Crusaders Rally Past Queensland

After making an inauspicious start the Canterbury Crusaders rattled home to comfortably defeat the Queensland Reds 47-21 tonight in their round two Super 14 match at Suncorp Stadium.

The defending champions looked to be in all sorts of trouble when trailing 14-11 at half time and then falling further behind at 21-16 at the hour mark, but four tries in the final 13 minutes saw the Crusaders storm past the inexperienced Reds side to make it two wins from two games for the 2006 season.

Queensland controlled the match for long periods of time and were duly rewarded with tries either side of half time giving them a deserved lead, but in the end they were not able to contain Canterbury’s backline as fly half Dan Carter led the Reds a merry dance in the second half scoring 21 of his 27 points after the main break.

The loss was a bitter blow for Queensland as they have now blown second half leads against both of last year’s Super 12 finalists, but it was not all doom and gloom for the Reds camp with coach Jeff Miller paying tribute to his sides gritty effort after the game.

“For the second week in a row I was really proud of the guys and the way they stuck it to them,” Miller said.

“The score wasn’t a true reflection of the game. There are so many positives for us to take away from tonight’s game and work even harder.”

After losing their interstate battle with NSW last week the Reds came out with all guns blazing in an effort to win their first game of the season and things looked to be going to plan with an Elton Flatley penalty goal being quickly followed by an unconverted try to Drew Mitchell that saw the home side race to an early 8-0 lead.

The Crusaders hit back midway through the first half with a sweeping backline move seeing fullback Leon MacDonald crash over in the left hand corner. Carter was unable to convert leaving the visitors three points behind.

Both Flatley and Carter traded a pair of penalty goals over the dying stages of the first half to leave the contest hanging in the balance at 14-11 to the Reds as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Canterbury briefly hit the front shortly after half time when Carter scored his first try of the match, but Queensland quickly answered that with a converted try to Chris Latham (21-16).

A penalty goal to Carter edged the Crusaders closer at 21-19 and just minutes later he was involved in the action again combining with Rico Gear to send centre Casey Laulala over to put Canterbury in front 26-21.

Carter broke the Reds will soon after with his second try of the game and the match was all but over when Reds no.8 Mitchell Chapman was sin binned for a shoulder charge in the 70th minute.

Canterbury took full advantage of the 14 man Queensland side with both Gear and Aaron Mauger scoring in the final 10 minutes to cap off the Crusaders tough come from behind victory.

“For 60 minutes it was a real battle out there,” said Canterbury captain Richie McCaw.

“The Reds put us under pressure and we made a few mistakes. We’re delighted to get out of here with five points.”

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