Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The Crusaders head into the semis with win over the Sharks

Saturday, June 25, 2011

The Crusaders head into the semis with win over the Sharks

The Canterbury Crusaders put in a strong second half performance to power away from the Sharks and take a convincing 36-8 win in Nelson, qualifying them for the Semi Finals of Super Rugby.

It was a game that had all the makings of a classic, yet the poor handling from both sides amidst dewy conditions meant that progress was hampered and the game failed to flow for the most part. Early on the Sharks won the physical battle, but were the victims of their own demise as they coughed up the ball and failed to make real inroads into the final third.

The Crusaders were typically composed, as they played the percentages and even when Dan Carter missed kicks uncharacteristically, they wore down their opponents and capitalised on their chances later in the match. "It took a bit of time, we knew that was going to be the case but the guys just stuck to it," captain Kieran Read said after the game.

Their was some controversy surrounding some of the calls from referee Bryce Lawrence, but the Sharks themselves will know that the challenge facing them over in New Zealand was a massive one. The home side now have to do a similar trek, as they will have to travel to Cape Town to face the Stormers in the semi final next weekend.

"It's just part of this journey these boys have created this season and we want to do well over there (in South Africa) and hopefully get another win under our belts."

Sharks captain Stefan Terblanche was gracious in defeat. "We would have liked to have gone on further but we came up against a championship team tonight.

"They've had a lot of adversity, a lot of difficulty outside of rugby. For a team to come together the whole season, not to play one home game all season, well, the Sharks wish them all the very best," he said, referring to the Crusaders not having a regular home ground.

Time: 04:13

faaayeeerst

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 12:12 am
wooo

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 12:12 am
I had much respect for SBW but that's all gone after that dive! What a fag!

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 12:24 am
bahahahahahahahahahaha someone sounds bitter.

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 12:35 am
geez timaru or wherever that was you want super rugby brought to the provinces and you cant even fill out your stadium for a finals game

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 1:46 am
seriously, rugby doesn't need glory-boy ballerinas who go down like they've been shot by the mystery sniper. (rugbydump please get the clip, or the photo; it's comedy gold). it's a shame he ruined a good performance with such pathetic theatricals though, and anyone who ignores it is clearly just a SBW fanboy. Hats off to the 'Saders though, they know how to win the crunch games! next week at Newlands will be epic!

By Tom H, at June 26, 2011 2:11 am
Sharks played shit, they deserved to lose.

By Anonymousity, at June 26, 2011 2:41 am
you have to kind of see the funny side of it though haha. even he looked surprised the cheeky prick

By Johnson, at June 26, 2011 3:55 am
The game was sold out, alot of seats are empty i presume because most season ticket holders would be from christchurch and as such would struggle to make these away/home games.

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 5:53 am
Stefan Terblanche = pure class

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 6:48 am
Agreed -- Terblanche is a class act, pure and simple. Also agree Lawrence wasn't good, but frankly S15 has had some atrociously bad refereeing this year -- think of some of Stu Dickinson's "performances."

Either way, the Saders were simply the better side. Newlands should be interesting this week. A very depleted Saders side already took one earlier this year, the Stormers should have plenty of motivation.

By Douglas, at June 26, 2011 7:34 am
From my european and therefore somewhat neutral point of view, the refereeing was a bit unfavorable to the Sharks. The Sharks however made a lot of dumb mistakes that were rightly punished by. The Crusaders on the other hand were more disciplined, played much more like a unified team, and were better as a result. Carter didn't seem very involved in the game.

By moddeur, at June 26, 2011 11:49 am
Anybody who watched the game... What was with that penalty call against Beast at scrum time when the ref blowed him for dangerous play because of movement????? Even the Kiwi commentators laughed at that decision

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 12:51 pm
i think it was because the mark was there and he was here lmao...ref was bias but the team that made the least mistakes won which is fair.and sbw should go play soccer after that dive. UP THE STORMERS!!!!!!

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 1:05 pm
The Sharks only looked dangerous when Michalak came off, Lambie moved into first receiver and Jacobs started getting over the gain line. If they had started like they finished they may have had more of a chance, the backs gave the forwards nothing which is a shame because they are a good team. Crusaders looking pretty good though, if they get a ref like that every week they will be untouchable

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 3:27 pm
Another point, I'm not a huge fan of the South African teams, but it seems like the Aus and NZ refs always give them a hard time. SH perspective on this anyone?

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 3:28 pm
abit of a disappointing game after their match at twickenham

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 4:27 pm
Fucking terrible reffing, as usual its anti saffa!

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 4:51 pm
No question which side deserved to win, Sharks made too many basic errors, but the reffing was abysmal.

The penalty given against Beast should be run on RD as exhibit A of why not to appoint crap refs for big games.

By edbok, at June 26, 2011 7:02 pm
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels Bryce Lawrence is an awful referee.

This match in particular, yeah, but he's always a marginal referee at best. Overly pedantic is his m.o. and yet he still blows his whistle willy-nilly and gives half-assed reasons for awarding penalties.

When I look up upcoming games, and I see his name as the match referee, that right there means chances are it'll be a dull, referee-dictated game.

Somewhat related to that: Terblanche may be a good player (especially given his age), and a good sport even when his team loses, but he is one heck of a little bitch when it comes to talking with referees. Every time he talks with one, he's as whiny as a goddamn scrumhalf. Jaysus! Team captains ought to take lessons from McCaw and Smit on how they should talk to referees if they want the ref to take them seriously.

