The Canterbury Crusaders scored 21 points in the last nine minutes on Friday to beat the ACT Brumbies 33-3 and keep alive the battle for the last semifinals berth in rugby union’s Super 14.
Front-rowers Corey Flynn and Campbell Johnstone, and replacement flanker Tanerau Latimer scored late tries to weaken the Brumbies’ hold on fourth place and bring South Africa’s Sharks and Bulls into renewed semifinals contention.
The Brumbies needed a single bonus point from Friday’s match to clinch their semifinals spot and leave the Sharks and Bulls six points adrift of fourth place ahead of their final regular-season matches.
Instead, the Crusaders’ late flurry of tries and the 19 points contributed by All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter wrecked the Brumbies’ favorable points differential and left the Australians to sweat through the Sharks match against the Western Force on Friday and the Bulls’ against the Stormers on Saturday.
”That last 10 minutes really stung us,” said Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock, bruised and bloodied at the end of a physical game.
”Full credit to the Crusaders. They came back from South Africa and produced a really great performance. We wanted to up the ante in the second half, but unfortunately that’s what they did instead.”
The Sharks needed to score four tries and to beat the Force by a clear 10 points to move past the Brumbies into fourth place and earn a semifinal against the Crusaders at Christchurch next week.
If they fail to do so, the Bulls need to beat their compatriots the Stormers by 26 points, scoring four tries, to advance to a semifinal against the Crusaders.
If both South African teams fail to take a bonus point and achieve a superior points differential, the Brumbies will return to Christchurch next Friday to face the Crusaders in the first Super 14 semifinal.
The New South Wales Waratahs and Wellington Hurricanes, who meet on Saturday, will also play again next week in the second semifinal, at the venue of the team that wins Saturday’s encounter in Sydney.
The Brumbies were within reach of a semifinal when they trailed the Crusaders 9-3 at halftime Friday; three penalties to Carter outweighing one to Mortlock.
Unflinching Brumbies’ defense forced the Crusaders to rely on Carter and on penalties for their points until the 71st minute when their late landslide began.
Carter created the first try, pouncing on a spilled pass, kicking the ball downfield and setting up the ruck from which the ball moved quickly to Flynn who found himself in a yawning overlap.
Johnstone had his first Super 14 try only minutes later from another turnover and late counterattack, in which at least seven Crusaders players handled, paving the way for Latimer’s try, his third in the last two weeks.
”We made a few mistakes tonight but I guess the conditions contributed a bit to that,” said Crusaders captain Richie McCaw, who is expected to be named All Blacks captain on Saturday.
Fifty millimeters of rain fell in Christchurch in a few hours before Friday’s match.
”The boys held it together well and to come away with three tries in the last 10 minutes was good,” added McCaw. – Sapa-AP