The Crusaders have put their Super Rugby Pacific rivals on discover with a ruthless win over the Fijian Drua to strengthen their maintain on second place.
The 61-3 win at Christchurch’s Orangetheory Stadium on Friday went as forecast, their 9 unanswered tries in opposition to the newcomers a useful margin increase as they battle with the Brumbies for second spot.
The perimeters started the penultimate spherical equal on factors, the 9-3 Crusaders with one much less victory however boasting seven useful bonus factors and victory over the Brumbies final weekend.
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The Brumbies should now beat the first-placed Blues in Canberra on Sunday to maintain tempo, a loss all-but confirming a third-place end.
That might arrange a quarter-final in opposition to the sixth-placed workforce, which shall be both NSW Waratahs, who’re sixth on 33 factors or the Queensland Reds who’re seventh on 31.
“Since the Waratahs game (that they lost) and even the Blues we’ve dug deep, looked at ourselves, our game and started to build on the foundation of Crusaders rugby,” captain Scott Barrett mentioned.
“You never forget those sorts of games. The Force, we bounced back and had a challenge last week against the Brumbies and tonight was much tougher than the scoreline suggests.”
The Drua managed to hyperlink phases along with relative consolation, however could not make inroads in opposition to the well-drilled host’s defence.
And their turnovers had been punished, the Crusaders cruising with 4 first-half tries together with a competition-high tenth for Leicester Fainga’anuku in the second minute.
Flanker Tom Christie and Fijian-born All Blacks star Sevu Reece bagged doubles whereas Fergus Burke, at No.10 in place of the rested Richie Mo’unga, scored a attempt to kicked all however one conversion.
The Drua, based mostly predominantly in northern NSW in their debut season, end a marketing campaign subsequent weekend that is yielded two wins in opposition to the Chiefs whereas the Crusaders host the Reds.
“Definitely not our night, but the main thing is to learn from this against a champion side like the Crusaders,” Drua captain Nemani Nagusa mentioned.
“You miss a couple of opportunities and you pay for that. But we’ll finish off against the Chiefs and come back stronger next year.”
