Crusaders return to winning ways

REPORT: Melbourne Rebels have been unable to square the ledger with the Kiwi teams, crashing to a 17-42 defeat by the heavyweight Crusaders to wrap up Super Round in Melbourne.

In the early game on Sunday at AAMI Park, which hosted five Super Rugby Pacific matches over the weekend, the Brumbies got the sole Australian win over a New Zealand team, beating the Highlanders 28-17.

The NSW Waratahs went down to the Chiefs 51-27 on Friday while the Queensland Reds blew a 17-point lead to lose to the Hurricanes 30-17.

The Rebels were in the hunt at halftime, trailing 3-7 with Crusaders No.8 Cullen Grace the sole try scorer.

Melbourne’s hopes of an upset weren’t helped by losing veteran midfielder Matt Toomua to a head knock 13 minutes in.

The men from Christchurch put the hammer down immediately after the break with the home side unable to match them for skill or pace.

All Blacks flank Ethan Blackadder scored twice within 10 minutes to push the lead out to 19-3 by the 53rd minute.

Argentina captain Pablo Matera was another of the Crusaders’ stars, with a hand in two tries.

In the second the flank showed his skills by toeing the ball ahead before reeling it in and recycling, with Tamaiti Williams finding the line for the Crusaders’ fourth try of the night.

Melbourne made the scoreline more respectable with Reece Hodge running on to a Carter Gordon grubber into the in-goal to score before hard-working lock Matt Philip was rewarded with a try.

But the Crusaders had the final say with winger Leicester Fainga’anuku managing to wrestle the ball down despite the efforts of three Rebels defenders.

The scorers:

For Crusaders:
Tries: Grace, Blackadder 2, Hall, Williams, Fainga’anuku
Cons: Mo’unga 5, Burke

For Melbourne Rebels:
Tries: Hodge, Philip
Cons: Hodge 2

Teams:

Crusaders: 15 George Bridge, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Braydon Ennor, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Mitch Drummond, 8 Cullen Grace, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Zach Gallagher, 3 Olie Jager, 2 Codie Taylor (captain), 1 George Bower
Replacements: 16 Ricky Jackson, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Dominic Gardiner, 20 Corey Kellow, 21 Bryn Hall, 22 Fergus Burke, 23 Chay Fihaki

Rebels: 15 Reece Hodge, 14 George Worth, 13 Andrew Kellaway, 12 Stacey Ili, 11 Glen Vaihu, 10 Matt To’omua, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Michael Wells (captain), 7 Brad Wilkin, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Josh Hill, 4 Matt Philip, 3 Cabous Eloff, 2 James Hanson, 1 Cameron Orr
Replacements: 16 Efi Ma’afu, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Rhys Van Nek, 19 Josh Canham, 20 Tamati Ioane, 21 Sam Wallis, 22 Joe Powell, 23 Carter Gordon

Referee: Brendon Pickerill
Assistant referees: James Doleman & Jordan Way
TMO: Glenn Newman