The Crusaders continued their early dominance of the Super 15 with a 34-16 away victory over the Chiefs on Friday.
McCaw marks return from injury with victory
The Crusaders continued their early dominance of the Super 15 table with a 34-16 away victory over the Waikato Chiefs on Friday.
The scoreline however belied the true nature of the game as the Crusaders secured the bonus point in an evenly-contested encounter in Hamilton.
The win marked the return of All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, who made his first start of the season after breaking his foot.
The Crusaders collected a brace either side of half-time, all coming from turnover ball, while fly-half Matt Berquist slotted all four conversions plus two penalties.
Punished
In reply, the Chiefs crossed once through Lelia Masaga and Mike Delany added a further 11 points with the boot.
The Chiefs spent long periods on the attack and the visitors seemed to struggle to find their rhythm.
But the arrival of McCaw and fellow All Blacks Andy Ellis and Wyatt Crockett with 30 minutes to go marked a turning point in the game.
Ellis scored within two minutes of arriving on the field and the Crusaders looked a more settled unit from that point onwards.
The Chiefs who had trailed just 17-13 at half time, made a number of handling errors, which were ruthlessly punished by the league leaders.
The game had hardly started when the hosts lost the ball in a ruck and Crusaders outside centre Robbie Fruean broke through and then finished off the move 50 metres downfield.
Defend
The home side led briefly when Chiefs lock Isaac Ross put wing Masaga over and Delany converted before booting a penalty to make it 10-7.
But midway through the half their backs dropped the ball and Crusaders wing Sean Maitland picked up and outran All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu for half the field to score.
The Crusaders were forced to defend for the first 10 minutes of the second half but the game swung back in their favour following the introduction of their three All-Blacks.
The changes produced immediate results with Ellis' try, although Delany pulled three back with a penalty to reduce the gap to 16-24.
But Benquist slotted a penalty and replacement lock Luke Romano scored a late try in the countdown to the final whistle to seal the win.
