The Crusaders have made their city proud with a convincing 33-18 upset over the Waratahs on Friday night. And Sonny Bill Williams topped off his Super Rugby debut with a try.
The Waratahs were the first on the board, with Tom Carter scoring in the corner.
Two penalties from Dan Carter put the home side back in the lead. Luke Burgess got the Tahs’ second five pointer, but it was a double in the space of four minutes by Crusaders centre Robbie Fruean that saw the Crusaders take the half-time lead 26-13.
Sonny Bill rampaged through the Waratahs defense to score a try two minutes into the second half. A late consilation try to Afa Pakalani reduced the defict to 15 points as the Crusaders cruised to victory, 33-18.
TembaVJ
Guest
Good old OJ please explain how what I said has anything to do with being south african, or do you just like to point out peoples origins to discredit them... sort of racist he? Anyways saffer or not this author has serious SBW blinkers on, fact the Crusaders were favs with the bookies (they make a rather decent living from it) and SBW was not the star of the show, there were other that deserve the praise more.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Being a starting Wallaby is quite irrelevant because the last Wallaby international was months ago. The key fact is that the Waratahs XV had roughly 330 Australian Test caps. The starting Waratahs pack has more Test caps than the current England starting XV. Does that count for nothing?
Marissa
Guest
PK you can try and manipulate the thread however you like but reality is the Waratahs are one of if not the strongest team on paper in Australia. Let's compare them to the Highlanders who just nailed the defending champions Springbulls at home at Loftus without any stars with the exception of Cowan. Like I said bitter pill to swallow?
PeterK
Roar Guru
I have shown time and again that the Tahs are NOT stacked with Talent, at full strength they have 5 starting wallabies, with Barnes and Palu out that was reduced to 3. Thats Robinson, Mitchell and Beale. That is NOT stacked with talent. I cant help that the press always overhype the Tahs, probably for sensationalsim and to gain popularity.
Marissa
Guest
PK I love it how you try to cover all your bases with your posts. The Crusaders may have been the bookies favourites but they were far from the experts favourites. The endless rants and Tah praising about being the team to beat, real contenders and such in these threads only proves that. The Crusaders were missing McCaw and Guilford but of course that doesn't fit with your argument. The Tahs are stacked with talent and they crumbled under immense pressure. Oh that's right it was the refs fault wasn't, or was it that the Tahs gave up and would've+won+had+they+played+full+strength.+Bitter+pill+time+to+swallow!+
PeterK
Roar Guru
The Crusaders were easily the bookies favourite. Crusaders have a lot more stars and more depth. They can easily cover a top player being out. Losing the playmaker and best ball carrying forward and then the next best forward early in the macth hurt a lot more. I have said Crusaders have been the favourites for the super rugby all season.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
Not that it makes what Peter said any less transparent, but McCaw was meant to skip this game anyway, no?
thewoodster
Guest
Sunny showed some good touches but was not my pick for player of the match. that would have to go to the saders new 7 who showed some class and speed good to see, but hopefully we can get a fully fit mccaw back soon even though i barrack for the jaffas. the ultimate prize is the wc. On another level how awsome is this centre pairing for the saders, this is going to be great for the selectors if fruean keeps playing like this. The potential is an unstoppable force. Ma'a and conrad are looking over their shoulders, but its all good.
Jerry
Guest
Fair enough, but when I'm talking favourites, I don't generally mean in terms of bookies odds as the totalisator factor (eg odds shifting to account for the money being bet) skews the results. As you were.
Jerry
Guest
And the Crusaders had no injuries of course. It's not like they were missing the best player in the world or anything....
Colin N
Guest
"I’m pretty sure it was an upset win mate because they had only played one match before this which they lost." If the Crusaders had lost five in a row and the Waratahs won five then it would have been upset, but you said it yourself, the Crusaders had only played one match and on paper have the best team in the competition.
therookie
Roar Pro
I'm pretty sure it was an upset win mate because they had only played one match before this which they lost. SBW may have been bad for the first 15 mins but after that he played excellently. I din't see him miss one tackle and was never out of position. And I did watch the game. Did you? I'm pretty sure a 5 year old couldn't score a try in super rugby. It was his size and pace that got him the try. Try is spelled try not tri thank you. He was one one of the best on the field. I admit Fruean played a really good match and may have been a tiny bit better than SBW but it doesn't matter. And next time you complain, know your facts. Matt Todd is not McCaws replacement, his name is Matt Todd.
PeterK
Roar Guru
How can it be an upset. Crusaders were raging favourites. They have stars all over the team, Tahs were injury depleted, and Crusaders are at home.
PeterK
Roar Guru
Fruean starred, SBW played a support role.
Jerry
Guest
Wouldn't say hopeless. He was looking like he was gonna have a shocker Super debut after the first 1/4, but he played a good role in the Crusaders fight back, scoring one try and throwing the final pass for another. Wouldn't say he 'starred', that would go to Tood, Whitelock (George), Fruean, Crockett and Thorn but he was a long way from hopeless.
Mick Gold Coast QLD
Roar Guru
Jamesb - I've watched it twice and barely noticed Todd (a good sign). I could not distiguish any forward playing better than any other for the Crusaders, they were on song collectively and individually. The No 6 Whitelock is regarded over there as sub All Black quality yet he plays that well every week as Canterbury captain. This performance did not rely on individuals being outstanding throughout eg. Reid or Whitelock (the tall other one) :) . They simply clicked into gear as a well oiled machine - especially so in their splendid scrummaging. Lord, they flogged the Waratahs there. That difference, of confident teamwork, distinguishes them from the Australian emphasis on individually brilliant messiahs and generates the power that you correctly indentify as the struggle ahead for the Wallabies. What I've seen of England in the Six Nations demonstrated similar cohesiveness.
Adrian
Guest
Williams stars???????? On that form I hope he plays for the All Blacks in the world cup he was hopeless last night. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Jamesb
Guest
SBW had a mixed match and threw 3 horror passes in the first 15 mins. He hasn't played since Nov '10 so was rusty and took a while to get up to speed. Settled in well later in the match and made some nice touches. What the match showed was that Fruen and Todd are AB's in the making, though too early to say if they will make RWC2011 squad, but I've always been a fan of a few bolters who are unknown to a large degree. They both certainly look the business. Again the Aussies found the physicality of the NZ teams hard to match for the full 80 mins, and this is where the Wallabies will again struggle this year against the likes of England, South Africa and NZ.
stu
Guest
Jerry I noticed the odds before the match - the crusaders were at $1.47 and the waratahs were $2.52 - bookies don't generally ignore external inflence when they assign odds.
Jerry
Guest
Favourites? In normal circumstances maybe, but in case you haven't notices they had a bit of a disrupted build up.