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Watch: Richie Mo'unga's stunning individual try rivalled by Brumbies fullback Tom Banks' 'worldly' effort
A sloppy opening half full of scrums in the Crusaders opening Super Rugby Trans-Tasman game against the Brumbies was quickly brought to life by flyhalf Richie Mo’unga, who managed to skip past four Brumbies defenders.
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Some slick Crusaders passing opened the scoring through Ethan Blackadder early, offering viewers the impression that the floodgates would open after the opening two Trans-Tasman contents.
However, the game quickly descended into a slow and laborious game of scrum and scrum resets enabling the Brumbies to keep things close, even taking the lead when Scott Sio crashed over from close range.
On the half hour mark, Richie Mo’unga sparked the Crusaders into life with some individual brilliance, side-stepping past multiple Brumbies on the way to a clear path to the try line.
Faking a kick, Mo’unga pivoted off the right foot as the Brumbies’ blind side contingent overcommitted breaking off the scrum, slicing through straight up the middle.
? It’s Richie’s world, we just live in it.. #CRUvBRU #SuperRugbyTT
MATCH CENTRE: https://t.co/1RyOXQ8gJP pic.twitter.com/xatB2MShMH
— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) May 15, 2021
First five Noah Lolesio, halfback Ryan Lonergan and blind side flanker Henry Stowers were all left behind without putting a finger on the Crusaders’ 10.
Richie Mo'unga's acceleration of the mark is crazy.
Switches to the blindside of the scrum to create a 1v1, ends up having an extra defender follow him across and still beats 4 defenders to score with the backrow coming off the scrum.#CRUvBRU #SuperRugbyTransTasman pic.twitter.com/DQRrh36klD
— EK Rugby Analysis (@ek_rugby) May 15, 2021
#CRUvBRU This game is using the 80/20 rule. 80% for scrum/scrum resets and the other 20% is Mo'unga running the show. ?????
— ?? Joe (@joenotaverage) May 15, 2021
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Richie Mo’unga is so good it’s actually a joke ? #CRUvBRU
— Mark Docherty (@mark_docherty99) May 15, 2021
Mo'unga is playing a different game from everyone else at the moment.
Someone has passed him the cheat codes. #CRUvBRU
— Matt (@M0_wen) May 15, 2021
It looked like the Crusaders would then pile up a big score on the Brumbies as second five David Havili snatched an intercept minutes before the half to extend the lead to 19-7.
The Brumbies fought back, scoring first in the second half and coming within two points with a Noah Lolesio penalty goal.
Two more tries to the Crusaders seemed like the game was dead and buried at 31-17 before some magic from Wallaby fullback Tom Banks gave the Australians a sniff.
The Brumbies fullback produced a stunning long-range effort from a set-piece play, rivalling Richie Mo’unga’s own effort from the first half by shaking off three would-be tacklers.
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After beating centre Braydon Ennor one-on-one on the outside, Banks looked to link up with his support but ended up crashing through the two cover tackles of George Bridge and replacement halfback Ere Enari, coming out the other side of the collision as the only one on his feet.
? Banks delivers the goods #CRUvBRU #SuperRugbyTT
MATCH REPORT: https://t.co/1RyOXQ8gJP pic.twitter.com/JDAmZIw2Ob
— RUGBYcomau (@rugbycomau) May 15, 2021
Former All Black Justin Marshall claimed that ‘you won’t see too many better than that’ after Banks’ solo effort put the Brumbies back in the game.
The Brumbies scored a last-minute try through Rob Valetini which gave them a chance to salvage a draw, but the sideline conversion from Noah Lolesio failed to find it’s mark leaving the visitors two points shy.
TRY! @BrumbiesRugby strike…. Great set peace move and Tom Banks rips the @crusadersrugby defence to shreds. 7 point game now with 6 min to go. Game on #SuperRugbyTransTasman #CRUvBRU
— Andrew Maseko (@NqobileMaseko) May 15, 2021
That's an absolute worldy by Banks #CRUvBRU
— Jack Counsell (@JackCounsell) May 15, 2021
that was impressive from tom banks and keeping the saders from a bonus point (for now) #CRUvBRU
— kirst ? (@fornairobi) May 15, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments