Saders edge Hamilton epic
6 Jul 2012
RYAN VREDE reports on a compelling spectacle in which the Crusaders survived a late onslaught to win 28-21 against the Chiefs in Hamilton.
This match lacked for nothing, purists and thrill-seekers alike having plenty to satisfy their respective tastes. An excellent advertisement for Super Rugby and a showcase of everything that is great about New Zealand rugby, this match kept you riveted until the very end, where the Saders’ refusal to allow their determined opponents a path to goal was heroic.
Brutal collisions, breathtaking individual and collective skills, appreciable tactical intelligence, resillience and passion, bags of it, this match made you wish the suits at Sanzar would put aside commercial interests and personal aspirations and reduce the number of teams in the tournament, pitting only the strongest teams against each other so that these types of showcases become more commonplace, not rare gems in an otherwise barren landscape.
That fanciful idea aside, the Saders did much to advance their cause for a play-off spot. This was always going to be the measure of their credentials and establish whether they are genuine contenders or just posturing pretenders. There can be no question now that they have all the attributes of champions. If they realise that goal it will have to be through a number of away wins like this one, but you wouldn’t bet against them.
Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden nearly got his side off to the perfect start when he broke free early in the match, only to be scragged short of the tryline. The youngster’s transition from a talented but raw pivot into a truly world-class one is progressing nicely. Experience will refine him, but he is already a formidable opponent and indispensable asset to his franchise.
He got the scoreboard going with a penalty, but the Saders dominated for a large period thereafter, feeding off numerous Chiefs errors. The hosts look back at that passage as being decisive to the outcome.
Dan Carter banked a penalty to level the scores and soon thereafter converted a Kieran Read try in which they kept the ball alive brilliantly through multiple phases. Cruden responded with a penalty, but Carter’s experience told when he dropped a goal to keep the Saders ahead.
The visitors stretched their lead to 14 points when Andy Ellis broke blind and put in a delicate grubber which rebounded off a Chiefs player into the path of Luke Ramano. The second rower scooped the loose ball up and drove over the chalk, Carter adding the extras.
But the Chiefs refused to be steamrolled, and rebounded from the Saders’ flurry with a counter of their own, Brodie Retallick powering over from close range. Cruden’s conversion was the last score of the half, the Saders leading 20-16.
There was an unrelenting urgency and intensity about both sides after the break, Ellis scoring a contentious try but the Chiefs again coming up with a telling rebuttal – Sonny Bill Williams negotiating the attention of four defenders and, clutching the ball in one hand, he reached desperately over a mass of bodies to score.
The Chiefs had opportunities to cut into the Saders’ lead, but a combination of poor decision making in good positions, a misfiring lineout and inspiring scrambling on defence denied them. They would also have hoped for a strong bench to galvanise them, and although you could not fault those players’ effort, the Saders’ mettle under pressure came to the fore to deny their determined opponents.
There was a golden opportunity with the siren having sounded, the Chiefs having created a two-man overlap. But Williams failed to pass the ball, instead going in search of his second. The play broke down and referee Steve Walsh ended a captivating contest.
574 Comments
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6 Jul 2012, 16:35 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-449: Yes kevi beat Conners and then lost to Boris as a teenager.
6 Jul 2012, 16:35 pm
Well done Roger. Into the final.
Looked so easy in the end.
6 Jul 2012, 16:35 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-445: Was a leap year.
6 Jul 2012, 16:36 pm
Don’t misunderestimate the power of the Lendl in Murray’s corner. His aura alone is worth 18 aces.
6 Jul 2012, 16:37 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-446: Hehe, just teasing you buddy
6 Jul 2012, 16:37 pm
@Puma(Puma)-452: nervy last game.
It’ll be nice to see him lift one more slam.
Or will the poms eventually have a champ?
Or will it be Tsonga? He beat Fed last time.
6 Jul 2012, 16:37 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-451: I remember watching that game while in the UK in Cornwall for a holiday.
Jeez seems like years and years back. That was the start of Bekker. He was only 17 at the time.
6 Jul 2012, 16:38 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-456: Was a nervy game but in the end it seemed easy.
Now would like Tsonga to beat Murray.
6 Jul 2012, 16:38 pm
@Puma(Puma)-457: Kevin lost that game more than Boris won it. I was gutted for him.
6 Jul 2012, 16:38 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-454: The same lendl who never won Wimbledon??
Just asking.
6 Jul 2012, 16:38 pm
Great day for South African sport.
To be capped off by the Bulls giving the Sharks a good fisting at uShaka kings park.
If all goes world I’ll consider opening a bottle or two Of Chateau Lafite Tassies later.
Or rather pay some social science graduate to open them for me.
6 Jul 2012, 16:39 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-460: Wash your mouth out. Next to Fereder, Lendl was the longest reigning no.1 in the world. He deserves your respect.
6 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-456: Remember Murray will tell you he is NOT English but Scottish…hahaha. Always remember him saying that on tv. So will it be a Scot, French Half Swiss Half Saffa? My bet is on our man Roger. Well my support is behind Roger.
6 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
433 he disallowed 2 or 3 certain tries, all your own commentators were saying they were tries and he was quoted as I posted above, what do you reckon but these things happen in sport
6 Jul 2012, 16:40 pm
@Puma(Puma)-457: That’s right.
