Lions wounded by Crusaders
Crusaders powered up to fourth-place in the Super 14 table after a convincing 32-20 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg.
Last Updated: 01/05/09 5:36pm
Canterbury Crusaders powered up to fourth-place in the Super 14 table after a convincing 32-20 bonus-point victory over the Lions in Johannesburg.
Isaac Ross, Stephen Brett, Brad Thorn and Daniel Perrin all crossed for the visitors, with Jano Vermaak, Johan Christaan van Deventer and Anton van Zyl replying for the hosts, who remain in 12th place after their eighth loss.
Against the run of play, the Crusaders managed to score with their first move of the game when Leon MacDonald sent Colin Slade down the left and he picked out Ross for the opening try which MacDonald converted.
Despite the early setback, the home side hit straight back just six minutes later when Andre Pretorius kicked forward and collected before sending Vermaak in on the right.
Pretorius slotted over the extras, before missing the next conversion opportunity, which came after debutant Van Deventer's excellent footwork and pace saw him dart in after 20 minutes.
Lions held a 12-7 lead at that stage and the visitors wasted no time in responding - Brett charging down a Pretorius clearance and then regathering to stroll over on 26 minutes.
Hungrier
MacDonald's conversion put the Crusaders ahead on the half-hour mark and added another penalty to stretch the lead even further.
The Lions did manage to pull three points back courtesy of Pretorius' first penalty of the day to trail 17-15 at the break.
The next score was always going to be important and, despite both sides finding points hard to come by in the opening stages of the second half, the New Zealanders looked much hungrier even though they struggled to penetrate the Lions defence.
They finally broke through in the 62nd minute when Brett's angled run and pass to Thorn saw the big second-rower bounce off the cushion of the upright to score.
MacDonald added the extras, but a lack of concentration from the kick-off led to Louis Ludik combining with Van Zyl, who kicked the ball through, before picking up to score on the left corner.
However, with 13 minutes to play, Perrin slipped through on the short side of a lineout to claim what could be a valuable bonus-point try for the Crusaders.
