New Zealand flyhalf Dan Carter scored 16 points in his first match this year to lead the Canterbury Crusaders to a 36-11 win over South Africa’s Stormers in a Super 14 match in Christchurch on Saturday.
Carter kicked two conversions and four penalties and set up two of his team’s four tries as the Crusaders moved into the top four for this first time this season.
Carter was among seven Canterbury players, including All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who missed the first seven rounds of the competition to undergo a conditioning training programme ahead of this year’s World Cup.
Winger Rico Gear, who was also absent for the first half of the campaign, scored two tries while centre Casey Laulala and Leon MacDonald scored one each.
Springbok centre De Wet Barry scored a consolation try for the Cape Town-based Stormers while flyhalf Peter Granted slotted two penalties.
Canterbury led 17-3 at halftime after Carter placed an inch-perfect kick to left winger Scott Hamilton, who burst down the touchline and put Laulala over the line.
Carter engineered the Crusaders’second try with a chip-kick that was gathered up by Laulala and fed on to Gear.
Barry scored early in the second half and Grant kicked over a second penalty to pull the score back to 16-11 before the Crusaders ran away with the match.
Carter added three penalties to push the margin out to 14 points before MacDonald and Gear scored tries in the final 13 minutes to secure a bonus point for the defending champions.
The Crusaders travel to Australia next week to face New South Wales in Sydney while the Stormers have the bye and will return home to South Africa. – Reuters