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Remarkable injury-time Hunt drop-goal keeps Crusaders rolling on

By Harry West
Crusaders celebrate Mitchell Hunt’s injury-time drop-goal

Mitchell Hunt landed a monster drop-goal in the third minute of injury time as Crusaders made it 14 from 14 this Super Rugby season with a dramatic 25-22 win over Highlanders.

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Crusaders’ perfect record looked like coming to an end at unlucky 13 when they trailed 22-19 with three minutes to go at AMI Stadium on Saturday.

Hunt slotted a penalty to bring the scores level, but missed with another effort from the tee as the end of the 80 minutes approached.

But from the restart and with the clock having gone red, Crusaders went through 18 phases before Hunt, under pressure from two attempted charge-downs, thumped over a stunning drop from beyond the 10-metre line to spark scenes of jubilation among players and fans alike.

Crusaders had led 19-10 at the interval, a brace of Waisake Naholo tries early in the second period edging Highlanders ahead before Hunt capped a dramatic finale – the fly-half conceding afterwards he was surprised to see his effort go over.

“Wyatt Crockett turned around and said ‘do something with it’ and there wasn’t anything else I could do,” he said. “For a short player I can hardly punt it that far so I was pretty lucky with that kick.”

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In a tightly-contested New Zealand conference, Chiefs and Hurricanes continued their strong seasons with respective wins over Waratahs and Western Force.

Hurricanes ran out 34-12 winners over the struggling Force, but that result belied the story of the match.

The Canes were pinned back on their own line for long periods, and were only 17-7 ahead with the hosts continuing to hammer on the door, before three late tries in the space of five minutes gave the final result a deceptively lop-sided look.

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Chiefs looked home and hosed when they romped into a 32-3 lead early in the second half, only for the Tahs to storm back and reduce the arrears to 39-31, before James Lowe completed his hat-trick to secure a 46-31 success.

“It would have been even better if we had been able to get a bonus point out of that. In patches we played pretty well but again the consistency in performance is letting us down,” said Aaron Cruden.

Meanwhile, Brumbies – who announced this week that Dan McKellar will take over from the departing Stephen Larkham as head coach from next season – routed Rebels 32-3.

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Adrian 1 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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Trevor 3 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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B
Bull Shark 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

29 Go to comments
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