/ 7 May 2000

CRUSADERS BEAT WARATAHS 22-13

THE Canterbury Crusaders went to the top of the Super 12 table with a less than convincing 22-13 win over the New South Wales Waratahs, who saw their semi-final dreams buried on Lancaster Park in Christchurch on Friday. The Waratahs led 13-10 at half-time as the Crusaders found the going tough without their ace kicker, flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens who is nursing rib injuries. The game lived up to the reputation the Super 12 has as the world’s toughest rugby competition, but in the wintry conditions it was dominated by turn-over ball, fumbling and at times very pedantic refereeing from South African Tappe Henning. Canterbury’s points came courtesy of two tries by Marika Vunibaka, a try apiece by Leon MacDonald and Justin Marshall and a conversion by MacDonald. The Waratahs got on the board through a try by Christian Warner and a conversion and two penalties by Matt Burke.