Crusaders maul hapless Reds

The Crusaders have handed out a rugby lesson to the Queensland Reds at AMI Stadium.

The Queensland Reds have sunk to a new low, capitulating in the second half to allow the Crusaders to romp to a huge 58-17 Super Rugby win.

It was the ideal farewell for departing quartet Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Colin Slade and Tom Taylor in what was almost certainly their last provincial game in front of the AMI Stadium faithful.

An abysmal Queensland played into their hands by conceding six tries after the break.

Nemani Nadolo, Sam Whitelock, Matt Todd, Jone Macila and Dominic Bird crossed for their second-half tries with incredible ease against a Reds outfit frighteningly ill-equipped in defence - during one 10-minute stretch, the Crusaders had touched down four times.

The visitors scored a consolation try in the 79th minute through Chris Feauai-Sautia.

Queensland actually controlled possession and territory in the first 40 minutes but only capitalised on their statistical dominance with the last play of the half, when Samu Kerevi barged his way through a stubborn Crusaders defence to bring the scoreline back to 15-10.

It was scant reward for their efforts and only came as the Crusaders were reduced to 14 men, following Dominic Bird's 35th-minute yellow card for repeated infringements.

But any hope Kerevi's effort might had given them was quickly erased moments after the interval when Nadolo intercepted a James O'Connor short ball and ran 50 metres to restore a healthy buffer.

Minutes later O'Connor missed an easy penalty, leaving Queensland lagging 22-10 behind.

From there on it was easy pickings for the Crusaders.

The home side had earlier established a nine-point lead after two terrific tries, the first coming in the first two minutes.

Queensland were caught napping when Andrew Ellis capped off a powerful, multi-phase try that was converted by Slade, who contributed 23 points to his team's tally.

Slade combined with Carter to cross in the 18th minute, after the All Blacks legend bamboozled Kerevi with a dummy to easily break the line and dish off inside.


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2 min read

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Source: AAP


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