George Bridge © Getty Images
Sat, 29 Apr 2017 | 16:06
The Crusaders kept their unbeaten record as they scored seven tries to demolish the Toyota Cheetahs 48-21 in a highly dramatic Vodacom Super Rugby match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Kiwis made it nine from nine as they continued to dominate the competition, and ran the Cheetahs ragged in a game the home side will want to forget as quickly as possible.
Despite an iffy TMO call that changed the complexion of the game, the Cheetahs had themselves to blame as they missed no less than 43 tackles on an evening where they needed to go head to head with the competition’s best.
George Bridge scored a hat-trick and David Havili, who would later claim the man of the match award, scored a brace as the Crusaders dominated every single facet and made a mockery of the Cheetahs defence throughout the night.
It was clear early on, but the Cheetahs continued to try to go toe-to-toe with the Crusaders, but in the second half their poor tackling caught up with them as they were blown apart by a superior Crusaders attack that carved open their defence.
To be fair to the Cheetahs, they got the bad end of a poor decision just before halftime – which turned into a 14-point turnaround – and could have seen them being much more competitive in the match.
It came as the home side seemed to have scored through winger Sergeal Petersen – from a break by Ox Nche which put the ball on Petersen’s chest as the winger ran the try in. But TMO Johan Greeff saw it differently, ruling a forward pass when television replays showed Nche’s hands were backwards and the ball moved backwards into Petersen’s grasp. Either way, even the most liberal look at the replay would hardly have said there was “clear and compelling evidence” as Greeff put it to referee Federico Anselmi.
The disallowed try and the try by David Havili shortly afterwards meant the Cheetahs went into the halftime break 22-7 instead of a possible 15-14 deficit.
In the second half the wheels truly came off, as the Crusaders steamed forward to rack in try after try after the Cheetahs’ defence disintegrated.
Nche and Petsersen were ironically the best two players on the field for the Cheetahs, and both deserved better for their contribution than they received. Both eventually got tries, although the bad taste of the result would hardly have given them anything to celebrate.
Defence – the same stat that has been the problem for the Cheetahs through their Super Rugby history – was again the culprit on the evening.
No less than four players – Petersen, Francois Venter, Raymond Rhule and Niel Marais missed five tackles each. Nche missed four with Clayton Blommetjies missing three. While it may be too simplistic to say the holes came out wide, these stats are a telling part of why the home team simply wasn’t up to the punch when it came to stopping the Crusaders attack.
At times it looked ridiculously easy for the Crusaders to unlock the defence, with Richie Mo’unga’s try coming without a hand being placed on him in anger.
The scary side of it all was just how easy the Crusaders made it look, and in light of the Stormers’ problems in Dunedin some 36 hours earlier, just what it means for the depth of South African rugby.
But as defence coaches will remind you, defence is an attitude and the lack of it on display on Saturday night says a lot about where the Cheetahs are mentally right now.
SCORERS
Toyota Cheetahs – tries: Raymond Rhule, Ox Nche, Sergeal Petersen. Conversions: Niel Marais (3).
Crusaders – tries: George Bridge (3), David Havili (2), Richie Mo’unga, Mitchell Drummond. Conversions: Mo’unga (5). Penalty: Mo’unga.
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