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Crusaders make a statement with shutout win over Melbourne Rebels
By AAP
The Melbourne Rebels have been handed a massive Super Rugby Pacific reality check, kept scoreless and brutalised by the Crusaders in a 39-0 humbling.
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In Christchurch, the visitors were never in the contest and were absolutely monstered up front by a side that came into Friday’s fixture on the bottom of the ladder.
The fourth-ranked Rebels had won their previous three games to insert themselves in the finals frame, but were well and truly reminded about the difficulties of winning games in New Zealand.
Crusaders No.8 Christian Lio-Wllie and flanker Cullen Grace put them 10-0 clear in 17 minutes, but the floodgates really opened late with three second-half tries against a broken Rebels outfit.
Their scrum was completely decimated in the first half, to the point that coach Kevin Foote replaced the entire front row before the break.
Matt Gibbon, Alex Mafi and Sam Talakai were hooked on the half-hour after a shift that saw them concede three penalties and lose multiple scrums against their own feed, including one where the Crusaders drove them back into their own in-goal.
The bench group – including Wallabies talents Taniela Tupou and Jordan Uelese – solidified things in the short term, but were eventually worn down by the hosts’ power.
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Perhaps things could have been different if Rebels forward Josh Kemeny had grounded a short-range effort on the stroke of halftime, but he lost control of the ball diving for the line in what was a chance to pull them to within a single score while trailing 10-0.
Instead the Crusaders resumed their dominance after the break, Lio-Willie powering over for a second before Rivez Reihana knocked over a penalty to put them 18-0 clear on 50 minutes.
Owen Franks, Sevu Reece and Johnny McNicholl cashed in late when the Rebels threw in the towel.
It was just the Crusaders’ second win of the campaign, but they immediately jumped into ninth spot to remain a competition factor.
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The Rebels have another difficult task next weekend, hosting the Blues at AAMI Park.