Crusaders end Sharks’ streak with close win
Print Edition
IT has been 14 years since the Canterbury Crusaders became the last team to go through a Super season undefeated and their captain Kieran Read ensured it will be another year at least before that record is matched.
Read’s late try in Durban inflicted the first defeat of the year on the Coastal Sharks and means every side has now lost at least once in the first five rounds.
With the thrilling 19-14 victory the Crusaders, with a game in hand, have won three out of four and lie fourth in the New Zealand conference headed by the Waikato Chiefs, who scored nine tries in thumping Australia’s Western Force 53-10.
The 2002 Crusaders are the only team to have won every game in a Super season.
The Sharks and Western Stormers, who survived a scoreless second half to beat the Jaguares 13-8 in Buenos Aires, head the two African conferences.
ACT Brumbies’ 25-18 triumph over the Central Cheetahs kept them at the top of the Australian group.
New All Blacks captain Read rounded off a 15-phase attack with his try 8 minutes from time to steal victory for the Crusaders over the Sharks.
Despite being starved of possession, constantly trapped in their half and struggling at the scrums and lineouts, the Sharks were ahead 14-7 early in the second spell.
They stayed in front for nearly half an hour until Read scored the match-winning try.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder felt the close result was a problem for his side who “dominated the whole game, but we probably pushed too many passes and made a lot of errors”.
Defending champions the Otago Highlanders cruised to a bonus-point 27-3 win over the Melbourne Rebels to remain one point behind the Chiefs on the New Zealand table.
The Brumbies bounced back from last week’s loss to the Stormers with a 25-18 win over the Cheetahs in an error-strewn fixture in Bloemfontein.
The Northern Bulls claimed their first Super Rugby win outside of South Africa in more than three years when they edged home to beat Japan’s Sunwolves 30-27 in Singapore.
The Wellington Hurricanes needed a late burst to beat the Southern Kings 42-20, while the NSW Waratahs improved to two wins when they beat the Queensland Reds 15-13 in Brisbane in yesterday’s final match of the round.
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