - took the ball on a fine angle to break the line close to a scrum. He managed to offload inside to Richie McCaw, who steamed home. Brett converted close to the posts for a 7-0 lead after 12 minutes.

The Blues slowly started to find a rhythm, and a tactic to cause the Crusaders problems. After a break by Rudi Wulf up the middle had yielded only a forlorn knock-on by David Smith, Wulf took a high ball on the run to set up an overlap out right. Unfortunately, the man out wide to take the ball was lock Anthony Boric, who did not possess the finesse and nous to finish the move off.

Then began the Corey Flynn show. Flynn had an extraordinary game. He scored two tries, he conceded a couple of mindless penalties, one of which saw him sent to the bin. He even sent a clearance kick from his own 22 soaring into touch. He knocked on, he broke the line, he made try-saving tackles. He did it all.

His first bit of prominence was to take an offload from the excellent Kieran Read and score a try, which Brett ought to have converted but didn't. His next, just two minutes later, was to sloppily fall off a tackle on Jerome Kaino, and Kaino fed Wulf for a try in the corner, which Evans converted from the touchline magnificently. That made the score 12-7 after a half hour, a fair reflection of the game, and the eventual half-time score.

Flavell atoned for his mistake from the kick-off by regaining the restart for the second half, and the Blues took the lead a minute later, with Nick Williams charging onto a ball and managing to touch the base of the post with it under a pile of bodies. Evans handed the Blues the lead for the first time with the conversion.

It lasted just two minutes, before Flynn rounded off a length-of-the-field move, started off by MacDonald, and carried on by Kade Poki, Sean Maitland, and Andy Ellis before Flynn jinked inside the last defender and crossed under the posts. Brett made it 19-14.

Brett could have made the game safer. with his team in the ascendancy, the fly-half aspired to miss two relatively easy penalties which kept his side within touching distance. Evans showed him, once again, how to do it with a brilliant 50m shot that made the score 19-17 on the hour mark.

Ti'i Paulo - on while Flynn was cooling off in the sin-bin for a high tackle - rounded off a superb piece of work by Maitland for the crucial fourth try. Maitland took a kick from Brett, and did heroically to stay in play before offloading to McCaw, who fed Paulo for the try. Brett made no mistake with the conversion this time, taking his team 26-17 ahead.

But the Blues were not done, and may feel hard done by. Troy Flavell's body just hit the touchline before he put the ball down in the left-hand corner. Anthony Tuitavake, a constant thorn in the Crusaders' side, was millimetres short of finishing off a stunning solo try, and to add insult to injury was then penalised for holding on as a result of being caught short.

Smith crossed in the left-hand corner with six minutes to go, and this time the TMO found in the Blues' favour. Evans' conversion just did not come back in though, meaning the Blues, now dominating, had to score another try.

A penalty with three minutes remaining would have been the ideal opportunity to build the necessary attacking platform, but Evans inexcusably kicked it dead. He may have kicked the Blues' season to death with it.

Man of the match: All-action hero/villain/hero/villain/hero Corey Flynn!

Moment of the match: Flynn's second try, the Crusaders' third, was wonderful to watch

Villain of the match: Two high tackles - one of them as cynical an obstruction as you could see - means the villain is: Corey Flynn!

The scorers:

For the Crusaders:

Tries: McCaw, Flynn 2, Paulo

Cons: Brett 2

For the Blues:

Tries: Wulf, Williams, Smith

Cons: Evans 2

Pen: Evans

Yellow card: Flynn (Crusaders, 62, high tackle)

Crusaders: 15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Kade Poki, 13 Caleb Ralph, 12 Tim Bateman, 11 Sean Maitland, 10 Stephen Brett, 9 Andrew Ellis, 8 Mose Tuiali'i, 7 Richard McCaw (c), 6 Kieran Read, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Ben Franks.

Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Nasi Manu, 20 Kahn Fotuali'i, 21 Hamish Gard, 22 Scott Hamilton

Blues: 15 Isa Nacewa, 14 David Smith, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Taniela Moa, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell (c), 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16 Nick White, 17 Bronson Murray, 18 Kurtis Haiu, 19 Justin Collins, 20 Danny Lee, 21 Isaia Toeava, 22 Ben Atiga.

Referee: Lyndon Bray (New Zealand)

Touch judges: Paul Honiss (New Zealand), Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)

Television match official: Kane McBride (New Zealand)

Assessor: Stuart Beissel (New Zealand)