Crusaders keep playoff hopes alive with 43-10 win over Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The defending champion Crusaders will stay in the playoff race in Super Rugby Pacific at least for another day after a 43-10, bonus-point win over Moana Pasifika on Friday.
The seven tries to one win was the Crusaders’ fourth of the season and lifted them into eighth place at the start of the final regular-season round. The top eight teams go on to next weekend’s quarterfinals.
But matches on Saturday between the Fijian Drua and Melbourne Rebels and the Western Force and ACT Brumbies could drop the Crusaders out of the top eight and end their run of seven consecutive Super Rugby titles.
The fact the Crusaders are still in with a chance of making the playoffs is remarkable enough. They didn’t win a match until the sixth round of the season when they upset the Hamilton-based Chiefs and their playoff bid only coalesced last weekend when they shocked the top-ranked Blues.
Three of the Crusaders’ four wins this season have come against teams which have locked in playoff spots. Friday’s win gave them 24 championship points and put them three points ahead of the Drua who face the Rebels in Lautoka, Fiji where they are unbeaten this season.
“It will be the first time I’ve been cheering for an Australian team,” Crusaders captain Codie Taylor said. “It’s unique.
“Now we’ve done everything we can and we can only wait. Finals footy, we love it and we want to be in it. The season that’s been hasn’t really set us up the way we wanted to but we’ve still got a chance.”
The Crusaders leaned heavily on their set piece, especially in the first half when three of their four tries came from lineout drives. Two of those went to Taylor who now has 44 tries in Super Rugby, the most by a tight forward.
The Crusaders led 26-10 at halftime and used the ball more expansively in the second half, emphasizing counter-rucking and recoverable kicks.
After Taylor and backrower Ethan Blackadder scored through forward power in the first half, veteran center Ryan Crotty scored just before halftime in what will be his last home match for the Crusaders and perhaps his last match if Saturday’s matches don’t favor the Crusaders.
Tries after halftime were scored by backs Noah Hotham, Dallas McLeod and Macca Springer.
Friday's match will definitely be the last at home and might be the last overall for Crusaders props Joe Moody and Owen Franks. Franks will immediately transition to a coaching role, joining Eddie Jones in Japan as scrum coach for the Japan national team.
The match was definitely the last in Super Rugby for former Wallabies Sekope Kepu and Christian Leali’ifano who have ended their careers with Moana Pasifika. Leali’ifano has come to the end of a 16-year Super Rugby career, spent mostly with the ACT Brumbies and which now tallies 180 games.
Kepu made his Super Rugby debut in 2014 and won a title that year with the New South Wales Waratahs. He ends with more than 150 Super Rugby appearances.
In the other match Friday at Sydney, the Queensland Reds edged the last-place New South Wales Waratahs 27-26 on a late Tom Lynagh penalty goal. The fifth-place Reds will head to the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island next weekend to face the fourth-place Chiefs in a quarterfinal.
___
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
