Fainga’anuku stars as Crusaders hold on for statement win over Blues

Milestone man George Bower crashed over for his first Super Rugby career try as the Crusaders remained unbeaten at their new home One NZ Stadium, running away for a statement win over the Blues 36-20 on Friday.

Two weeks on from the Crusaders’ win over the NSW Waratahs, Bower led the home side out onto the park ahead of his 100^th Super Rugby appearance. As a sold-out crowd continued to count down the seconds until kick-off, the Blues joined their opponents out in the middle.

Referee Angus Gardner signalled for the start of this New Zealand derby with the blow of a whistle. But the match couldn’t have started much worse for first five-eighth Rivez Reihana and the Crusaders.

Reihana failed to clear the 10 metres with the initial restart, seeing both forward packs set up for a scrum on halfway. But it was almost ironic that with the Blues’ first chance with the ball, fullback Zarn Sullivan sent a kick into touch on the full.

It was an error-filled opening 90 seconds or so, and that was a sign of things to come for the hosts during the early exchanges. Dallas McLeod was pinned inside the first 10 minutes, which saw Stephen Perofeta take a shot at the sticks.

The Blues took a 3-0 lead in the eighth minute, and the Crusaders had a chance to cancel out that effort soon after. Referee Gardner penalised the Blues, but the Crusaders turned down a possible shot at the uprights, with Reihana instead kicking for the corner.

While the Crusaders did score right away, another infringement against the Blues led Reihana to again aim for the sideline. Leicester Fainga’anuku was involved in a clever set-piece move off the lineout, which saw milestone man Bower crash over.

In 100 games for the Crusaders, this was Bower’s first career try.

Reihana missed the difficult conversion attempt, but the Crusaders were certainly the dominant team during most of the first term. Fainga’anuku got over Caleb Clarke to win a pilfer penalty in the 20^th minute, with the hosts dominating the territory and possession battles.

The Blues continued to leak a series of penalties, with the Crusaders setting up for another maul inside the red zone. This almost led to points, but Fainga’anuku was held up over the line, but the Blues weren’t quite out of danger.

After the dropout, Fainga’anuku got the ball at first receiver, but the backrow-centre hybrid chose to chip the ball ahead. That seemed to catch the Blues off guard, with Sam Nock failing to reel in the ball inside the defensive 22.

Jamie Hannah instead reaped the rewards of the bouncing ball, with the second-rower striving away for the crucial five-pointer. Reihana drilled the conversion attempt through the middle of the posts, extending the Crusaders’ lead to nine.

Fainga’anuku continued to play a central role in all the action, breaking upfield before getting a pass off to Ethan Blackadder. The Crusaders almost built their lead up to beyond two converted tries, but Malachi Wrampling won a pilfer penalty on the Blues’ own line.

That was a turning point.

AJ Lam raced away to score a much-needed try in the 32^nd minute, with Perofeta involved in the impressive counter-attack. That reduced the deficit to just four, and the Blues still had more points in them before the break.

Nock gave the Blues a one-point half-time lead with a try in the 38^th minute. The Blues remained patient in attack and that led to points, with Nock diving through a gap, touching down for the go-ahead score with less than two minutes remaining.

The first half seemed to be all the Crusaders for at least a majority of the 40-minute period, but the Blues made their opportunities count, taking a lead into the sheds. But it didn’t take the home side long to regain control.

After setting up for an attacking lineout inside the red zone, the Crusaders playmakers linked up 10 metres out from the line. Noah Hotham sent a long cut-out pass to Reihana, who threw a dummy before running through a big gap in the Blues defence.

With a big crowd in their corner, the Crusaders seemed to grow in confidence as the match went on. George Bell and Macca Springer helped the Crusaders break from inside their own half into the opposing 22, before replacement Kyle Preston crossed two phases later.

Preston reached out to score in the 51^st minute, with the capped All Black managing to remain inside the field of play. Beauden Barrett and Lam offered efforts in defence but the halfback did enough, as the Crusaders really took control.

Fainga’anuku’s starring performance continued, with the openside sending a kick ahead for Sevu Reece to chase. The all-time leading try-scorer in Super Rugby history added to his career tally, with the ball sitting up fairly perfectly for the winger.

The Crusaders played the final 15 minutes with 14 men after replacement Kurtis MacDonald was shown a red card, following a high ball challenge with Perofeta. MacDonald was initially shown a yellow card under review but that decision was upgraded by the TMO.

Clarke made a break into the red zone, brought down just five metres shy of the try line. The hosts went down to 13 men after Jack Sexton was shown a yellow card, with Hoskins Sotutu scoring immediately afterwards.

Barrett remained cool under pressure, adding the extras to cut the Crusaders’ lead down to just nine with 10 minutes remaining. But a couple of phases after the restart, the Blues were penalised, seeing the Crusaders go for the corner.

But the maul collapsed legally, with the Blues securing a turnover.

The Crusaders regained possession and kept the point-scoring pressure on, with Bell powering over to seal the win in the dying stages. In Bower’s 100th appearance for the club, the Crusaders hung on for an important result at home.