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Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams inspired the Crusaders to a 44-28 win over the Sharks in an historic Super Rugby fixture at Twickenham on Sunday.
In the first Super Rugby game played in the northern hemisphere, Carter scored 22 points including a try before limping off in the 62nd minute, while Williams showed European fans what they can expect in the World Cup by displaying his full range of offloading and ball-running skills.
The Crusaders scored five tries to four from the Sharks for their fourth win of the campaign, and quelled a mini-revival from the South Africans in the second half when they came back from 34-10 down to reduce the gap to just nine points with half an hour left.
But the Crusaders could count the cost of the match with Carter and acting captain Keiran Read both failing to finish the game with Read only lasting until half-time before being injured.
A crowd of 35,094 helped raise fund for the Christchurch earthquake relief effort and the Crusaders treated them to a scintillating display of running rugby in a four-try first half.
Carter and Williams were at the heart of most of the Crusaders’ attacking moves with a Williams offload and a Carter inside ball setting up Sean Maitland.
Williams was the provider again on 21 minutes when his break and pass put Carter over under the posts and Israel Dagg rounded off a sweeping move before Carter’s touchline conversion put the Crusaders 27-10 up.
Carter built on the efforts of his forwards, who gave the Sharks a torrid time in the scrum, and Zac Guildford stretched their lead when he sidestepped Ryan Kankovski and evaded the tackle of Odwa Ndungane to put the Crusaders 24 points in front before the Sharks staged a comeback.
Fly-half Jacques-Louis Potgieter ran through some soft tackling just before the break and further scores from Ndungane and Alistair Hargreaves gave them hope of pulling off a remarkable comeback win.
With Carter off, and Williams lucky to escape a yellow card for a shoulder charge, the Crusaders put the game to bed with Maitland’s second touchdown in the 66th minute.
The Sharks refused to give up and Keegan Daniel chased down opposite number George Whitelock to pull off a try-saving tackle two minutes from time when flanker Whitelock had the line in sight after a 50 metre gallop.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.