An avalanche of points to the Crusaders in the second half has awarded them a 52-10 bonus point victory over the Brumbies at Trafalgar Park in Nelson.
Sean Maitland scored four tries for the home side, while Dan Carter converted eight goals. The Brumbies started with an early try to Matt Giteau thanks to a tremendous tackle from Colby Faingaa.
Dan Carter followed with consecutive penalty goals to reduce the margin to one, before Matt Giteau put three on the board with a penalty goal from roughly 43 metres out.
Matt Giteau was yellow carded for obstructing the ball from half-back Andrew Ellis during a ruck.
Carter converted to make it 10-9, but it was soon 16-10 when Sean Maitland scored off a line-break from Andrew Ellis and a great offload from Sonny Bill.
At the start of the second half, three tries in seven minutes sent the score to 40-10.
Maitland got his hat-trick and Sonny Bill scored his second try in two games for the Crusaders. Maitland soon had four as the score was raised to 45 with still half of the second half to be played.
The final 20 were much slower than the previous one, with the only points coming off a try to former Highlander Israel Dagg.
The bonus point win puts the Crusaders second in the New Zealand conference right behind the undefeated Highlanders, while the Brumbies sink lower in the Australian conference.
Crusaders 52 (S Maitland 4, S Williams, I Dagg tries; D Carter 4, Berquist conversions; D Carter 4 penalties) beat Brumbies 10 (M Giteau try; M Giteau conversion; M Giteau penalties)
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