The Crusaders retained their place at the top of the New Zealand Super Rugby Conference when they beat the Western Force 30-7 in Christchurch.
The scoreline indicates that the Crusaders won the match comfortably but the reality is that they were made to work for the victory.
Two penalty tries in the last 10 minutes for the Crusaders made the scoreline look more one sided than the match was.
Referee Mike Fraser awarded the first penalty try in the 72nd minute when he ruled the Force had deliberately collapsed the Crusaders’ driving maul and the second at a screwed scrum in the third minute of injury time.
Fraser also sent Force lock Sam Wykes to the sin bin for a professional foul in the 71st minute and gave the Crusaders an overwhelming advantage in the penalty count.
Winger Johnny McNicholl scored one try and had another disallowed as the Crusaders took a 16-0 lead to halftime. But they were held scoreless in the second half until the first of their penalty tries…
South Africa Today – Sport – Rugby news – Crusaders vs Western Force