Super Rugby; Crusaders edge battling Blues

[cyRil]

Blues 18-19 Crusaders

Cantabs steal Auckland opener

The curtain-raiser for Super Rugby 2012 saw a thrilling spectacle between the Blues and Crusaders at Eden Park on Friday night; one the visitors sneaked by a whisker.

The Blues displayed some fine hands and nimble footwork throughout to entertain the large Auckland crowd with, at times, spectacular running rugby but a superior penalty count ultimately cost them as they triumphed on tries but lost the tie.

It was a whirlwind start for the hosts as an early try from flanker Chris Lowrey and then a further five-pointer from debutant David Raikuna - the result of powerful and incisive running and great hands (from hooker Keven Mealamu in particular) - gave the Blues a 12-3 lead after 10 minutes; the scores sandwiching a Tyler Bleyendaal penalty for the Crusaders.

The game continued to flow with the same ferocity as the opening exchanges with loose and fast-paced backline moves and offloads sparking the imagination of player, pundit and fan alike; although the tempo was slowed moments later as a tough call for hands in the ruck from Kiwi referee Chris Pollock allowed Bleyendaal his second shot at goal which he duly converted to narrow the scoreline.

The Blues' mood could not be dampened however and they continued to stick to their principles of attractive, running rugby. However, with a quarter of the game up and the hosts deep inside their own territory, centre Rene Ranger decided to hit the line at pace when the safer option would have been to punt the ball down field or into the safety of touch. In contact, the rangy All Black fumbled the ball providing the Crusaders with possession and a great opportunity to attack. With the whitewash begging, visiting forwards Keiran Read and Mat Todd drew in defenders with surging carries and with the overlap created on the left, the mercurial Robbie Freuan took advantage of superior numbers to sidle over for the team's opening try. The simple conversion added two points and after 20 minutes play the Crusaders fortuitously led 13-12.

The score had clearly settled the away side down after a shattering first ten minutes and great work at the break down from Todd and composed tactical kicking from Bleyendaal pinned the Blues onto the back foot.

A high tackle on Ryan Crotty by home fly-half Michael Hobbs moments later coughed up another chance for three points for the Crusaders and Bleyendaal was on target yet again to stretch his side's advantage on the scoreboard.

After the hectic opening the game established a calmer rhythm and pace for the following five; not that Ranger had any intention of slowing down as he pounced on a free ball in his own 22 to steam downfield in search of his side's third try of the half. With legs pumping and supporters screaming it looked for all the world that Ranger would have the guts and determination to make the line, but a desperate Sean Maitland tracked back enough to haul the lanky back down and see the misplaced offload hacked out of play for the last meaningful contribution of the half.

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The second period kicked off in much the same way as the first, with the Blues going all-out against their bitter Kiwi rivals.

Brilliant interplay on the left flank between Ali Williams and Rudi Wulf opened the pitch up and illustrated the quality, flair and attacking mentality of the Blues team; with the significant in-roads made into Crusader territory forcing a penalty, which Hobbs put straight down the middle to cut the deficit to one.

The Blues were looking lethal again, but were being stifled by a succession of penalties being conceded by the visitors - with brothers George and Sam Whitelock guilty of offending on a number of occasions.

The third penalty in a matter of minutes provided Hobbs the opportunity to regain the lead for the Blues, but the young fly-half pushed his effort well wide to preserve the Crusaders' advantage.

However the pivot did not make the same mistake twice on 55 minutes as Owen Franks was pinged for coming in at the ruck from the wrong side, Hobbs excellent strike making it 18-16 to the Blues.

A Bleyendaal penalty effort came up just short for the Cantabs soon after and it was clear that momentum had suddenly changed in favour of the travelling team, despite Piri Weepu coming off the replacements bench for the Blues to a hero's welcome from the Eden Park faithful.

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Mounting pressure on the Blues' line almost told just after the hour with a gorgeous back-line move slicing the hosts to shreds.

A neat pop pass from Bleyendaal found Israel Dagg on the inside run and the full-back-cum-wing cut through the defensive line at frightening speed with a weighted pass to Freuan looking to have set up the centre for his second score of the match.

