Canterbury Crusaders ran in seven tries to humiliate defending champions Northern Bulls 54-19 on Friday and take a five-point lead at the top of the Super 14 standings.
While many South Africans feared the Crusaders would prove too strong for the weakened Bulls even in their Loftus Versfeld fortress, no one could have imagined such a one-sided affair.
Success was especially sweet for Canterbury who were outplayed 27-12 by the Bulls in the semi-finals at the same ground last year.
PHOTO: AP
Crusaders and All Blacks captain and flanker Richie McCaw said: "We came under a lot of early pressure and conceded some stupid penalties, then tidied up and it all came together."
Counterpart Fourie du Preez, a key member of last year's Springboks World Cup-winning team, offered no excuses after a match that reignited memories of the bad old days when the Bulls were Super whipping boys.
"Crusaders are the best counter-attacking team in the world and once we started surrendering loose ball they took full advantage. We have got to study the video and learn quickly," he said.
PHOTO: AP
With last year's captain Victor Matfield now playing in France and fellow lock Bakkies Botha and flying wing Bryan Habana injured, this was a shadow of the Bulls side that edged Coastal Sharks in an all-South Africa final last year.
The early exchanges offered no hint of the rout to come as the Bulls dominated territorially, forcing the visitors into conceding penalties which Hougaard gratefully accepted to give the Bulls a 12-0 lead after 30 minutes.
But sloppy defending from the kick-off after the fourth penalty led to center Stephen Brett bursting through for the first of seven tries and Daniel Carter converted.
A Carter penalty narrowed the gap to two points and scrum-half Andrew Ellis surged over under the posts to give the New Zealanders a lead that Carter stretched to five points with his second conversion.
McCaw, wing Kade Poki, replacement back Nasi Manu, Carter and MacDonald were the other try scorers while Carter managed five conversions and three penalties.
A blunder by Crusaders wing Scott Hamilton handed Bulls center JP Nel a soft try that replacement fly-half Morne Steyn converted, but the score barely raised a cheer in the rapidly emptying stadium.
Meanwhile, in Bloemfontein, Western Force flyhalf Matt Giteau scored all 16 points for his team to edge the Central Cheetahs 16-15 in a thrilling contest.
Giteau scored his team's only try and also landed a last-gasp penalty to help his side to their first win of this year's southern hemisphere inter-provincial competition.
For the Cheetahs, it was another agonizing defeat after going down by a single point to the Lions in round one.
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