Canterbury's first-place status in rugby's Super 12 might last only 24 hours, but the Crusaders were determined to make sure everyone knew it was no fluke.
The Crusaders ran in 11 tries Friday to beat South Africa's Sharks 77-34. The winners scored seven tries in the first 42 minutes to knock New South Wales from the top spot for the first time this season after 10 rounds.
Canterbury has 35 points after seven wins and two losses, four points better than the Waratahs. But New South Wales can overtake the top spot -- and all but clinch a semifinal berth -- with a bonus-point win over the Otago Highlanders on Saturday.
PHOTO: EPA
Elsewhere Friday, the Bulls beat the Auckland Blues 38-24 to boost their chances of a semifinal berth, and Queensland defeated South Africa's Cats 21-15 in a match involving bottom-four teams.
At Christchurch, New Zealand, the Crusaders gave up four tries in 15 minutes in the second half to see a 49-8 lead threatened, then finished with four more tries to restore its emphatic victory margin.
All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter scored the first of the Crusader tries only seconds after the kickoff and kicked seven conversions from as many attempts to fatten a 42-8 halftime lead.
PHOTO: AP
He was replaced after 50 minutes by fellow international Andrew Mehrtens, the leading point-scorer in Super 12 rugby, who added conversions of the last four tries to give the Crusaders an unblemished kicking record.
All Blacks winger Rico Gear scored tries in the 65th and 73rd minutes, Caleb Ralph added another and replacement Scott Hamilton touched down in injury time to end the evening's blitz.
"It was a tough one," said Crusaders captain Reuben Thorne. "In the first half we did some good stuff but it wasn't so good in the second half. To let them in for as many points as that was something we'll have to look at."
In Pretoria, South Africa, Bryan Habana scored a pair of first-half tries two minutes apart and another two tries in the final seven minutes secured the Bulls' victory over Auckland.
The victory left the Bulls in sixth place with 25 points, but pulled them within a point of the fourth-place Blues for the final semifinal berth.
Wellington was in fifth with 25 points heading into its ninth-round match against ACT on Saturday.
Habana's tries gave the Bulls a 12-7 lead by the 16th minute and, bolstered by Morne Steyn's kicking, they extended the advantage to 25-17 midway through the second half.
But a try by Mils Muliaina pulled the Blues within one before Etienne Botha scored his second try in the 73rd to restore the advantage and steer the Bulls to victory.
At Brisbane, Wendell Sailor and Chris Latham scored tries to lead the Reds.
Both teams are out of semifinal contention. The result left Queensland in eighth place with a 3-6 record after nine matches, while the 11th-place Cats are 1-8.
Cats winger Chumani Booi and Jaque Fourie scored tries for the visitors.
Scoring
* Canterbury 77 (Rico Gear 2, Daniel Carter, Chris Jack, Justin Marshall, Greg Somerville, Ross Filipo, Leon MacDonald, Casey Laulala, Caleb Ralph, Scott Hamilton tries; Daniel Carter 7 conversions; Andrew Mehrtens 4 conversions), Cats 34 (Cedric Mkhize, Albert van den Berg, Brent Russell, Warren Britz, Rudi Keil tries; Ruan Pienaar penalty; Conrad Barnard 3 conversions)
* Bulls 38 (Bryan Habana 2, Etienne Botha 2, Akon Ndungane tries; Morne Steyn 2 conversions; Steyn 3 penalties) def. Blues 24 (Isa Nacewa, Doug Howlett, Mils Muliaina tries; Luke McAlister 3 conversions; McAlister penalty)
* Queensland 21 (Wendell Sailor, Chris Latham tries; Elton Flatley penalty, Latham penalty, Julian Huxley penalty, conversion), Cats 15 (Chumani Booi, Jaque Fourie tries; Andre Pretorius penalty, conversion).
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
The tiny village club of Mjallby AIF on Monday won the top tier Swedish soccer league with a 2-0 away win at IFK Gothenburg, sealing the title with three rounds of matches remaining. Jacob Bergstrom and Tom Pettersson scored the goals in Mjallby’s 20th win in 27 league games. Mjallby has a population of fewer than 1,400 people and plays in an outdated 6,000-seat stadium with stands weathered by the winds of the Baltic Sea. “It’s a huge relief to experience this now, a relief with three games to go,” said Anders Torstensson, a former army officer and secondary-school teacher who coaches the
Sean Dyche on Thursday achieved in his first game with Nottingham Forest what predecessor Ange Postecoglou could not in eight matches in charge: Win. Under its new coach, Nottingham Forest presented a concentrated display resulting in a 2-0 victory over Porto in the UEFA Europa League. It was the first victory for Nottingham in the competition and only the second overall this season, while Porto were defeated for the first time this season. Morgan Gibbs-White converted from the penalty spot in the 19th minute at the City Ground in West Bridgford, England. Igor Jesus doubled the advantage from another penalty in the 77th
RSS