Highlanders stun Crusaders

NZPA ©

An inspired Highlanders conjured up the boilover of the Super 14 rugby season with a 26-14 defeat of the Crusaders in Christchurch tonight.

In a performance that will send tremors through the Crusaders a week out from the semifinals, the Highlanders played with more desire and made far fewer mistakes to stun their bigger southern rivals at AMI Stadium.

The visitors scored three tries to one, all in the first half to lead 23-14 at the break.

The expected fightback from the multiple Super rugby champions never eventuated. They were dominated in the second spell and kept scoreless.

It was easily the best performance of a difficult season for the Highlanders, whose two previous wins came against the lowly Lions and Cheetahs.

In contrast it was just the Crusaders' second loss, the other coming a month ago against the Chiefs.

However, since then they have been unconvincing in beating the Blues, Sharks and Queensland Reds and tonight's result was a significant drop from their high standards.

Unlike last week in Brisbane when they overcame a 21-8 deficit against the Reds, the second half was a listless one from the Crusaders, who melted in the face of an urgent Highlanders defence.

Loose forwards Adam Thomson, Tim Boys and captain Craig Newby -- playing his last game for the Highlanders before leaving for Leicester -- were irresistable and outplayed their big-name rivals.

That was also the case in the halves, where Highlanders Toby Morland and Daniel Bowden were a class above opposites Andy Ellis and Daniel Carter.

Halfback Morland employed short kicks to good effect and his team otherwise largely kept the ball in hand.

Tonight's winning margin would have been greater but fullback Mike Delany landed just four shots at goal from nine attempts in a mixed goalkicking return.

Whoever the Crusaders host in next week's semifinal -- and that will be determined in later games this weekend -- they should now arrive in Christchurch with a degree of confidence.

There was no sign of the drama that was to follow when Crusaders hooker Corey Flynn scored a try in the fifth minute from a textbook lineout maul.

However, two minutes later a Carter crossfield kick went horribly wrong when it was gobbled up by bursting Highlanders winger Paul Williams, who powered 30m to score.

Both goalkickers missed the conversions but Carter and Delany made it up for it with two penalties each to leave the score at 11-11 with half an hour gone.

The visitors then made their move with a two-try burst.

The first went to Morland after some elusive buildup work from Bowden while in-form flanker Thomson was driven over soon afterwards.

Carter reduced the deficit to nine points with a penalty on the stroke of halftime.

The Highlanders missed two chances to increase the lead when Bowden was held up over the tryline after another irresistable attack and Delany missed a lengthy penalty attempt.

Delany got his radar right with a penalty in the only points of the second half with 20min remaining.

He missed two further attempts but it mattered not as the Crusaders struggled to create any attacking momentum.

The hosts be ame increasingly frustrated with the rulings of Southland referee Keith Brown and ultimately paid for it when captain Richie McCaw was shown a yellow card for an innocuous offence with 10 minutes remaining.

The Crusaders had won the previous seven meetings between the sides and hadn't lost at home to the Highlanders since the first year of Super rugby in 1996.

The Crusaders will still easily be top qualifiers for the playoffs.

Newby said the match was "a fantastic way to go out" and was also an enormous boost to his struggling franchise.

"Hopefully this is the game that everyone remembers, the players and the supporters, and hopefully everyone will want to come back next year," he said.

The pre-match plan to heap pressure on the Crusaders worked perfectly, Newby revealed.

"We watched the Reds game last week and that's what the Reds did to them -- pressure their tight five so their loosies get under pressure and then they can't get front foot ball."

McCaw admitted his team needed to lift its standards considerably.

"We thought we had a good wake-up call last week but a good Highlanders side put us under pressure and we made mistakes," he said.

"We got a bit frantic. We perhaps tried to play in our own half a wee bit.

"We have got next week to look forward to and we're going to have to be a whole lot better if we're going to be competitive."

Highlanders 26 (Paul Williams, Toby Morland, Adam Thomson tries; Mike Delany 3 pen, con) Crusaders 14 (Corey Flynn tries; Daniel Carter 3 pen). Halftime: 23-14.