Tahs too late as Fruean runs rampant

Updated April 29, 2012 18:51:10

Giant centre Robbie Fruean went on a rampage against New South Wales, as the Crusaders recorded their 10th straight Super Rugby win over the Waratahs with an enthralling 37-33 victory at the Sydney Football Stadium.

The human wrecking ball scored two tries and set up another to put the brakes on a spirited Waratahs outfit in front of 30,663 fans, and secure the Crusaders a bonus point and their fifth win from their past six starts.

After trailing 14-13 at the break, the Waratahs hit the lead thanks to a Wycliff Palu try in the 46th minute and, despite Adam Whitelock answering for the visitors with a five-pointer of his own, the boot of Brendan McKibbin kept the Waratahs within a point, down 24-23 with less than half an hour remaining.

However, just like he had been in the first half, 190cm and 104kg Fruean proved the difference.

With an All Blacks debut beckoning this season, Fruean combined beautifully with Israel Dagg and Zac Guildford in a sweeping backline movement, before backing up on the inside and escaping down an impossible blindside to score the try which broke the Waratahs' promising hold on the match.

From there, penalty goals were traded between McKibbin and Crusaders fly half Tom Taylor, before Tahs replacement scrum-half Sarel Pretorius showed great speed to score from a scrum and close the margin to four points in the 74th minute.

Despite some late field position, the Waratahs could not quite muster a miracle - but the depleted outfit can still take plenty from a gutsy performance.

Ironically, Fruean was the man found out when the Waratahs crossed for the first try of the afternoon after just 11 minutes.

A crisp ball from New South Wales five-eighth Berrick Barnes put Adam Ashley-Cooper on the outside of the dynamic number 13 and, after ghosting through the line, Ashley-Cooper drew full-back Dagg to put winger Atieli Pakalani over in the corner.

However, it was not long until Fruean gained an emphatic revenge.

Working off the back of a line-out win, half-back Andy Ellis poked his head through the line and hit Fruean with a flat pass - and from there, it was shut the gate.

Fruean's awesome combination of power and acceleration put him into the back-field, before a big right-foot step did the rest.

McKibbin steadied the ship for the hosts with a penalty to put them in front 10-7, before it was over to Fruean to strike his second major blow.

The 23-year-old managed to get on the outside of centre Tom Carter, powered his way towards the line, before waiting until the last moment to flick a ball back to Guildford to touch down.

Crusaders: 37 (R Fruean 2, Z Guildford, A Whitelock tries; T Taylor 4/4 cons; Taylor 3/4 pens)

Waratahs: 33 (A Pakalani, W Palu, S Pretorius tries; B McKibbin 2/2, Berrick Barnes 1/1 cons; McKibbin 4/4 pens)

AAP

Tags: super-rugby, rugby-union, sport, sydney-2000, nsw, australia, new-zealand

First posted April 29, 2012 18:05:47

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Rampant Reds race into Super final

Updated July 2, 2011 21:51:00

Scorching winger Rod Davies scored a hat-trick and Quade Cooper played a dazzling hand as Queensland Reds ensured their first Super Rugby grand final would be played at Lang Park with a stunning 30-13 win over the Blues.

Davies, sidelined with a knee injury for much of the campaign, demonstrated raw pace to race in for three tries while Cooper's wizardry guided the Reds' cavalier attack in front of 44,940 fans.

"The excitement is there and it was certainly there this week but we are not going to go away from what has worked for us all year and we are going to control that emotion to build towards playing the final here next Saturday night," Reds skipper James Horwill said.

"We knew our conditioning was good for tonight's game and the week off probably proved beneficial and we just had to back our defence in the second half."

Queensland Rugby will hope nearly 8,000 more bodies get through the Brisbane turnstiles next week as the Reds look to host a capacity crowd for the Super Rugby final against either the Stormers or Crusaders.

But Queensland may be without the services of bustling number eight Radike Samo after the 2004 Super 12 champion was forced from the field with a head knock in the opening half.

Cooper showed no fear in attack and had clearly been given free rein by coach Ewen McKenzie to express himself, the Wallabies playmaker bamboozling the Blues' defence with nearly every touch.

After Davies gulped down an intercept to race away for the opening points, Cooper's individual brilliance set up Ben Tapuai for the Reds' second after a step, body shrug, skip and two dummies carved an opening for Cooper to find his inside centre.

Moments later, Cooper engineered an opening that led to a penalty goal and took Queensland to 15-0 after the fly half boldly ran the ball from inside his own 22m and sliced into the open field.

The Reds should have gone to the break with a clean sheet but complacency at the siren gifted Chris Lowrey an easy try as the lock burst through a gaping hole and scored underneath the posts.

That disappointment was quickly forgotten just eight minutes into the second half as Davies showed off his express pace to score from a set-piece, following a line-out, to exploit catch the Blues napping.

