Crusaders stumble their way past Sunwolves

Cape Town - The Crusaders put in an uncharacteristically sloppy performance in downing the Sunwolves in their Super Rugby clash in Christchurch on Saturday.

As it happened: Crusaders v Sunwolves

The eight-time champion Crusaders made heavy weather - in wet conditions - of beating their visitors 33-11 after racing into a 14-0 lead after only eight minutes.

After that it was all-Sunwolves as the teams went into the half-time break at 14-5 and 10 minutes into the second half the Sunwolves had further cut the deficit to 14-11.

To their credit the Crusaders finished strongly and eventually did enough to pick up a full-house of five points to move to the top of the New Zealand Conference and into second place in the Overall log.

The Sunwolves left empty-handed, but will take great pride in their performance. They remain bottom of both the Australian Conference and Overall standings.

In next weekend's Round 11 action, the Crusaders travel to Canberra to face the Brumbies (Saturday, April 28 at 11:45 SA time), while the Sunwolves visit Wellington to take on the Hurricane (Friday, April 27 at 09:35 SA time).

Scorers:

Crusaders

Tries: Ryan Crotty (2), Matt Todd, Manasa Mataele, Jack Stratton

Conversions: Mike Delany (3), Mitchell Hunt

Sunwolves

Try: Michel Little

Penalties: Hayden Parker (2)

Teams:

Crusaders

15 George Bridge, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Tim Bateman, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Manasa Mataele, 10 Mike Delany, 9 Mitchell Drummond, 8 Tom Sanders, 7 Matt Todd (captain) 6 Ethan Blackadder, 5 Quinten Strange, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Ben Funnell, 1 Tim Perry

Substitutes: 16 Andrew Makalio, 17 Harrison Allan, 18 Chris King, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Jack Stratton, 22 Mitchell Hunt, 23 Seta Tamanivalu

Sunwolves