Super Rugby: Crusaders crush Sharks, Chiefs add to Blues misery

The Crusaders made light work of the Sharks despite seeing three players sin binned in the first half of their 52-10 victory.

The New Zealand-based side have had a mixed season so far but were in fine form as they ran in eight tries at the home of the South African conference leaders.

The Sharks were 28-3 behind at the break with the sending off of flanker Jean Deysel for intentionally putting his knee into the head of an opposition player on the ground only making matters worse.

It came a time when the hosts had the perfect opportunity to get back into the game having seen three Crusaders players yellowed carded in the space of three minutes.

Tries from Andy Ellis and Israel Dagg in the opening four minutes gave the Crusaders the perfect start before further scores from centre pairing Kieron Fonotia and Ryan Crotty seemingly took the game out of reach for the Sharks.

Despite starting the half with 12 players, the Crusaders extended their lead within two minutes of the restart, Colin Slade going over. Further tries from David Kaetau Havili and Matt Todd ended the game as a contest soon after.

The Sharks look to have had the final say at least through Odwa Ndungane's consolation try only for the visitors to finish with a flourish - replacement Tom Taylor scoring and then converting his own try with the final play of the match at King's Park.

Lowe's 28th-minute try gave the Hamilton-based Chiefs a 10-3 half-time lead and Marshall's try in the 67th minute clinched the win after the Blues had rallied to lead 13-10 after 52 minutes.Wingers James Lowe and Tom Marshall scored tries as the Chiefs beat the Blues 23-16 in Super Rugby on Saturday, stretching their opponents' losing start to the season to seven games.

Replacement fly-half Ihaia West kicked a penalty after the fulltime siren to earn the Blues a consolation bonus point.

The Chiefs improved their record for the season to 6-2, moving into second place behind the unbeaten Hurricanes and stretching their winning streak over the Auckland-based Blues to nine games.

"We knew it was going to be a tough time," Chiefs captain Liam Messam said. "This is a quality Blues side and Chiefs-Blues matches are always tough, it doesn't matter what your record is."

There was incredible late drama at Ellis Park where the Lions snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the Bulls.

The home side scored the only try of the match in the final minute to secure a 22-18 win, just seconds after a Bulls penalty looked to have given them the victory.

With the rain hammering down and the wind blowing, conditions were far from ideal for the goal kickers but Elton Jantjies and Jacques-Louis Potgieter admirably traded kicks for much of the match before the latter appeared to have won it.

However, Jantjies had the last word as he converted following Armand van der Merwe's last-gasp try.

The Australian conference-leading ACT Brumbies won their 11th match in a row at home in Canberra and beat the South African-based Cheetahs 20-3, the Cheetahs' fifth loss in a row.

"I thought our defence was really good, particularly our one-on-one tackles," said Brumbies captain Stephen Moore.

In other news, the Queensland Reds said that Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper will be sidelined for up to eight weeks after fracturing his left collarbone while making a tackle in the team's 23-15 loss to the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.

Cooper, 26, missed four months last year due to a shoulder injury and the fracture occurred around the previous operation site. He will undergo surgery on Tuesday.