The Crusaders continued to make a strong start to their title defense with a comfortable win over the Stormers on Saturday afternoon.
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Final score
Crusaders 45
Stormers 28
The Crusaders go head to head with the Stormers on Saturday evening in Christchurch as the South African side continue their overseas tour. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEDT.
The tourists are certainly going to have their work cut out for them this round against the current champions. Their performance against the Tahs last week definitely impressed but not enough to suggest that they should really threaten the home side this weekend as long as the locals live up to their potential.
The Stormers do have a strong pack and will be hoping to assert some dominance in the set piece over the Crusaders. But it’s in the backs where they are going to really struggle. Dillyn Leyds will start at No.10 replacing the injured Damian Willemse. Leyds hasn’t played at 10 for the Stormers since May 2017 and while he’s a good instinctive player, he’s going to be under a lot of pressure against the Crusaders at home.
The Stormers – who have made finals five times since 2011 – are one of those good but not great Super Rugby sides. If they want to start turning that around then picking up wins against the top sides overseas is going to be crucial. They arguably should have won last week in Sydney so a strong performance in Christchurch would help make this tour a success in some ways.
The Crusaders picked up a good win against the Chiefs last week but many feel they were lucky and helped by a yellow card late in the game that gave them a penalty try and a man advantage. However it’s worth noting that they themselves had two players sin-binned during the game and were able to stay in touch with the Chiefs despite being down to 14 men.
Their pack is strengthened this week as Barrett joins Whitelock in the second row. If the pack need any more motivation then the announcement earlier this week that prop Wyatt Crockett will retire at the end of this season should be more than enough.
Prediction
Expect to see a passionate performance from the Stormers that ends in another defeat. The Crusaders will be too strong across the park and with the home advantage should pick up their second win of the season.
Crusaders to win by 12 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 5:35pm AEDT on Saturday.
Harry Jones
Expert
Well, we won the second half? 21-14 Hahaha Great team, the defending champs. We not a great team. Not even a good one, yet. But I saw signs of life...
Grent Dosa
Roar Rookie
Mo'unga shoulder charged the head of PSDT, how did the TMO not pick it up he should've seen red.
Yep , gree with that, the Stormers won’t compete for the title if they don’t catch up to the Kiwi sides. I still believe they won’t be the SA conference winners, disaster tour for them thus far
Kia Kaha
Roar Guru
26-0 and it looked ominous. Stormers came back more focused after the break but the damage was done. Crusaders with quite a few injuries. Hurricanes will be travel fatigued. Going to be very close.
Machpants
Roar Guru
The pysio looked pretty fit, he could go on the wing, coach is still young ish.... The number of injuries (with the new ruck laws?) is pretty bad for all teams. The next rwc is basically going to be a test of depth
Machpants
Roar Guru
Great report, exactly as I saw it. Lots of lessons for both sides
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Match Report The Crusaders have beaten the Stormers 45 - 28 in Christchurch in a game that chopped and changed from entertaining to messy to frustrating. The Crusaders blew the traveling Stormers away in the first 20 minutes - four quick tries had the crowd wondering if they were going to see an absolute blow out. The home side were not especially creative in their attack but were truly clinical - almost any chance they got ended up in points for the home side. The Stormers really just made too many mistakes - their line out was unreliable and in the loose they were being turned off far too often. But to be fair they did fight their way back into the match in the second 20 minutes. They played to their strengths and kept the ball in their forwards more often and let them smash away into the Crusaders defence. Eventually the Crusaders couldn’t hold them out and the tourists went over for a try before the half time hooter sounded. At half time it was 31-7 and while the result didn’t look in doubt there was still plenty of room for improvement for both sides. The Stormers made the perfect start and scored quickly with a great break from their own half. They backed this up with another try after 54 minutes and with the Crusaders really struggling to retain any possession and the lead down to 10 the Stormers had their confidence back up. Surely this come back couldn’t go all the way? Well, no. It couldn’t. The Stormers gave away too many penalties and mistakes continued and the Crusaders punched back with two quick tries to take the game well beyond the tourists. Despite that the Stormers didn’t stop fighting and Kitshoff picked up his second try of the season with another strong set of phases through the forwards. They were really at their best when they kept it tight and hammered away but there was no way they were going to beat the Crusaders this way. The Stormers tried a final attack for points as the hooter sounded but they couldn’t execute and the Crusaders picked up an easy enough win in the end and their second victory of the season. There were a surprising number of errors from both sides and each of them struggled to really get any control or rhythm in the game. This will have frustrated the Crusaders most of all as they would have wanted to killed off the Stormers fight back far sooner. For the Stormers it was a bad day overall really. Yes they scored four tries against the reigning champions and showed some real heart but they lost, their line out was really poor and they picked up a bad injury to key player Pieter-Steph du Toit in the second half. There’s obviously a long way to go in the season but we’re seeing the same patterns as usual. The Kiwi sides are looking good and wins on the road are very hard to come by. The Stormers are regarded as a decent South African side but the gap between them and the Kiwi sides is vast.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Full Time 80' - The Crusaders have beaten the Stormers in Christchurch and while the scoreline shows a big gap the home side didn't have things all their own way. The Stormers let the Crusaders get off to too fast start and then could never really claw back the gap. Full match report to come but the Crusaders pick up their second win of the season but will want to improve from here. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Harry Jones
Expert
Will we have 15 to play in Dunedin?
BlackWave
Guest
Nic Berry - Useless.
Oliver Matthews
Expert
80' - Stormers go for a scrum - can they get a shove on? They've got the man advantage in the scrum and they get the ball back and come again to attack but the Crusaders steal the ball on the ground and they get the ball out easily and kick it out as the ref blows the final whistle. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Yellow Card 80' - TMO is watching every angle to see if the Stormers were able to get the ball down - very hard to see with all the bodies. TMO says no clear grounding so they go back to the penalty and actually it's a yellow card and the Crusaders will have to defend this final attack with 13 men. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Penalty 80' - Line out for the Stormers and they are trying to get the maul going. Crusaders try to force it to touch but the Stormers keep going and they get another penalty. They tap and go quickly and they are over but is it held up??? Ref is asking the TMO to have a look but there's another penalty waiting even if it's not given. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Penalty 79' - Stormers have the ball inside the Crusaders 22 and are searching for one final try. They are keeping their forwards working hard and now look for a chip kick over the top but the ref has given a penalty again for the Stormers. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Penalty 76' - Crusaders restart with 3 minutes to go - they've got just 14 men as they haven't brought a sub on for an injury as they've used all their subs. They are keeping the ball well though and still making some ground. But then they give the penalty away at the break down and the Stormers kick deep for one final attacking line out. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Conversion 76' - Conversion successful for the Stormers Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 28
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Try 76' - Stormers still working hard and Kitshoff dives for the line, hits the post and the ref gives the try! The Stormers have been at their most effective when they've kept in their forwards and again here they've done well to keep driving. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 26
Oliver Matthews
Expert
Penalty 75' - Crusaders lose their own line out though and the Stormers have another chance. They are up to 10 metres out from the Saders line and keep putting it through the forwards phase after phase. Penalty for the Stormers and they tap and go. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 21
Oliver Matthews
Expert
74' - Stormers keep coming - they are on the 22 but the Crusaders are defending hard. The Stormers try to go wide but there's no space and the ball is dropped and bobbles out for a Crusaders line out. Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 21
Oliver Matthews
Expert
73' - Stormers though can attack again as they have a line out inside the Crusaders 22. Just a few minutes left here - can the Stormers earn some pride back here with another try? Crusaders: 45 Stormers: 21