Crusaders drum out warning ahead of final..................Shutting the Sharks down and inducing a night of skills paralysis and tactical imperfection, the Crusaders ran in five unanswered tries to claim a 38-6 win and an Investec Super Rugby final berth next week. Based on the evidence of their display, the Crusaders could not be discounted from taking yet another championship whoever they meet in the final. Their support was consistently superior to the Sharks and while there was defensive intensity from the visitors who landed some big hits, they were unable to knock the Crusaders off their game and had no answer to the unrelenting continuity from the home side. While the Sharks demonstrated running intent early in the game with a breakout from their own quarter sparked by fullback SP Marais, it was a rare moment of clarity in an otherwise fractious Sharks start. Kicks were inaccurate, going out on the full, or not committing the Crusaders defence. By comparison, the Crusaders made the most of the inaccuracies and countered through fullback Israel Daggs precision touches. They proved more assured when they received their first chance and struck hard in the 16th minute. Continuity between the experienced home loose trio punished the Sharks for a poor clearing kick by centre Paul Jordaan. Wing Nemani Nadolo charged onto the ball to set up a ruck. As the ball moved to the left, flanker Matt Todd found Richie McCaw who flicked the ball quickly to No.8 Kieran Read. He stepped into a gap, accelerated and cut past a cover defender to score the try beneath the posts for the opening try of the game in the 16th minute.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:22:18 +0000
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