Richie McCaw and Dan Carter have crashed the Brumbies party and ended their Crusaders careers with a 37-24 win over the Brumbies, with Carter contributing 17 points off the boot.
It was a game that saw big hits in defence, the obligatory rolling maul tries from the Brumbies and even two penalty tries awarded by Jaco Peyper.
The result sees the Brumbies finish in sixth place on the ladder with a nervous wait to see if they will travel up the Hume or across the Pacific for next weeks game.
The Match
It didn’t take long for the Brumbies to get open the scoring with the Brumbies taking advantage of a penalty and Nic White kicked to within 5 metres of the line. From that the Brumbies used their main weapon of late and David Pocock scored another his patented rolling maul tries to take his season tally to 8.
The Crusaders showed why they are seven time Champions and hit back almost straight away through giant Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo after Kieran Read juggled an intercept in the lead up. Nadolo couldn’t be stopped from close range despite the attention of Brumbies defenders.
Lealiifano edged the Brumbies back in front with a penalty in front after they couldn’t take advantage of another lineout close to the Crusaders line.
The visitors then had the better of the next period with McCaw and the rest of the Crusaders forwards packs class starting to show in the crucial game and Carter got his side back in front with his second penalty of the half.
They went close to extending their lead through Matt Todd but he was ruled to have lost the ball in attempting to ground the ball but he wouldn’t have to wait too much longer as he dived over from close range.
Just before the half time break, the Crusaders were in again following some magic work from Nadolo down the left wing. He chipped ahead with only the space the size of a phone box and won the race to the ball for his second of the game to give the Crusaders a 21-10 lead at half time.
The Brumbies suffered a blow with Pocock unable to return for the second half and their chances took a hit when Jesse Mogg was yellow carded for knocking the ball down with Crusaders hot on attack.
Carter added another three points to make the gap 14 but their one man advantage wouldn’t last long with Sam Whitelock given a ten minute rest for repeated infringing in their own 22.
From the resulting lineout, the Brumbies went with their main weapon again and Pocock’s replacement Jarrad Butler came up with the Brumbies second five pointer and Lealiifano’s conversion bridged the gap to seven.
The game then started to have a bit of feeling with a few incidents from both sides causing a few questions from the captains for a further look from the TMO but were waved away from Jaco Peyper.
The Crusaders upped the ante again with 20 minutes to go and Carter landed his fourth penalty to make the gap ten points to put the pressure back on the home side.
And they did respond with another penalty kicked to touch following the Crusaders failing to roll away. From the lineout the Brumbies, as usual, engaged the rolling maul but the Crusaders couldn’t hold out and Peyper awarded a penalty try which Lealiifano converted to make the gap only three points with 15 minutes to go.
But it would be that man Richie McCaw with a final say in his Crusaders career, controlling the maul and pressuring the Brumbies into infringing to give Peyper no option but to award a penalty try to make the score 34-24 before a late Dan Carter penalty saw the final score finish at 37-24.
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The Game Changer
The Brumbies were in with a sniff of winning but the Crusaders game smarts saw them kick for touch and the rolling maul try made the gap ten points.
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[one_third last=”no”]
The G&GR MOTM
Nemani Nadolo A big game from the Crusaders winger, abgging a double and a menace every time he ran with the ball.
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[one_third last=”yes”]
Wallaby Watch
David Pocock scored another try but only lasted the first half and went off with concussion.
Ben Alexander had scrum issues up against Wyatt Crockett.
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The Details
Score & Scorers
[one_half last=”no”]BRUMBIES 24
Tries: Pocock, Butler, Penalty try
Conversions: Lealiifano 3
Penalties: Lealiifano
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[one_half last=”yes”]CRUSADERS 37
Tries: Nadolo 2, Todd, Penalty try
Conversions: Carter
Penalties: Carter 5
[/one_half]
Cards
42 mins – Mogg (Brumbies) Yellow
47 mins – Whitelock (Crusaders) Yellow
Crowd: 18,398
