The Canterbury Crusaders secured the crucial position of a potential home final advantage in the Super 12 rugby championship with a 40-20 win over the Wellington Hurricanes on Friday.
By scoring six tries to two, they grabbed a vital bonus point and were rewarded two hours later when the New South Wales Waratahs, who had led the competition until the final round, failed to reach the bonus-point margin of four tries when they beat the Auckland Blues 25-20.
Both the Crusaders and Waratahs ended the round-robin series on 44 points, with the Canterbury franchise heading the table after beating the Sydney-siders earlier in the season and having a superior points scoring record.
Before a sell-out crowd of 35 000, the Crusaders led by only 18-13 at half-time, but in an 18-minute burst in the second spell they ran in four tries — two each to Johnny Leo’o and Rico Gear — to capture the vital bonus point and expose the gulf between the two sides.
”That’s what we wanted to do. We had to work for it, but it was good to give ourselves that opportunity,” Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne said. ”We wanted to get the five points and that second half was reasonably pleasing.”
In semifinal terms, the match was effectively a dead rubber.
The Crusaders were assured of a home match and the third-placed ‘Canes, resting captain Tana Umaga and loose forward Jerry Collins, guaranteed an away one.
The Hurricanes had 60% of first-half possession and stole four of the Crusaders’ line-outs against the throw, but had only a try to wing Lome Fa’atau from a Ma’a Nonu break to show for their first 40 minutes.
Crusaders halfback Justin Marshall was a stand-out again, saving a certain try when he held up Rodney So’oialo over the goal line.
He also chopped down Ma’a Nonu in sight of the line.
Marshall also disrupted the Hurricanes’ ball around the rucks and scrums and sent Gear away for his first try with a slick short pass in the 68th minute.
After Andrew Mehrtens and Jimmy Gopperth traded early penalties, the Crusaders scored their first try in the eighth minute when Aaron Mauger burst through and wing Scott Hamilton touched down in the corner.
Mehrtens, who had an uncharacteristic off-night with his kicking, sparked the Crusaders’ second try when he pounced on a loose ball to spark a 75m run that ended with a try to Caleb Ralph.
Fa’atau scored the Hurricanes only try in the first half.
Penalties from Mehrtens and Gopperth rounded out the scoring.
The appearance of Richie McCaw off the bench early in the second half put new vigour into the Crusaders’ attack.
The All Blacks loose forward, out for a month with concussion, was no sooner on the field than Leo’o crossed for the first of his tries, which came from a turnover of the Hurricanes’ ball.
Gear’s brother, Hosea Gear, got a consolation try for the visitors with a minute remaining. — Sapa-AFP