Classy Crusaders torture Tahs
4 Mar 2011
RYAN VREDE watched the Crusaders make a statement of intent with a 33-18 victory over the Waratahs in Nelson.
For the first quarter you would have been forgiven for putting your money on the Waratahs for a comfortable victory, such was the Crusaders’ incompetence across all facets of play. However, they showed all the class they’ve become renowned for thereafter, tearing away to victory off the back of an excellent forward display, midfield dominance, a flawless kicking performance from Dan Carter and the desire to bring some cheer, however fleeting, to the earthquake-ravaged city of Christchurch.
The performance was superlative, but ominously, they are likely to get better and can still bank on the return of their inspirational captain Richie McCaw.
The Tahs, so good in the last fortnight, will reflect on this match and cringe. Their early tries came from the Crusaders’ errors, the first birthed from a scrum earned when Sonny Bill Williams, who started awfully but improved exponentially as the match progressed, threw a wild pass at Carter who knocked on. The second emanated from a Luke Burgess turnover, the scrumhalf then rounding off the move in the corner after an expansive attack and slick passing interchange.
However, that was as good as it got for the visitors, who were let down badly by replacement flyhalf Daniel Halangahu, in for the injured Berrick Barnes. Halangahu missed two conversions and a penalty before he was relieved of the kicking duties, but his nightmare continued when he threw the intercepted pass that gave the dynamic and powerful Robbie Fruean the first of two tries. Fruean’s second was vintage Crusaders, dominating the collisions and offloading skilfully in contact. Williams redeemed himself after his earlier error by deftly picking off Fruean despite the attention of two defenders. Carter kicked the conversion, his second, which followed four penalties, for a 26-13 lead.
Any ambitions of a comeback the Tahs may have haboured were shattered when Williams finished a move that again featured a bulldozing run from his midfield partner, Fruean.
The Tahs were patently distraught. They were being decimated at scrum time, battered at the tackle point and cut to shreds by a backline directed masterfully by Carter, whose centres were brutally efficient. Rarely has a Tahs team been made to look so impotent, so utterly devoid of attacking ideas. Certainly they didn’t help their cause by failing to do the basics well, but their desperation at 20 points down probably had everything to do with that.
There was a late consolation score for Afa Pakalani, but it didn’t plaster over a deeply flawed performance. They were completely outplayed by a team who, if they can replicate this standard consistently, will be very, very hard to beat.
Crusaders - Tries: Robbie Fruean (2), Sonny Bill Williams. Conversions: Dan Carter (3). Penalties: Carter (4)
Waratahs - Tries: Tom Carter, Luke Burgess, Afa Pakalani. Penalties: Kurtley Beale
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208 Comments
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4 Mar 2011, 09:42 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-41: coloureds unite
4 Mar 2011, 09:42 am
Knew Saders were going to do it.
4 Mar 2011, 09:46 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-51:
Don’t mess with us.
We swear like troopers have no teeth and smell funny.
4 Mar 2011, 09:47 am
The Waratahs have caught the Brumbies disease – lots of nice stuff happening in the backline, but its all going sideways. Nothing straight, nothing forward.
4 Mar 2011, 09:48 am
@Puma(Puma)-52: I actually doubted them. i thought they would be too distracted with the earthquake drama. But good on them.
4 Mar 2011, 09:49 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-51: Dyslexics untie!
4 Mar 2011, 09:49 am
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-44: Sawubona sbali sam…hayi ndoda uFruean ngimbone kuleya-ITM cup bekashisa bhe!!!! i thought GH would take him on the eoyt last year considering that stephen donald was also selected on the strength of performances in that comp…
even against the Blues, the second Sader try by Ellis originated from Fruean busting through and ripping up the field…
4 Mar 2011, 09:49 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-53: Hey I dont smell funny! lol We are the majority in Cape Town….they can come and take us on.
4 Mar 2011, 09:50 am
@WOLFMAN21(WOLFMAN21)-54: not even the passes
4 Mar 2011, 09:51 am
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-48: i’m great thanks, always a pleasure to see you on this forum..
4 Mar 2011, 09:51 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-53: You only smell funny because there’s an overconcentration of you.
4 Mar 2011, 09:51 am
I love coloured women.
Just never, ever piss them off…
4 Mar 2011, 09:52 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-55:
Nothing like an earthquake to motivate a team.
Opposite effect
4 Mar 2011, 09:54 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-61:
At least now we know definitively who is responsible for the massive depletion of fish stocks globally.
Marine biologists everywhere are rejoicing.
4 Mar 2011, 09:54 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-61:
Yes.
