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Dogged Crusaders down Jaguares in Buenos Aires
By Joe Wright
The Crusaders climbed to the top of the New Zealand conference with a 40-14 win over the Jaguares in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Two tries apiece for George Bridge and Manasa Mataele helped to ensure the win and a bonus point for the visitors.
Despite struggling with a batch of injuries, the Crusaders took control when Bridge went over twice in the opening 14 minutes, and Mataele's converted try following some swift work at the lineout put them 19-0 up.
Jaguares' frustrations were growing against a dogged and scrappy defensive display, although tries from Joaquin Tuculet and Emiliano Boffelli did offer the home fans some hope, the latter finishing a fine flowing move.
However, Mitch Hunt, Ryan Crotty and Mataele made certain of the victory and the Crusaders' spot on top of the New Zealand standings, while the Jaguares stay bottom of the South African pool.
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There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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