But a tremendous delayed tackle from Isaia Toeava stopped his former Hurricanes teammate in his tracks, stifling the attack and saving a certain try.

However, the full-back's best efforts were ultimately in vain as two minutes later Bleyendaal struck his fourth penalty of the night for Blue hands in the ruck.

The Blues were visibly struggling to muster the strength and guile required to breach the Crusaders defence for that final time as the clock ticked down, but with a minute left referee Pollock awarded them a penalty for Crusaders not releasing at the breakdown and Hobbs pumped down into the opposition 22.

After winning the vital line-out the Blues forwards rumbled it up, using all their might and stamina they had left to build the phases and eat up ground to give Weepu the perfect chance to slot what would be the winning drop goal.

With the siren sounding for the final play and hopeful fans shouting their team on the forwards rolled up to a position - ten metres out and directly in front of the sticks - ideal for the All Black scrum-half. The ball was fizzed back by Alby Mathewson and Weepu executed a perfectly struck kick that looked destined to split the posts - but for a despairing lunge from Dagg, who got just enough on the ball to check its flight, see it drop harmlessly away to the right and win the breathless encounter for the Crusaders.

Star Man: KIERAN READ (Crusaders) - A captain's effort from the World Cup-winning Number 8. With 23 tackles and a number of strong carries the back-rower proved his worth. Honorable mention also to Tyler Bleyendaal with a consummate performance at fly-half from the young Super Rugby debutant.

5-metre Flop: SEAN MAITLAND (Crusaders)- For someone with such potential and ability to spark a game into life, Maitland must have touched the ball twice. A tame performance from the All Black hopeful who never really looked for the ball and seemed more interested in pulling his socks up than getting involved for his team.

All images courtesy of www.zimbio.com & www.stuff.co.nz

Follow me on Twitter: @ThomasODavies​

 

[Darwin]

Great read (as usual) cyRil. One question - when you write your reviews do you make notes during the match, or do you simply write the reviews entirely from memory?

I thought Sean Maitland played exactly the same way he normally does: stands on his wing and waits for the ball to come his way, rather than looking for work. He looks great at the end of the Crusaders backline when they are firing, as he is freakishly quick and deceptively strong, but in games like this when the ball doesn't come his way he is decidedly average. He needs to improve his work-rate immensely if he wants to get and AB's callup. He did do well to catch Rene Ranger from behind at one stage to stop a certain try though.

 

[cyRil]

Great read (as usual) cyRil. One question - when you write your reviews do you make notes during the match, or do you simply write the reviews entirely from memory?

I thought Sean Maitland played exactly the same way he normally does: stands on his wing and waits for the ball to come his way, rather than looking for work. He looks great at the end of the Crusaders backline when they are firing, as he is freakishly quick and deceptively strong, but in games like this when the ball doesn't come his way he is decidedly average. He needs to improve his work-rate immensely if he wants to get and AB's callup. He did do well to catch Rene Ranger from behind at one stage to stop a certain try though.

Cheers mate, yeah I make notes - usually about a sheet of A4 per half. Nothing too intricate, just noting the minutes, penalty count, kicking/line-out stats and go into detail for tries and important moments in the match.
I've only seen bits and bobs of Maitland. He looked v. good against the Sharks at Twickers last season, but his lack of participation just bugged me this morning. I could have gone for Hobbs or Charlie Faumauina for the flop, as I thought he was almost as poor in the loose as he was outdone in the scrum.

 

[Darwin]

Cheers mate, yeah I make notes - usually about a sheet of A4 per half. Nothing too intricate, just noting the minutes, penalty count, kicking/line-out stats and go into detail for tries and important moments in the match.
I've only seen bits and bobs of Maitland. He looked v. good against the Sharks at Twickers last season, but his lack of participation just bugged me this morning. I could have gone for Hobbs or Charlie Faumauina for the flop, as I thought he was almost as poor in the loose as he was outdone in the scrum.

Good, I'm glad you make notes - I was starting to get a bit jealous as I know I can't generally remember specific parts of the match in near that much detail!

I know what you mean - players who just stand on the wing and do nothing annoy me too!
Faumauina was pretty average too - he made a couple of strong runs, but kept ending up losing the ball.