Reds try-scorer: Will Genia
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Reds pivot Quade Cooper slotted a 79th minute penalty to steal a last-gasp 17-16 win over the Crusaders in Brisbane on Sunday.
The two tries to one victory keeps the Queenslanders top of the Super Rugby standings, but Crusaders fans will feel hard done by with referee Stu Dickinson's penalty against their team that led to Cooper's match-winning kick.
The Crusaders led 10-7 at half-time and looked to be home and dry thanks to two Dan Carter penalties in the final 11 minutes. But the Reds found a second wind and, after moving into field position, they showed patience, completing multiple phases before Crusaders skipper Richie McCaw was deemed to have infringed and conceded a penalty.
Cooper stepped up to convert his first penalty of the day, after missing three in the first half.
Cooper finished with three goals from six attempts while Carter landed four from five in a gripping contest between international rivals, set to meet again in the World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
The last-minute goal forced the fifth lead change in a match played before a capacity crowd of 48,301.
Cooper's deciding penalty gave the Reds their 12th straight win on their home ground at Suncorp Stadium and put them four points clear of the Blues at the top of the Super Rugby table.
The Crusaders suffered their fourth loss in 14 matches but remained in fourth place behind the Reds, Blues and Stormers but ahead of the Sharks and Waratahs.
Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia scored one try and created another, helping Queensland to a 14-10 lead five minutes into the second half.
The Crusaders fought back bravely with penalties to Carter in the 67th and 73rd minutes to reclaim the lead, but they finally paid for a heavy penalty count.
The match was played at a frantic pace and with an almost Test-match intensity but was lower scoring than might have been expected. Instead it was a match of vigorous defenses which allowed only a tiny handful of try-scoring chances.
Genia exploited two, creating both tries from set pieces. He first took the ball from flank Scott Higginbotham after an over-thrown Reds' line-out and handed off with perfect timing to center Ben Tapuai who scored in the 22nd minute.
Genia then took advantage of quick ball from a pressured Queensland scrum on the Crusaders' 22, to make a try-scoring dash down the blindside in the fifth minute of the second spell.
The Crusaders scored from one of their rare forays in the 28th minute when center Robbie Fruean broke away after a turnover and handed off to winger Brent Ward when the cover defense was spent.
It was the Reds second straight win over the Crusaders after they also beat the seven-time Super Rugby champions in their only meeting last season.
The scorers:
For Reds:
Tries: Tapuai, Genia
Pen: Cooper
Con: Cooper
For Crusaders:
Try: Ward
Pens: Carter 3
Con: Carter
Reds: 15 Ben Lucas, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Anthony Faingaa, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Radike Samo, 7 Beau Robinson, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Rob Simmons, 3 James Slipper, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Greg Holmes, 18 Adam Wallace-Harrison, 19 Jake Schatz, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Will Chambers, 22 Dom Shipperley.
Crusaders: 15 Tom Marshall, 14 Brent Ward, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Willi Heinz, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 George Whitelock, 5 Chris Jack, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Luke Romano. 19 Matt Todd/Joe Wheeler, 20 Steve Alfeld, 21 Matt Berquist, 22 Ryan Crotty.
Referee: Stu Dickinson
Comments
Funk says...
@hybrid187 "Sorry but the Reds wouldnt be 1st if they were in any other conference." Hahahahahaha, What a pathetic statment! They have beat the best of all the 3 confrences.
Posted 02:57 30th May 2011
sandal says...
"Crusaders fans will feel hard done by with referee Stu Dickinson's penalty against their team that led to Cooper's match-winning kick ... Crusaders skipper Richie McCaw was deemed to have infringed and conceded a penalty"
So why would Crusaders fans feel hard done by? What was McCaw's infringement "deemed" to have been?
Planet Rugby doesn't say. It tells only half the story, though it hints that Stu Dickinson was wrong.
I had to go to another website to find the answers to these questions.
Posted 02:31 30th May 2011
pacfcrugby4eva says...
Excellent game, and the right result. Stu Dickinson should have binned a Crusader due to their many illegal attempts to slow the game down. When you dish out so many penalties, someone's gotta go! And the final penalty does bring back memories of the Hurricanes clash....and the Reds just moved on.
Dan Carter's performance was reminiscent of Jonny Wilkinsinon compared to the maestro Quade Cooper.ie good kicking...that's about it.
