Defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders yesterday kept up their strong challenge for a top-two place in Super Rugby Pacific with a 42-18 bonus-point win over the NSW Waratahs.
The Crusaders started the 14th round in second place in the standings and kept the pressure on the league-leading Waikato Chiefs with a late try to secure the bonus point to move to 47.
However, the Chiefs (54 points) answered the challenge with a 31-21 win over the fourth-place ACT Brumbies (41) in Canberra later yesterday.
Photo: AFP
Lock Sam Whitelock and center Leicester Fainga’anuku had outstanding matches for the Crusaders, who had control after scoring four tries to one against the sixth-placed Waratahs (31).
Two tries including the last try in the 78th minute came from the Crusaders’ lineout drive, but others were team tries which featured strong carries and off-loading from players such as Whitelock.
“There’s one more week [of the regular season] and the table’s looking tight,” Crusaders captain Codie Taylor said. “This bonus point is crucial for us. There’s a couple of results we’ll be watching and we’ve got one more week which will be a tough one as well” against the fifth-placed Wellington Hurricanes (37).
Photo: AFP
The Crusaders have lost three All Blacks props to injury and called up former All Blacks forward John Afoa from France as a replacement.
At 39 years, 223 days, he became the oldest man to have played Super Rugby.
In Auckland, winger Mark Telea scored four tries for the Blues (42), who beat the Hurricanes 36-25 to move up to third.
Telea scored twice in the first half, then twice in the last 15 minutes as the Blues struggled to hold out the resurgent Hurricanes.
Winger Kini Naholo scored two tries as the Hurricanes twice drew within six points of the Blues in the dying minutes.
However, center Rieko Ioane scored a try in the 74th minute and Telea skidded over for his fourth near fulltime to save the match.
The 10th-placed Fijian Drua (21) hung on to beat Moana Pasifika 47-46 in Lautoka earlier yesterday in a match that contained all the best elements of Pacific rugby. It was physical, but it was also fast-paced and skillful, and it was played in glorious sunshine in front of an exuberant home crowd.
Iosefo Masi scored three tries for the Drua, who led throughout, but could not get a decisive break on 12th-placed Moana Pasifika (4), who for the second time in the past few weeks came within a point of their first win of the season.
The Drua need to beat the seventh-placed Queensland Reds (24) next week to have any chance of qualifying for the top eight for the first time.
The Reds on Friday lost 35-30 against the eighth-placed Otago Highlanders (23).
Victory for the Highlanders — in All Blacks great Aaron Smith’s final home game before moving to Japan — kept them in contention for the quarter-finals.
In Friday’s other game, the 11th-placed Melbourne Rebels (21) scored eight tries in a 52-14 romp over Western Force (ninth, 22) to also keep alive their slim hopes of making the last eight.
Additional reporting by AFP
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