An Australian-record crowd braved the damp Brisbane afternoon to learn the much-anticipated clash between the table topping Reds and the Crusaders. Whether they had come riding a red bandwagon, come to see Sonny Bill Williams, come anticipating being there for the Reds` twelfthstraight Suncorp win, or simply because they don`t get to see the Crusaders much since moving over with the family, it didn`t matter - they had come.
Just as the expectation had reached a peak, Dan Carted kicked off; it was taken cleanly by the Reds and kicked straight out by Quade, ensuring it went into the crowd. From the line-out the Crusaders spun it before Sonny Bill put it down with his first touch. The Crusaders used their dominant scrum and were rewarded with a penalty, which Dan Carter kicked.
A match of errors followed as both teams put pressure on each other in defence before Dan Carter was granted another crack at goal, which he missed, keeping the mark at 3-0.
The force of each other`s defences and the dirt on the globe from the rain before kick-off pass to a few handling errors as the couple settled, but it was clearly the two teams were very evenly matched, both getting break-outs but not being able to convert.
This continued until the Reds pulled a nice line-out move, with Saia Faingaa throwing the long ball to James Horwill who was waiting out the game of the lineout. Kev passed to Will Genia who put Ben Tapuai through a gap and Taps put the ball down below the dark dot. Quade Cooper easily added the extras to put the Reds ahead 7-3.
The try seemed to feed the Reds some confidence as they began pressuring the air with lots more flare. This pressure forced the Crusaders to conflict at the breakdown. Quade attempted a penalty from a sound position, but hit the place and didn`t add the points
As the ebb and fall of the plot continued, Robbie Fruean made a separate and despite Digby Ioane chasing hard he was capable to off-load to Brent Ward who ran it in for a try. Dan Carter converted making the score 10-7 to the Crusaders.
The Reds struck back and after pressuring the line hard, Beau Robinson was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum, the Reds were awarded a punishment when Wyatt Crockett put his hand on the ground, an offense he had been warned about previously in the match. Quade pushed the shot wide.
During the following play Richie McCaw was granted a first final team warning for ruck infringements.
The Crusaders nearly scored another before half-time, with Zac Guilford making a big run down the pursuit before chipping ahead and only not being able to establish the ball, instead fumbling it ended the pursuit in goal.
A punishment to the Reds just after the half-time hooter was pushed wide by Quade Cooper so the Reds went to the sheds behind 7-10.
The 2nd half started well for the Reds when an attacking scrum ball was taken from the game by Radike Samo, who was interpreted to the ground. Will Genia came to the foundation of the herd to clear the ball. When he looked up, he realised there were no defenders on the blind, so he ran it in and grounded before the only cover defender in Zac Guilford was capable to draw it to him. Quade added the extras to put the Reds up 14-10.
The Reds were so on their heels defending hard when Beau Robinson left the arena with a dislocated elbow, in what looks to be a season-ending injury.
There was then another point of all-out attack, and it was first to see a little care it was simply a count of time before the Crusaders broke out. Nothing was quite getting through, but it felt all Crusaders, and they scored the following points when they were awarded a penalty while attacking hard on the Reds` line. Dan Carter converted it to give the loads at 14-13 to the Reds.
The Crusaders quickly made their way back into the Reds` territory and they got an attacking scrum five metres out and just off centre field. They pushed hard for a pushover try, but were instead awarded a penalty. Carter kicked it to put the Crusaders back in the lead.
The power Dan Carter saw the game continue to be played in the Reds` half, but the wind was to be short-lived: a punishment for McCaw`s hand in the ruck saw Quade slot the punishment to reclaim the lead. The final siren sounded straight after the resume and Will Genia put it true out.
The crew was 48,301, a new Australian Super Rugby crowd record.
Will Genia was named Man of the Match.
Reds 17 (Try: Tapuai, Genia Con: Cooper (2) Pen: Cooper) defeat Crusaders 16 (Try: Ward Con: Carter Pen: Carter (3))
No comments:
Post a Comment