The Canterbury Crusaders scored seven tries in the first 42 minutes on Friday and held on for a 77-34 win over South Africa’s Sharks in a Super 12 rugby match at Jade Stadium.
The Crusaders gave up four tries in 15 minutes in the second half to see their 49-8 lead threatened, before scoring four more tries to restore its emphatic victory margin.
The win and the bonus point the Crusaders gained by halftime allowed the former champions to take possession of the Super 12 lead, ahead of the New South Wales Waratahs’ match with the Otago Highlanders on Saturday.
All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter scored the first of the Crusader tries only seconds after the kickoff and kicked seven conversions from as many attempts to fatten a 42-8 halftime lead.
He was replaced after 50 minutes by fellow international Andrew Mehrtens, the leading pointscorer in Super 12 rugby, who converted the last four tries to give the Crusaders an unblemished kicking record.
Carter’s opening try shocked the Sharks, and the Crusaders ran in five more tries in the first half, another two minutes into the second — six tries in 23 minutes — to lead 49-8.
Carter spurned a second try during that period. After gathering his own positional kick in open space, he passed over the goal line to Justin Marshall, giving the veteran halfback a score in his 101st Super 12 match.
The Sharks launched a scoring blitz of their own in the middle part of the second half.
From 41 points behind they started a run at the Crusaders with tries to lock Albert van den Berg, flyhalf Brent Russell, flanker Warren Britz and replacement Rudi Keil, slashing the deficit to 15 points. Conrad Barnard added conversions of three out of four tries in a match in which only two of 17 kicks missed their mark.
Canterbury re-established its control of possession and territory to add four tries in the last 15 minutes.
All Blacks wing Rico Gear scored a double in the 65th and 73rd minutes, Caleb Ralph added another and replacement Scott Hamilton touched down in injury time to end the evening’s blitz.
”It was a tough one,” said Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne.
”In the first half we did some good stuff but it wasn’t so good in the second half. To let them in for as many points as that was something we’ll have to look at.” – Sapa-AP