Posted 02:16 30th May 2011
blametheref says...
Reading all these ref comments, it seems to me that refereeing in the SH is as inconsistant as in the NH....seems to be the way the game has gone where the ref is actually influencing the outcome of games by "interpertation"...at the breakdown and scrum it seems the players aren't sure sometimes if they've infringed at times with certain refs. You actually see players looking to the ref sometimes asking "Am I ok to play the ball"? Shouldn't be the situation! In both hemispheres we see players at the breakdown coming in at the side and getting away with it, players off their feet and getting away with it, and at times players coming in through the gate and winning the ball, seemingly legitimately, only to be pinged....Then there's the scrum, indecipherable as to how some skinny little ref can know what's going on...seems to me they go eeny meeny miney mo when awarding penalties at the scrum...Then there's the off the ball incidents that usually happen right beside an official and are never seen, yet the crows in the rafters are squaking!...The rules of rugby are far from clear and in some cases are too damn complicated and as a result we are getting used to refs actually deciding the outcome of games, not by reffing to the rules but reffing to that particular ref's interpertation of the rules.....Definitely, the rules need to be simplified and made more definite in my opinion
Posted 01:31 30th May 2011
jaymas says...
man of the match performance from dickinson best all rounder for the reds he showed commitment to the crowd, commitment to making sure the crusaders are stopped at any possible chance they start to get momentum and most importantly commitment to the reds winning!! the man should win a medal or an oscar for that display!!!
Posted 01:13 30th May 2011
jaymas says...
the best player on the field and man of the match for the reds was stu dickinson no jokes that was the most biased ive ever seen a ref it was beyond pathetic
Posted 00:32 30th May 2011
dannyboy0083 says...
Not really a fair comment regarding the conference system hybrid. The Reds have beaten every other team in the top four and have only lost once outside their conference. Also they've only played the Brumbies and the Force once this year and are still number one. They'd be top of the table regardless.
Posted 23:21 29th May 2011
StunTheMullet says...
@ BDAUSSIE - Not sure what game you were watching but the Reds were beaten at the scrum, beaten at the breakdown and beaten at the lineouts where the only place they weren't beaten was the refereeing (i.e.Crooked line-outs not called, forward pass to first try plus others, knock ons missed all over the place including the one in lead up to McCaws "penalty" ec).
But certainly Genia had it all over the Crusaders half back who was out of his depth (taking bad options, slow, poor passing etc) which looked like it was leading to misfiring back-line.
DC had it all over Cooper who's only contribution was running around in his own 22 trying to avoid getting mowed before he badly kicked for touch or threw a hail mary to one of this teamates.
Posted 22:03 29th May 2011
brands says...
Carter was at his best, great positional play, tactical kicking spot onn, great on defence, Sonny Bill never got into the game, mind possibly on other things and should have been subbed early in the game, Will G is awesome, that boy will be around for a while! Cooper i thought was solid but not in the same class as Carter as yet, more of a Spencer i think. I really wanted to see a great game as I am a fan of the Reds but that egg with the whistle killed it for me, I can honestly say this would be up there with some of the worst officiating i have seen, knock on from the Reds going unnoticed but rewarded with a try, penalties against Canterbury were often unfounded and unexplainable, the Reds signalled their intent early as did Canterbury, but the latter with 7 of their starting 15 absent it was always going to be an uphill battle, and with Dickinson in the mix that uphill battle became impossible, to loose by one point is extremely admirable, if by the business end they have a full cast then they should win the competition without doubt...................if Dickinson isnt reffing that is!
Posted 21:42 29th May 2011
brands says...
?
Posted 21:41 29th May 2011
carpelone says...
I have the strange feeling that pressure will mount on in New Zealand soon.
Posted 21:23 29th May 2011
Kiwi_Ruck says...
From a Kiwi perspective obviously disappointed in the result but you have to take your hat off to the Reds. They are playing some sublime rugby and last night they had to survive on scraps as both their scrum and lineout were malfunctioning. They looked much more poised in possession than the Crusaders and their defence won the game denying the Crusaders tries from long periods of possession and having to settle for 3 pointers.
Thought the Crusaders backline looked disjointed and ineffective against the Reds defence and it raised question marks about SBW effectiveness against quality opposition.
