All Blacks Leon MacDonald and Aaron Mauger scored two tries each on Friday to give the Canterbury Crusaders a bonus point from a 43-15 win over South Africa’s Cats in a Super 14 rugby match.
Fullback MacDonald and inside centre Mauger both scored tries in each half, All Blacks lock Chris Jack and halfback Andy Ellis added others as the Crusaders ensured their place at the top of the championship ladder cannot be overtaken in the sixth round.
All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter converted five of the six tries and added a penalty to take his individual tally to 107 points from six matches this season.
The Crusaders were forced to battle for their win by a Cats team, beaten 50-3 by the New South Wales Waratahs last week, which led 12-7 in the first half and was still on terms, 12-12, at halftime.
Finishing ability separated the two teams. The Cats scored their third and fourth tries in six matches through forwards Wikus van Heerden and Kleinjan Tromp, but that was a scant reward from even shares of territory and possession.
The Crusaders, put under pressure at times by a vigorous Cats defence, made more of their chances and were able to turn phased possession, Cats errors or turnovers, into tries.
They improved as the match progressed, particularly after Jack and All Blacks flanker Richie McCaw were inserted as replacements, and made their win convincing with three tries in the last 11 minutes.
The Cats were still hanging in, only 22-15 down, after 63 minutes but the Crusaders gained control of loose possession, strung passes together and turned a narrow win into a rout.
”Early in the game it was a bit messy. It didn’t quite click but we finally got going and these five points could be valuable at the other end of the season,” Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne said.
”We finally wore them down. We seem to be finishing strongly in these games but not starting that well.”
MacDonald — whose second try, laid on by a superb long pass from Carter and a neat break by Mauger, was the best of the match — said the Canterbury backs had to wait patiently for chances.
”They came out exactly as we expected. They spoiled our ball at the back or rucks and put a lot of pressure on and it was a bit frustrating early on that the ball wasn’t getting wide,” he said.
”In the second half we tried to keep it simple, stop pushing the passes and just let it happen but it was still frustrating that we took 40 minutes to do it.” – Sapa-AP