A Sean Wainui try yesterday set up a 25-15 victory for the Waikato Chiefs over the Canterbury Crusaders, while winger Mark Telea scored a second-half hat-trick as the Auckland Blues beat the Waratahs.
The Chiefs won a bruising clash between the two New Zealand heavyweights in Hamilton, while the Blues had too much firepower for the Waratahs, winning 32-12 in Newcastle.
Chiefs captain Sam Cane called it a “brutal” affair as his side, for the second straight week, overcame a halftime deficit to maintain a 100 percent start to the Super Rugby season for coach Warren Gatland.
They denied the Crusaders a bonus point with an Aaron Cruden penalty goal just before the final whistle, stretching the margin to 10.
It was defending champions the Crusaders who dictated terms in the first half and they turned with a 12-8 advantage.
The key moment came with 25 minutes remaining and the score locked at 15-all when Chiefs scrum-half Brad Weber was tackled front-on by Bryn Hall. Weber managed to slip the ball around the back of the Crusaders scrum-half to Wainui, who ran 30m for the decisive try.
“The Crusaders are class, so it’s good to get one over them,” Cane said. “The thing you notice about these derbies ... is that they are a bit personal. They’re physical, they’re brutal and there were some big moments in that game that could have gone either way.”
Crusaders captain Scott Barrett called his side together at the final whistle and told them not to forget the feeling, because “we don’t like losing. We made too many errors.”
In rain-swept Newcastle, the Blues scored early with winger Blake Gibson powering over and under tackles, and Stephen Perofeta kicked the visitors to an 8-0 lead after 24 minutes.
However, the Waratahs hit back just on halftime, showing patience to recycle the ball through 17 phases before shifting wide to Kurtley Beale to put center Lalakai Foketi over wide out.
Fly-half Will Harrison added the extras into a swirling wind for the Waratahs to trail 8-7 at halftime.
The Blues came out roaring after the interval, with two tries in four minutes to bolt to a 20-7 lead.
Back Joe Marchant charged through two tackles to score and Telea had no defender near him as he won the chase for Hoskins Sotutu’s grubber kick for the corner.
Telea sealed a comfortable victory with two more runaway tries in the final three minutes.
“We obviously played to the conditions and we gave ourselves a kick up the backside at halftime to give us more energy and I think in the second half we managed to do that,” Blues skipper Patrick Tuipulotu said. “In the wind and rain it was hard to kick but credit to our number tens and kickers for putting our kicks where we wanted them to be.”
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