Crusaders tame determined Lions
The Crusaders were made to work hard, but they turned on the class when it mattered to record a 23-13 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The star-studded Canterbury side trailed at half-time but produced a clinical second-half performance, keeping the Lions pointless after the break to canter to a comfortable win at a sparsely populated Coca-Cola Park.
The Lions started the game in the worst possible way as their captain Joshua Strauss dropped the kick-off, and when James Kamana slammed his head into Sean Maitland’s knee before being stretchered off in the second minute things were looking bleak for the home side.
Neither side was able to assert themselves on the game in the early stages, with a number of reset scrums contributing to the slow start, but when the game did get going it was the Lions who took the game to the visitors.
The home team showed good ball control and put pressure on the Crusaders by crossing the gain line consistently until Owen Franks was caught not rolling away from the tackle on the 22, giving Butch James the opportunity to open the scoring.
The Lions were guilty of the same offence shortly afterwards following a Crusaders counter-attack, and Tom Taylor stepped up to level the scores at 3-3 with a quarter of the match gone.
The Lions took the lead back almost immediately when George Whitelock went offside, but the Crusaders hit back with the opening try which was set up by a piece of magic from that man Dan Carter who was starting his first game since the World Cup last year.
His team took it wide following an attacking line-out, and when they changed direction they had a host of talented backs lined up on the right wing. Carter ghosted through a gap and threw a little dummy to draw two defenders across before giving a perfectly-timed inside ball to the flying Zac Guildford who raced over for a try that the All Black legend had made look so simple.
The Lions were not deterred and they charged upfield with some great support running and offloading in the tackle by forwards such as Strauss and Pat Cilliers which put Franco van der Merwe in some space in the 22.
The athletic lock got over the tryline, but was superbly held up by Crusaders scrumhalf Andy Ellis who showed great strength and commitment to turn the tight forward over. Despite that disappointment the Lions kept their composure and the try came when Cilliers put his head down and crashed over to hand his side the 13-10 lead which they took into the half-time break.
The Crusaders came out firing in the second half and after the forwards had bashed it up to the 22 they spun it to the right. Fullback Israel Dagg joined the line and stabbed through deadly accurate grubber for Maitland to chase.
The right wing turned on the gas, running around Lionel Mapoe to collect the ball and dot down unopposed for another try, and when Taylor added a penalty to the conversion the Crusaders had grabbed a 20-13 lead.
The Lions were not going to take that sort of treatment lying down and they launched a sustained period of pressure in the Crusaders 22, but the visitors stood firm and soaked it up until Warren Whiteley was forced to hold on to the ball on the ground just short of the poles.
Another Taylor penalty stretched the Crusaders’ lead to 10 points, and with 15 minutes left on the clock the Lions were still searching for their first points of the half to take them within striking distance.
It was the Crusaders who had all of the late momentum and they went in search of more tries as they sought a bonus point, the Lions managed to hold them out but just could not work themselves into decent field position as the game petered out in the final stages.
Man of the match: Crusaders wing Zac Guildford was a constant thorn in the Lions’ side, running great angles, making a number of powerful breaks and covering well on defence.
The scorers:
For the Lions:
Try: Cilliers
Con: James
Pens: James 2
For the Crusaders:
Tries: Guildford, Maitland
Cons: Taylor 2
Pens: Taylor 3
Teams:
Lions: 15 James Kamana, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Andries Coetzee, 10 Butch James, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Joshua Strauss (captain), 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Marius Coetzer, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Stephan Greeff, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Elton Jantjies, 22 Lionel Mapoe.
Crusaders: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Tom Taylor, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Matt Todd, 6 George Whitelock, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Luke Whitelock, 20 Willi Heinz, 21 Ryan Crotty, 22 Tom Marshall.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