(PS - where has Mark Lawrence been? He and Craig Joubert are the two top SH referees, but I've only the latter recently.)

By red, at June 26, 2011 8:17 pm
case in point being the u20's game, which NZ are about to win based off some very dubious penalties

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 8:43 pm
Well done to the Crusaders. Quality performance. Which is more than one can say for Bryce Lawrence. Surely one of the top three shit reffing performances of the season. Dangerous play penalty before the scrum even engages? Not to mention falling for SBW's fairy dive. What a wally.

By katman, at June 26, 2011 8:57 pm
wow theres a lot of sore losing going on.

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 10:41 pm
and a lot of bad winning...

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 11:34 pm
I think it's unfair to blame the outcome of the match on the ref alone. Although he did have some shifty decisions going the Crusaders way, they still played better and deserved the win.

I still think though that SANZAR should stop appointing hometown refs, especially at the finals stage. It simply puts unnecessary additional pressure on the refs.

I don't think the South African teams were the only ones to suffer from these kinda calls though. The Tahs were hard done by the ref in at least one game of their South Africa tour by a South African ref.

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 11:46 pm
^^no ones even bragged about winning so not sure what your on. Just a lot of blaming the ref.

By Anonymous, at June 26, 2011 11:56 pm
^No one has blamed the ref for the loss, either.

Just pointed out that he was awful.

The Crusaders totally shut the Sharks down; there's no denying that.

But that doesn't mean people can't ridicule Lawrence for his crap performance. Yeah, referees make mistakes - it's part of being human - but Bryce Lawrence is just one of those refs that I dread seeing call a game. You just know something stupid will happen with him at the helm.

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 12:06 am
^^ especially saffa fans who look for any old excuse to show why they lost rather than just admit it wasn't their day!

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 3:55 am
Cant believe the bitching, moaning and crying on this site...Cry me a river, build a bridge and get over it you fucken' babies.

And don't even start with the anti-SA conspiracy theories...Unbelievable!

Pull your skirt back down, grow a set man...

By Flip V, at June 27, 2011 4:27 am
RUGBYDUMP PLEASE CAN YOU UPLOAD THE VIDEO OF SONNY BILLS 'RONALDO' DIVE!?!?!?!?!?!?! THE ONE WHERE HE MILKS A PENALTY!?!?!?!?!

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 6:54 am
stupid fat midget ref

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 6:55 am
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghh!!! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghh!!!
The referee!!!
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghh!!!

By Poofter, at June 27, 2011 7:34 am
JP Pieterson is the filthiest back in world rugby, SBW milked that penalty but JP grabbed his jersey and obstructed... Anyone who disagrees needs their vision checked!

Good to see SBW dice up yet another South African team... So much for reading his offloads (4 line breaks, 6 broken tackles, 1 try and almost a try-assist) I think he herd your muppet national coach yapping and took notice!

So far only the Cheetahs made an impact on him and we all know there are 2 many white boys in that team and won't fit your national race quota!

Suckerrrss

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 7:34 am
Trolls. What are they good for?

By Greiffel, at June 27, 2011 7:39 am
Where's the crowd?

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 11:25 am
Can we get a kiwi point of view on sonny bill's "dive"? I'm in the NH and missed the game so I'm wondering did he dive or was it a borderline thing?.

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 12:06 pm
>> Can we get a kiwi point of view on sonny bill's "dive"?

Here's how the NZ Herald reported it:

"he managed to milk a penalty when he went all dying swan after a fair collision with JP Pietersen."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/super-15/news/article.cfm?c_id=331&objectid=10734586

By edbok, at June 27, 2011 12:27 pm
Yeah he definitely milked it although he was blatantly stopped from chasing the ball.

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 3:00 pm
Even the kiwi commentators laughed at his dive

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 3:29 pm
Bryce Lawrence should date SBW, Sheep shaggers! Spoilt the Crusaders splendid performance!

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 4:02 pm
South Africa carries this tournament in terms of revenue. Kiwi's can't even fill a 25 seater stadium for the finals series and the Aussies are too busy playing other sports.
Get out of this stupid biased Sanzar rubbish and put more effort into the Currie Cup!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Anonymous, at June 27, 2011 7:28 pm
Do that an Newscopr will just stop paying South Africa.
The Currie Cup is good, but not nearly as appealing to broadcasters and advertisers as Super Rugby.
It would cripple south Africa financially, and they know that.
It's why they tried to get involved in Europe, because they need international competition to get the revenue they need.
But Europe basically told them to get fucked, so SANZAR it is.

By Anonymous, at June 28, 2011 1:48 am
the guy who say saffas are looking for excuses is a chump as we all know the kiwis blame everything butt themselves when they lose,i should know because i live in nz.and saffas blame their team probs more than an other country so i think u should stfu.u obviously know nothing about rugby and countries that play

By Anonymous, at June 28, 2011 7:27 am
what is it with new zealand supporters, 16000 show up to a semi final to what everyone down south calls the best competition in the world

By Anonymous, at June 29, 2011 6:14 am
^^^I didn't know crowd numbers determine the quality of a Rugby competition.

+ S15 get bigger crowds than any comp (excluding Int) in the North.

So, find another way to be a wanker...

By BigMeyer, at June 30, 2011 5:01 am