Posted 21:14 29th May 2011
Nicholas41 says...
Interesting points about reffing and captain's decisons. Will NZ make those same decisons come the WC or will they go for conservative/safe?
Posted 19:54 29th May 2011
mfair says...
I'm a stormers fan and so I watched the game from a neutral point of view (although reds winning means the 2nd spot opens up for stormers to take :-p).
As many have already said, stu dick "h3ad"son was pathetic. He missed plenty of knock ons and unfortunately most were by the reds at crucial times. The ref looked like he went into the game with a preconception of mccaw. THe last penalty - super HARSH. wow, legit counter-ruck, and then the ball was there for McCaw (who came through the gate) to simply pick up..... he picked it up from the back of the ruck, it was already a turnover. I don't like the guy, but damn I felt sorry for him there.
Reds first try, forward pass by miles. If I took away the bad decisions, I thought the Crusaders deserved to win it, even though i'm glad the reds won.
My Man of the Match: Daniel Carter, shows he is still the number 1 flyhalf in the world. Cooper is always fun to watch, but Carter is pure class.
Posted 18:42 29th May 2011
7ton says...
While it could be argued that Dickinson may have made more bad calls against the Crusaders than the Reds I wouldn't call him biased but just very poor. I'm sure he calls it as he sees it but it is how he sees it and what he doesn't see that worries me.
Good luck to the reds though, it was a very close game and even if there had been a different ref the result may still have been the same. The reds seemed to be far better organised in the backs and the Crusaders seemed to lack structure in their backline even if we take account of the pressure put on by some good Reds defence.
IMO the Crusaders have a lot of sorting out to do if they are to reach the final never mind win the trophy
Posted 18:07 29th May 2011
rhubarbmuncher says...
As an Australian (and one who did not see the match - so cannot comment), I agree that Dickinson is one of the worst referees around. This opinion goes back to the Lions' win agains the All blacks some years ago, when he totally destroyed the game. Trouble is he likes to impose himself, so that the referee becomes an important part of the action. Still, I am glad the Reds won.
Posted 18:00 29th May 2011
hybrid187 says...
Sorry but the Reds wouldnt be 1st if they were in any other conference. How awesome it must be to get to play the Rebels Force and Brumbies home and away.
Too bad Crusaders.. you dont play against the Rebels or Lions AT ALL.... theres 10 points gone... Unlucky.
To hell with this conference system.
Posted 15:57 29th May 2011
Ramage says...
To say I was disappointed in the result would be an understatement. However congratulations to the Reds on their win I believe they will be one of the top two qualifiers the other probably the Stormers. However I dont believe they will win the competition.The Reds have two of the bottom teams both Australian and one of the bottom NZ franchises left to play. The Stormers have the bottom team another Oz team this week before being challenged back in the Republic by the rampant Bulls and Cheetahs. So after these I expect the Crusaders to be there and finishing top of the NZ conference. The Bulls should beat the Waratahs slug it out and win against the Stormers and beat the Sharks. This leaves a real dog fight for the other 2 positions for the Blues Highlanders Sharks and Waratahs and every losing one point or bonus point win will be important. All will be c.learer next week
Finally I too like justice for all would have liked to have seen the Crusaders take on the Reds scrum at that penalty they had the wood on the scrum and had they scored would have made it impossible for such a penalty to have been given. Still it is that little word "if" again.2I can see why Dickinson has been dropped from the World Cup referees as he missed far too much in such an important game (not biased just not good). I would love to read his assessors report as well as the team reports from both the Crusaders and Reds teams. Many of the penalties were justified but some were extremely technical and argueable. I would have been really interested to hear clearly the questions and answers without the banal outpourings of Greg Martin the commentator from Queensland. Good to hear A former Super player Brendan Cannon taking him to task.taking him to task
Posted 15:40 29th May 2011
Kiwifester says...
I find it werid that every single rugby writer/blogger is unable to write teh trruth and how the Crusaders were blatantly cheated and robbed of a win. Not one writer has ahd the guts to call Dickinson a down right incompetent cheat. Weak reporting and just show what you write is full of rubbish and not reporting . Try watching games if going to report on them. The level of rugby writing by so called journos is the same as Dickinson...high school level at best and incomplete.
Posted 15:20 29th May 2011
abfixit says...
Well done to the Reds.
Posted 14:04 29th May 2011