The pacey winger's treble was complete nine minutes later when he scored in the corner, again following some great lead-up work from Cooper who threatened the line and spread the ball to Davies via Anthony Faingaa.

Attack turned to defence for Queensland as the Blues threatened to pare back the deficit, but points were not to come for the Auckland franchise and it was left to Cooper to seal the deal with a drop goal five minutes from time.

Minutes earlier the Reds had squandered an opportunity to put the match to bed when Adam Wallace-Harrison spilled the ball over the line.

Auckland skipper Keven Mealamu conceded that the Reds were the better team.

"We built up some good pressure but let them off the hook with some little mistakes and against a quality side like the Reds in Brisbane it is going to work against you," he said.

"You have to take your hat off to the Reds, they played really well and they were the better side tonight.

"We threw everything we had at them and they came off better than us."

Reds: 30 (R Davies 3, B Tapuai tries; Q Cooper 2 conversions, penalty goal, drop goal)

Blues: 13 (C Lowrey try; L MacAlister 2 penalties, S Brett conversion)

- ABC/AFP

Tags: sport, rugby-union, super-14, australia, qld, brisbane-4000, new-zealand

First posted July 2, 2011 21:24:00

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Rampant Reds go top of the table

Updated May 13, 2011 22:10:00

Queensland Reds furthered their reputation as big-match kings to reclaim the Super Rugby competition lead with a pulsating 37-31 triumph over the Blues on Friday night.

In a classic encounter befitting its top-of-the-table standing, both sides produced brilliant attacking displays in front of a highly-appreciative crowd of 30,041 which cheered the Reds to their 11th straight win at Lang Park.

In the end it was an unlikely chargedown try by replacement hooker James Hanson which saw them end the Blues nine-match unbeaten streak in the topsy-turvy clash.

From 24-0 up in the 35th minute, the Reds then conceded 24 points of their own in 20 minutes either side of halftime to be under the pump at 27-24 midway through the second half.

The Queenslanders were tiring and the dangerous Blues back-row was making in-roads but Hanson produced a massive momentum shift with his charge down to stop the comeback in its tracks.

The Blues still manage to travel back to Auckland with two bonus points thanks to a last-minute fourth try to winger Rene Ranger that has them one point behind Queensland (50) on the ladder.

The victory continues the Reds excellent record of beating top-four rivals in the past two seasons which has had coach Ewen McKenzie praising their ability to produce their best in big games.

"We had a vision of where we wanted to be at bye week and eight (wins) out of nine was a fair result for this squad and keeps us alive in the competition," he said.

"I think the character of the team has come through a number of times this year and it's come through again tonight.

"You don't beat teams like the Blues without individual heroics and we produced that."

While there were notable individual performances across either side, Wallabies winger Digby Ioane was outstanding for the home side, bumping off defenders every time he touched the ball.

"He's just a freak, the amount of ball carries and the amount of metres he gets," playmaker Quade Cooper said of Ioane.

Cooper picked the right night to have a magic match with the boot by slotting seven from seven to finish with a personal haul of 22 points.

Both coaches had predicted a "high-octane" attacking spectacle on a dry Brisbane night and the Reds delivered early.

It took Cooper just four minutes to cross in the left corner, finishing an excellent team try where quick recycling at the breakdown had the Blues defenders outnumbered.

The home side dominated possession and continued to mount pressure but the Aucklanders still managed to show their dangerous capabilities with Brett and Joe Rokocoko set for the goal-line before being brought down by strong cover defence.

Ioane was the man to pull down Rokocoko and he was also menacing whenever he touched the ball.

He sparked an amazing 11-minute passage by bumping off three defenders in a 25m kick return which then enabled Scott Higginbotham to break and pop a pass for Saia Faingaa to score.

Higginbotham crossed for a try of his own four minute later to give the Reds a 24-0 lead. But then the Blues turned the match on their head.

A Radike Samo fumble gave them field position and Chris Lowrey barged over. Two minutes later Lachie Munroe, who replaced injured centre Benson Stanley early, was also over.

Blues coach Pat Lam admitted Hanson's try was a crucial turning point but bemoaned his side's "terrible start" where the New Zealanders were denied the ball through the Reds' pressure and their own errors.

"We did a lot of good stuff but we paid for the bad stuff," Lam said.

Reds: 37 (Q Cooper, S Faingaa, J Hanson, S Higginbotham tries; Q Cooper 4 cons, 3 pens)

Blues: 31 (C Lowrey, A Mathewson, L Munro, R Ranger tries; L McAlister 4 cons, pen)

- AAP

Tags: sport, rugby-union, super-14, australia, qld, brisbane-4000, new-zealand

First posted May 13, 2011 21:33:00

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