I was a teenager on June vacs at St Michaels. Up your neck of the woods.
6 Jul 2012, 16:41 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-462: Was it not Pete Sampras?
6 Jul 2012, 16:41 pm
Indeed Katters.
Arrested Development even wrote a song about him.
6 Jul 2012, 16:42 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-461:
Why is it a great day for SA sport?
6 Jul 2012, 16:42 pm
we are black, we are white we are DYNAMITE!!!!
the dynamite need 5 points this evening, where are puma, sharks_lover, sharkgirl, fernly, precum, bananaboy, hg, dusky, mad-eye, rangerman, charo, jay-da-five-oh, centurion_shark, john galt, pokkel, original_pierre, mshiniwami with the GEES
6 Jul 2012, 16:42 pm
@Puma(Puma)-466: I don’t think Pete beat his record of almost 5 years solid at no.1.
6 Jul 2012, 16:42 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-461:
@>^..^< katman(katman)-462: He was a great player for sure. Missed on year of the French to concentrate on winning Wimbledon. Won Queens. Blew into the final. Looked unstoppable.
Lost to Pat Cash
Aint life strange.
6 Jul 2012, 16:43 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-468: SA’s Roger Federer is through.
6 Jul 2012, 16:43 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-471: Another fcking Aussie cheat
6 Jul 2012, 16:44 pm
461 why is it a great day for Sa sport, when KP or Rathbone do well you’re never this happy
6 Jul 2012, 16:45 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-465: I was 29 back then. Thought I was getting on a bit…………..hahahahaha. We kinda daft the way we think when we young hey!
6 Jul 2012, 16:45 pm
@Puma(Puma)-463: As much as Murray calls himself Scottish, the sneaky poms will claim him if he wins. They staked their hopes on that Greg Rusedsky chap one year, he was from Canada.
Those okes are desperate.
6 Jul 2012, 16:45 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-471: For some reason I still remember The Star’s headline the next day:
PAT CASHES IN ON BIG CZECH.
6 Jul 2012, 16:45 pm
Please pay attention Robzim.
Don’t just jump on and make inane comments like our buddy in china.
Do some research first.
6 Jul 2012, 16:47 pm
Cash was a great player.
Unstoppable with his doubles partner Tango.
6 Jul 2012, 16:48 pm
@Puma(Puma)-475: En kyk hoe lyk hy nou!
6 Jul 2012, 16:48 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-479: Yeah, until Tango called it quits.
His next partnership with Carry wasn’t quite the same.
6 Jul 2012, 16:49 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-474: Because Roger has so many of his own charities in SA that he supports. Also he is very proud to say his mother is South African. So yeah, we like the ones that support our contry. KP has never really supported SA outside of SA. Only runs us down. Rathbone similar to KP once he left. Roger not like that at all, supports us down here. Also supports the Springboks. So it counts for us saffas.
He also owns a home in South Africa in Pezula Golf Estate.
6 Jul 2012, 16:49 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-477: Ja that was a classic.
He was still playing the masters circuit a few years back.
6 Jul 2012, 16:50 pm
@Puma(Puma)-482: meant – country
6 Jul 2012, 16:50 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-478:
It smacks of desperation to claim a swiss as a saffer.
6 Jul 2012, 16:51 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-479: @>^..^< katman(katman)-481: You two could write for television.
Very funny.
6 Jul 2012, 16:51 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-469:
cheers TRansie
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-485: His mom is South African so he’s more South African than Murray is English.
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-476: as soon as murray loses he’ll stop being referred to as the “british No.1″ until the next major, he’ll go back to being “the Scot”.
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-483: One of my brother’s mates caught one of his checkered headbands at an SA open back in the 80′s.
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
Puma, fair call hes a Saffa then and a very good one!
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
ok so highlanders did the sharks a favour , and saders did stormers a favour
6 Jul 2012, 16:52 pm
China Fed still holds South Aftica ln citizenship.
He is not afraid of the east rand blood that flows through his veins.
Rattlebones and KP ate traitorous puckered ballsacks who get off on bad mouthing the country of their birth.
Are we clear?
6 Jul 2012, 16:53 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-480:
Jislaaik! Don’t know that face in the mirror that looks back at me………………..hahahahahahaha.
6 Jul 2012, 16:53 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-493: You can add Rory Pondscum Sabatini to that list.
6 Jul 2012, 16:54 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-491: For sure. We like to think of him as our own. He speaks well of South Africa all the time. So we support him.
6 Jul 2012, 16:55 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-479:
Cash is also a very good muso- He once did the Van Morrison classic “Gloria” on a tv programme hosted by Darren Scott. It was very impressive, i reckon he could have played professionally if he wanted to.
6 Jul 2012, 16:55 pm
@Puma(Puma)-494: he he he
6 Jul 2012, 16:55 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-497: Not an easy track. Patti Smith’s version is fantastic.
6 Jul 2012, 16:56 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-488: For sure and Murray will tell you that. He told the whole of Britain on tv…….hahahaha.
Roger also owns a holiday home here in Pezula Golf Estate. Has quite a few of his own charities in the Eastern Cape too.
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