Crusaders 54 Bulls 19
KEY POINTS:
The Crusaders produced a comeback of monumental proportions to beat the defending Super 14 rugby champion Bulls 54-19 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria this morning.
Down 0-12 after 30 minutes and having barely seen the ball, the Crusaders stormed back to score 49 unanswered points in a magical seven tries-to one performance.
They simply ran the hosts off their feet with a highly skilled game played at speed, well and truly reversing the 12-27 loss they suffered to the Bulls in last year's semifinal at the same venue.
For the first 30 minutes it looked like history was set to repeat as Bulls first five-eighth Derick Hougaard - who kicked all 27 points last year - slotted four penalties.
His forward pack dominated possession and the Crusaders made a raft of errors as they tried to play expansively.
However, it suddenly clicked for the six-times champions, who crossed through second five-eighth Stephen Brett and halfback Andrew Ellis before the break.
Both tries were set up by neat passes from first five-eighth Daniel Carter to Brett, underlining what a potent attacking pairing the Crusaders have in those key playmaking positions.
Carter converted both tries and kicked a penalty to give his side a 17-12 lead at the break - hardly a reflection of possession and territory at that stage.
However, it was all one-way traffic after halftime as the bigger Bulls fell off the pace.
Outstanding captain Richie McCaw burrowed over in the 50th minute and soon afterwards his opposite number Deon Stegmann was shown a yellow card for persistent offending.
During Stegmann's 10 minutes on the sideline, Carter landed two penalties and converted a try to winger Kade Poki, which gave the Crusaders a bonus point.
It was a personal triumph for the inexperienced Poki, who was identified by the Bulls as a possible weakness and peppered with high kicks in the early stages.
"I expected that that might happen but I thought I handled it okay. To come back and get that try, I was just stoked," Poki said.
"They were pretty tired in that second half, I think we showed in the end the way to play - to move the ball around."
Reserve loose forward Nasi Manu bagged the next try from a charge down, followed up by a try to Carter when he forced the ball on to the goal post padding.
His conversion gave the star All Blacks playmaker 24 points before he was substituted as coach Robbie Deans cleared the reserve bench.
The Bulls snared their only try, through centre JP Nel, with five minutes to play but the visitors had the final say when fullback Leon MacDonald deftly controlled a bouncing ball with his foot to touch down.
With two big wins to open their campaign, the Crusaders travel to Cape Town next week to face the Stormers.
- NZPA
