Crusaders tame Lions
The Crusaders overpowered the Lions with four second half tries to claim a 31-6 victory at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.
By Simon Dilger
Last Updated: 12/04/08 10:39am
The Crusaders overpowered the Lions with four second half tries to notch up a 31-6 victory at the AMI Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday.
After a shaky opening period that saw the home side go into half-time trailing 6-3 the Crusaders kicked into gear and put the league strugglers to the sword with a clinical display of finishing.
Lions struck first with a penalty from Chris Jonck just four minutes in but almost immediately gave away an opportunity at the other end after infringing in their own 22.
Hamish Gard duly slotted the kick from in front of the posts to level the scores at 3-3.
On 13 minutes a period of encouraging attacking play finally paid off for the visitors and Jonck was on target again to regain the advantage.
Exquisite
The Lions held on to their slender lead until the break despite Gard spurning the opportunity to draw level with an effort that drifted wide on the stroke of half-time.
With Rayno Benjamin sin binned just before half-time the Crusaders took full advantage of the one man deficit after the restart as they opened up an eight point lead before he returned to the action.
Sean Maitland was the first to touch down for the hosts and less than ten minutes later hooker Ti'i Paulo barged over from a ruck close to the visitors line.
Caleb Ralph was next to put his name on the scorecard before Andy Ellis completed an exquisite move that started deep inside the Crusaders 22 to secure the bonus point.
The win was the eighth in a row for the hosts who, with the result, opened up a commanding seven point gap at the top of the Super 14 table.
