Crusaders edge Chiefs in Suva

The Crusaders made it 12 wins in a row with a 31-24 victory over the Chiefs at ANZ National Stadium in Suva, Fiji on Friday.

The result means the Crusaders extend their lead at the top of the New Zealand conference to 12 points.

And the Canterbury-based side have now broken their four-match losing streak against the Chiefs. The question remains whether
they can break their own record of going 13 matches unbeaten in 2002, when they made a clean sweep of the Super Rugby season.

It was a battle of the fly-halves in this one with Richie Mo’unga coming out on top. But this is notwithstanding an excellent performance from Aaron Cruden as All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has a wealth of options at pivot to choose from ahead of the British and Irish Lions series.

Mo’unga has been much-maligned for what is a perceived lack of accuracy from the tee. But his kicking display on this occasion was near-perfect and was a great way to respond to his critics. He also created two tries with beautiful running lines.

Cruden also kicked extremely well and ran a lovely angle to set up Tim Nanai-Williams’ try before running another to score a try himself. Hansen certainly has a selection dilemma on his hands.

The Crusaders opened the scoring via a Mo’unga penalty after Cruden was pinged for offside. Mo’unga then added another penalty to make it 6-0. But the Chiefs then responded by taking the lead with a well-taken try.

Anton Lienert-Brown did well to collect a poor low pass and in one movement pop the ball inside for an onrushing Cruden who ran a beautiful angle through the gap before passing onto the right wing for Tim Nanai-Williams to finish expertly. Cruden’s conversion made it 7-6 to the Chiefs after 20 minutes.

Wing James Lowe then showed his class by scoring the next try. Cruden’s kick bamboozled George Bridge, with the ball going over his head.

Bridge tried to collect, but fumbled the ball and Lowe pounced, kicking the ball through before showing greater patience than a chasing Manasa Mataele to read the bouncing ball before dotting down. Cruden missed from out wide but the Chiefs still had a 10-6 lead.

The Crusaders then regained the lead with their first try of the evening. From a ruck the ball went out to Jack Goodhue who broke the line. He went to ground but got a last-gasp pass away to Pete Samu who ran over for the try.

But their lead was short-lived as the Chiefs bounced back once again. The Chiefs launched an attack straight from the kick-off and immediately made their way into the Crusaders 22. They built a few phases before Kane Hames managed to ground the ball on the line. Cruden added the extras to give the Chiefs a 17-13 lead on the half-hour mark.

A Cruden kick over the defence was collected by Mo’unga who found space on the outside before the ball found its way to Seta Tamanivalu on the wing. He gave a brilliant offload to Jack Goodhue on his inside who released David Havili to score as the ‘Saders regained their lead.

Mo’unga was the instigator once again as the Crusaders scored their third try. The number ten made a clean break, scything his way through the Chiefs defence before having the vision to find Mataele out on the left wing. They recycled the ball from the ruck and substitute Funnell burrowed over in the corner. Mo’unga’s conversion was a good one from out on the touchline.

Mo’unga added a penalty to extend the lead to 11 points in what has been an accurate kicking display from a player who has been much maligned for his kicking.

From a scrum seven metres from the Crusaders line Aaron Cruden got the ball quickly before breaking the line to score from first phase. Full-back Damian McKenzie added the extras to cut the deficit to four at 24-28.

Mo’unga then kicked another three points from the tee which ensured the Chiefs would have to score more than just a converted try, with the Crusaders clinging on after the Chiefs lineout fell apart metres out from their opponents’ line in the closing stages.

The scorers:

For Chiefs:
Tries: Nanai-Williams, Lowe, Hames, Cruden
Cons: Cruden 2, McKenzie

For Crusaders:
Tries: Bedwell-Curtis, Havili, Funnell
Cons: Mo’unga 2
Pens: Mo’unga 4

Chiefs: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Tim Nanai-Williams, 13 Sam McNicol, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (cc), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (cc), 6 Mitchell Brown, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Dominic Bird, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames
Replacements: 16 Hika Elliot, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Taleni Seu, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Jonathan Taumateine, 22 Stephen Donald, 23 Shaun Stevenson

Crusaders: 15 David Havili, 14 Seta Tamanivalu, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 George Bridge, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Jordan Taufua, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Pete Samu, 5 Sam Whitelock (c), 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Quinten Strange, 20 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 21 Mitchell Drummond, 22 Mitchell Hunt, 23 Manasa Mataele

Date: Friday, May 19
Venue: ANZ National Stadium, Suva
Kick-off: 19:35 local (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Mike Fraser
Assistant Referees: Brendon Pickerill, Paul Williams
TMO: Shane McDermott