Crusaders down Lions in Super Rugby thriller
By Reuters
Last Updated: 12/04/16 11:24am
Crusaders ran in six tries, including a hat-trick from Ryan Crotty, to defeat the in-form Lions 43-37 in their Super Rugby clash.
It was the second major South African scalp in successive weeks for the New Zealand franchise, who are seven-times past winners of the southern hemisphere competition, after beating the Sharks last weekend.
It took less than a minute for the Crusaders to make their mark as a quick turnover from a counter-attack and a clever skip pass saw Crotty cross the line for his first try.
The Lions scored a try of their own within three minutes through Lionel Mapoe but there was little time to settle as an intercept pass put Johnny McNicholl through and then Wyatt Crockett added a third try for the Crusaders with less than 20 minutes played.
Lions' fly-half Elton Jantjies, returning from injury, stole around the wing to score a clever try and then converted from a tight angle to bring the score back to 19-17 just before the half-hour mark.
Both sides traded penalty kicks as the Crusaders went in at the break with a narrow 22-20 lead.
They were expected to struggle after the turn around in Johannesburg's rarefied air but All Black Crotty showed a clean pair of heels to the home defence with two more tries in the 48th and 51st minutes as the Crusaders ran up a 36-20 lead.
Home hopes flickered briefly when replacement hooker Akker van der Merwe showed the Crusaders he had some pace of his own to go over and reduce the lead to nine points. But almost immediately the Crusaders re-established their superiority with some crisp passing that allowed Mitchell Drummond to make it 43-20.
Van der Merwe scored the 10th try of a pulsating match with 10 minutes left and the Lions kept the pressure on in search of an unlikely come-from-behind win, but a combination of handling errors and stout defence denied them in the end.