/ 18 April 2008

Crusaders’ unbeaten run comes to an end

Flyhalf Stephen Donald passed 100 points for the season as the Waikato Chiefs beat the Canterbury Crusaders 18-5 in Super 14 rugby on Friday, ending the first-place Crusaders' eight-match unbeaten streak. Donald kicked two penalties and a conversion and had a hand in the two tries that gave the Chiefs an 18-0 lead at half-time.

Flyhalf Stephen Donald passed 100 points for the season as the Waikato Chiefs beat the Canterbury Crusaders 18-5 in Super 14 rugby on Friday, ending the first-place Crusaders’ eight-match unbeaten streak.

Donald kicked two penalties and a conversion and had a hand in the two tries that gave the Chiefs an 18-0 lead at half-time. He then helped implement an astute kicking game that kept Canterbury pinned down and limited to a single try throughout the second half.

Waikato played and beat Canterbury at their own game in the first half, creating turnovers, maintaining continuity and splitting the defence with quickly won ruck ball.

Donald handled twice in the movement that led to Waikato’s first try, scored by All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu in the 14th minute.

He carried the ball forward in the initial break, then ranged around the breakdown to transmit the ball quickly on the short side to Sivivatu who only had to step through the last tackle to score.

In the 30th minute, Donald retrieved his own kick and passed to prop Simms Davison, who fended off one tackler and sprinted 25m to score the Chiefs’ second try.

Donald’s conversion, added to his second-minute penalty, completed the scoring and carried him past 100 points for the season.

The Chiefs slipped from fourth to eighth on the championship table when they had a bye in last week’s ninth round, but their win on Friday restored their claim to a top-four place.

”I’m really proud of my boys. To beat a team which hasn’t been beaten until this game is very pleasing,” Waikato captain Mils Muliaina said. ”We’ve leaked a few tries this season but this week we focused on our defence and it showed out there tonight.”

Waikato, urged on by a capacity crowd of 25 000, made several of their most significant breaks around the fringes of breakdowns where All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and Canterbury’s other loose forwards were off their games.

”We made mistakes, they capitalised and played at the right end of the field,” McCaw said. ”At the breakdowns, everywhere really, they had more intensity than we did.” — Sapa-AP