The Crusaders have kept their perfect record at One NZ Stadium with a 36-20 win over the Blues.<\/p>\n
Flanker Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku was devastating, setting up multiple tries as the hosts stay in touch with the top three.<\/p>\n
They rallied despite two late cards to down the Blues, whose minor premiership hopes have taken a major hit.<\/p>\n
The Crusaders came out bolting like wild horses, fitting as they graced the One NZ Stadium grounds for the first time since the stadium opened.<\/p>\n
It was the Fainga\u2019anuku show in the opening quarter as the converted flanker set up a special opening try. He delivered a perfect inside ball to centurion George Bower off a trick line-out play, giving the prop his first try in Super Rugby in his 100th game.<\/p>\n
The powerful back-rower showed he\u2019s still got the skills of a winger as he chipped ahead shortly after being held up, with second-rower Jamie Hannah pouncing on the loose ball for a 12-3 lead.<\/p>\n
With all the running, the Crusaders looked set to run away with the first half before a sudden double strike by the visitors gave them the surprise lead.<\/p>\n
It started in the 31st minute when the Blues turned the Crusaders over inside their own 22, with AJ Lam running close to 70 metres for a superb counter-attacking try.<\/p>\n
A pinpoint kick in-behind before the break gave them a five-metre scrum, with Sam Nock scoring 90 seconds later for a one-point advantage at the break.<\/p>\n
But the Crusaders were quick to restore the lead after half-time as Rivez Reihana juked his way through the defence to score under the posts.<\/p>\n
Kyle Preston made an immediate impact off the bench, delivering a big strike after starting the counter with slick hands, the scrumhalf diving for the line down the blindside to find the line.<\/p>\n
Fainga\u2019anuku looked to have sealed the win after putting in the grubber for his former winger partner Sevu Reece, giving them a 31-13 lead.<\/p>\n
However, they were forced into a late scramble after they were reduced to 13, most notably winger Kurtis MacDonald red-carded for a dangerous contest on Stephen Perofeta.<\/p>\n
Hoskins Sotutu reduced the lead after Jack Sexton was sin-binned for a deliberate foul.<\/p>\n
In the end, the Blues\u2019 ill-discipline cost them any chance of a comeback,\u00a0with George Bell defying the numbers to claim the bonus point try.<\/p>\n
Crusaders 36\u00a0(Tries: Bower, Hannah, Reihana, Reece, Bell, Preston; Cons: Reihana 3)\u00a0def Blues 20\u00a0(Tries: Lam, Nock, Sotutu; Cons: Barrett; Pens: Perofeta)<\/p>\n
Teams:<\/p>\n
Crusaders:\u00a015 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Dallas McLeod, 12 David Havili (c), 11 Macca Springer, 10 Rivez Reihana, 9 Noah Hotham, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Leciester Fainga\u2019anuku, 6 Ethan Blackadder, 5 Jamie Hannah, 4 Antonio Shalfoon, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 George Bower
\n\tReplacements:\u00a016 George Bell, 17 Jack Sexton, 18 Seb Calder, 19 Tahlor Cahill, 20 Dom Gardiner, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Cooper Grant, 23 Kurtis Macdonald<\/p>\n
Blues:\u00a015 Zarn Sullivan, 14 Kade Banks, 13 AJ Lam, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Stephen Perofeta, 9 Sam Nock, 8 Hoskins Sotutu, 7 Dalton Papali\u2019i, 6 Malachi Wrampling, 5 Sam Darry, 4 Patrick Tuipulotu (c), 3 Sam Matenga, 2 Bradley Slater, 1 Ofa Tu\u2019ungafasi
\n\tReplacements:\u00a016 James Mullan, 17 Mason Tupaea, 18 Flyn Yates, 19 Laghlan McWhannell, 20 Anton Segner, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Xavi Taele<\/p>\n
Referee:\u00a0Angus Gardner
\n\tAssistant Referees:\u00a0George Myers, Matt Kellahan
\n\tTMO:\u00a0Graham Cooper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Crusaders have kept their perfect record at One NZ Stadium with a 36-20 win over the Blues.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-419136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}