We also like to marinade ourselves in whatever perfume is cheapest on the stalletjie by the station.
4 Mar 2011, 09:55 am
@rangerman(rangerman)-13:
Fortunately you get it wrong more often than not.
4 Mar 2011, 09:55 am
Daai opmerkings oor kleurlinge was nie Kuli.
4 Mar 2011, 09:56 am
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-62: True
4 Mar 2011, 09:56 am
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-64:
Hey. Don’t hold us responsible for the End of the Line.
We catch fish and sell to white people.
4 Mar 2011, 09:57 am
Doing it for the whole country, superb stuff from the Crusaders.
4 Mar 2011, 09:57 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-69:
True.
4 Mar 2011, 09:59 am
eish Ranger catching flak in absentia…
4 Mar 2011, 10:01 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-72:
Rangerman’s a good oke, I’m sure he can take it.
4 Mar 2011, 10:05 am
If the Waratahs had taken penalty chances rather than kicking for the corner, they might have had a chance of winning this game.
4 Mar 2011, 10:08 am
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-73: can you please ask Bheki Cele to put his dogs war from Police Intelligence back in their kernels, what are they doing raiding the offices of the Public Protector, just weeks after she found him in the wrong for leasing buildings without following the proper procedure? behaviour unbecoming from the “General”!
4 Mar 2011, 10:10 am
Is pakalani any good?
4 Mar 2011, 10:10 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-75:
Dogs war back in their kernels?
Magtag.
No wonder Manyi get so bedonnerd.
4 Mar 2011, 10:14 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-76: He is quick, nice running style, good feet, very small, good broken field runner. Looks to be a nice attacking wing – he scored a good try, taking a gap outside a flanker.
4 Mar 2011, 10:14 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-75:
No comment
4 Mar 2011, 10:14 am
ahhh my least favourite S15team loosing…its going to be a good weekend.
Now I just need to catch some fish!
4 Mar 2011, 10:15 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-75:
Oh, and agreed, it is conduct unbecoming.
Cele should resign.
4 Mar 2011, 10:15 am
@WOLFMAN21(WOLFMAN21)-78: is he fijian? Sounds exciting.
4 Mar 2011, 10:15 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-80:
There’s none left, bru. Didn’t you read Kuli’s column? The coloureds ate them all.
4 Mar 2011, 10:17 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-82: Recent Tongan under 20 captain.
4 Mar 2011, 10:17 am
@WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-83: Da issie vissie.
4 Mar 2011, 10:18 am
talking of fish…went to Moyos in Blouberg last nite…had a West Coast Snoek Pate starter….bloody awesome !
4 Mar 2011, 10:19 am
I @WP Till I Die(WP-Forever)-83: I live in Sydney and there are many ex kapies here too. It seems its not only witouks and jews that migrated here.
Met a paramedic here who once worked in the Muizenebrg beach patrol who left with all his extended family. His reckons its sooo quite compared to the vlaktes.
Actually there are lot of ex Safa Indians here too.
4 Mar 2011, 10:21 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-77: Dogs of war!
4 Mar 2011, 10:21 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-66: well done to the saders.
i too thought the emotions would overcome them but they focussed and gave the tahs an *** whupping!
one game down, plentsch rugby to come and i am going looking for bugs a bit later.
yes please!
4 Mar 2011, 10:22 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-87:
We ain’t going that far.
We will be starting a coloured colony in Mozambique.
4 Mar 2011, 10:23 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-88:
KENNELS not KERNELS
4 Mar 2011, 10:23 am
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-87:
Well, it’s no surprise then that most of the combat medics operating in Afghanistan come to Cape Town for practical training…they spend a few weeks on a bus on the Vlakte and they’ll have seen more stab wounds and gunshot wounds than they would in a few years in, say, Australia.
Paramedics are heroes. If I find one in a pub I buy him/her a drink – who knows, next time they might be digging a round out of me!
4 Mar 2011, 10:24 am
Saders Up…
4 Mar 2011, 10:24 am
@iori Yagami(iori Yagami)-55: Yeah, just knew they would win, but never thought by this much. They a classy team for sure.
Well done Saders.
4 Mar 2011, 10:24 am
Roar.
4 Mar 2011, 10:24 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-90: Yes you are. There is a vlaktes in western sydney.
4 Mar 2011, 10:24 am
@rangerman(rangerman)-89:
Forgot to congratulate you on your fine win over my team last weekend.
4 Mar 2011, 10:25 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-91: kennels it is then
4 Mar 2011, 10:26 am
ROAR!!!
4 Mar 2011, 10:26 am
no bonus points for either team….good
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