Rugby: Crusaders' fightback falls short against Bulls

New Zealand's Crusaders Robbie Fruean, left, is tackled by South Africa's Bulls Johann Sadie during their Super Rugby match at the Loftus Versfeld stadium. Photo / AP

They fell short but the Crusaders' fightback in the final stages of their defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria this morning will be of some consolation as they travel home to play Super Rugby leaders the Stormers.

Two converted tries in the final five minutes brought them to 32-30 and the brink of an unlikely victory at Loftus Versfeld. Dan Carter quickly drop-kicked the conversions for the late tries to Zac Guildford and Tom Marshall and after the siren the Crusaders held the ball for more than two and a half minutes as they sought a way into the Bulls half but a mistake sealed what was a deserved win for the home team.

In a match which ebbed and flowed and had plenty of controversy, the Bulls turned up the heat after some uncharacteristic early defensive lapses, which, coupled with Morne Steyn's accurate boot, was always going to spell trouble for the Crusaders who now have a three-win, three-loss record and face the unbeaten Stormers in Christchurch on Saturday.

Bulls forwards Chiliboy Ralepelle and Flip van der Merwe accused the Crusaders of eye gouging, which referee Jaco Peyper put on report and which the citing commissioner dismissed through a lack of evidence, and a linesman ruled out a try to Tom Taylor after 78 minutes due to "obstruction" by Carter when the first-five was merely holding his line after passing the ball.

Thankfully for the clearly angry Carter and captain Kieran Read, Marshall scored his excellent individual effort a minute later to set up a thrilling finish.

"You have to give credit to the Bulls in that period after half-time," Read said. "That was probably the decider, those points they put on us there.

"We've been under a bit of pressure back home so I suppose the performance out there was encouraging. We really stuck to our guns at the end and it was a bit unfortunate we couldn't quite get over the line."

Read and the Crusaders began the game strongly and the No 8 put them into the lead after seven minutes by running a nice angle on to an Andy Ellis pass to crash over.

Carter converted, as he did the other tries, but the Crusaders dearly missed the nine points he missed through three relatively easy penalty attempts. It was his third game since his groin injury and his second start, and the first match in which he has kicked for goal this season. His rustiness in this area was obvious.

Steyn narrowed the gap to 13-9 at halftime and then the Bulls cashed in on some poor Crusaders' option taking through tries to Dean Greyling - a prop who sold an outrageous dummy to fullback Israel Dagg - and centre Wynand Olivier.

While the Crusaders will be looking forward to coming home after an African tour resulting in one win and one loss, the Stormers lie in wait after an ominous performance in the 21-6 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin.

The Cape Town team showed they thoroughly deserve their front-running status by shutting down the Highlanders, who could manage only two penalties through Chris Noakes. It was their first defeat at their new stadium and Jamie Joseph's men now have a bye before a home match against the Blues.

Wing Gio Aplon, who later went off injured, and fullback Joe Pietersen scored tries for the Stormers and they were two outstanding individuals in a team which proved they have flair to go with their notoriously effective defence.

The Chiefs lost lock/loose forward Kane Thompson to a neck injury but won their war of attrition against the Force in Perth 20-12, their first win in Australia since 2010.

Fritz Lee replaces Thompson for the rest of the trip which takes in matches against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein and Sharks in Durban. Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said he was frustrated by poor decision making but his side find themselves second on the table with five wins and one loss, and only two points behind the Stormers.

Mark Hammett's Hurricanes put their loss to the Cheetahs - after holding a 21-point lead - behind them with an excellent 42-18 victory over the Sharks in New Plymouth.

In Melbourne the Rebels compounded the Blues' misery with a 34-23 victory and the Reds snapped their losing streak with a 20-13 win over the Brumbies in Brisbane.

The Lions went to the bottom of the table after their 26-5 loss to the Cheetahs.

apnz pm