An Australian-record crowd braved the damp Brisbane afternoon to watch 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’ twelfth straight Suncorp win, or just 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 anticipation 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 couple of errors followed as both teams put pressure on each other in defence before Dan Carter was given another shot at goal, which he missed, keeping the score at 3–0.
The pressure of each other’s defences and the grease on the ball from the rain before kick-off lead to a few handling errors as the match settled, but it was clear 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 back of the lineout. Kev passed to Will Genia who put Ben Tapuai through a gap and Taps put the ball down under the black dot. Quade Cooper easily added the extras to put the Reds ahead 7–3.
The try seemed to give the Reds some confidence as they began pressuring the line with much more flare. This pressure forced the Crusaders to infringe at the breakdown. Quade attempted a penalty from a good position, but hit the post and didn’t add the points
As the ebb and flow of the game continued, Robbie Fruean made a break and despite Digby Ioane chasing hard he was able 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 penalty when Wyatt Crockett put his hand on the ground, an offence he had been warned about previously in the match. Quade pushed the shot wide.
During the next play Richie McCaw was given a first final team warning for ruck infringements.
The Crusaders nearly scored another before half-time, with Zac Guilford making a great run down the sideline before chipping ahead and just not being able to ground the ball, instead fumbling it over the sideline in goal.
A penalty 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 second half started well for the Reds when an attacking scrum ball was taken from the back by Radike Samo, who was taken to the ground. Will Genia came to the base of the ruck 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 able to make it to him. Quade added the extras to put the Reds up 14–10.
The Reds were then on their heels defending hard when Beau Robinson left the field with a dislocated elbow, in what looks to be a season-ending injury.
There was then another period of all-out attack, and it was beginning to look a little like it was just a matter of time before the Crusaders broke out. Nothing was quite getting through, but it felt all Crusaders, and they scored the next points when they were awarded a penalty while attacking hard on the Reds’ line. Dan Carter converted it to have the scores 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 lead was to be short-lived: a penalty for McCaw’s hand in the ruck saw Quade slot the penalty to reclaim the lead. The final siren sounded straight after the restart and Will Genia put it straight out.
The crowd 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))
