Christchurch - The return of forwards Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read from an extended summer break added some power to the Crusaders pack as they beat the Lions 34-6 in their Super Rugby clash in Christchurch on Saturday.
Whitelock and Read had been given more time off to recover from the All Blacks end of season tour and were making their first appearance for the seven-times champions this week.
Their strength and experience helped the Crusaders' pack demolish the Lions in the set-piece, with the scrum a constant problem for the visitors as they had prop Julian Redelinghuys sin-binned and conceded a penalty try when he was off the field.