Saturday 21 July 2018 16:00, UK
Bryn Hall and David Havili scored early tries as the Crusaders beat a wasteful Sharks side 40-10 in their Super Rugby quarter-final in Christchurch on Saturday.
Scrum-half Hall and full-back Havili crossed to give Crusaders an early lead inside the first 12 minutes. Matt Todd touched down at the start of the second-half before Braydon Ennor and Pete Samu added late tries to set up a semi-final against the Hurricanes next week.
The Sharks dominated long stretches of the match at AMI Stadium but the South Africans wasted several scoring opportunities and found the defending champions' relentless defence too organised and difficult to break down.
Winger Jacobus Van Wyk scored the Sharks' only try, with fly-half Robert du Preez adding the other points with the boot.
"I thought the boys worked hard for each other," Crusaders captain Sam Whitelock said of his side's defence.
"There were a couple of penalties that put us under pressure but we'll have a good review and look ahead to next week."
The Crusaders were helped by the Sharks, who despite winning three of their four matches against New Zealand opposition this season, missed tackles, made elementary errors and had a misfiring set-piece. Philip Van Der Walt dropping the ball with the line open was the worst example.
"Championship games are won by defence and we missed a few crucial one-on-one tackles," Sharks captain Ruan Botha said.
"Hats off to them, their defence was really strong and in their attacking play they just kept running into holes, turning our backs and putting their guys into space."
