A stunning cameo from Wallaby James O’Connor, a record-equalling five tries from Macca Springer and a hat-trick to Sevu Reece has seen the Crusaders blow away the Western Force in the second half by winning 55-33 in Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.
O’Connor entered the fray in the 50th minute with the Force right in the contest trailing just 27-21, but the veteran Wallaby came on and pulled the strings and, crucially, brought his kicking boots with him. Indeed, after Taha Kemara missed four first-half conversions, O’Connor banged over his first couple from the sideline and never looked like missing.
His steadying hand and direct running was exactly what Rob Penney would have hoped for after a frustrating opening 50 minutes, where the Crusaders continued to invite the Force to attack them through poor discipline and handling.
Macca Springer scored five tries in the Crusaders’ win over the Western Force at Apollo Projects Stadium. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
But after struggling to keep the Force at bay, the Crusaders’ lethal outside backs proved too much for the tiring visitors, who didn’t have anywhere near the same potency to bring off the bench after Simon Cron rested four of his Wallabies for the tough assignment across the ditch.
“The first half we matched their physicality, and that’s something we wanted to do all week, but in the last couple of weeks we’ve let the second half slip, so it’s something to work on,” tryscorer and Force captain Jeremy Williams said.
“It was pretty quick out there. We let them into our half with some penalties, unforced errors and our defence being too narrow and they got on the outside of us.”
The Crusaders’ outside backs scored all nine tries between, with Springer equalling the late Sean Wainui’s record of five tries in a single Super Rugby match.
“I don’t have words. After the last one, I kind of had to laugh at what was happening,” the 21-year-old said.
He wasn’t alone, with Reece scoring a hat-trick while Test fullback Will Jordan also got on the scoreboard late to cap a phenomenal match.
Fit-again All Black Braydon Ennor also had a match to remember in his first match since 2023, with the outside centre’s first-half efforts crucial in the Crusaders running out to a 20-18 lead at half-time.
O’Connor, 34, also delivered a timely reminder to Joe Schmidt that he is by no means a spent force as he delivered the perfect cameo off the bench to drive the Crusaders home.
The Force were hardly embarrassed.
Indeed, Cron’s men managed to continually come away with points when they got inside the Crusaders’ half during the opening 45 minutes.
The tight-five was busy, breakaway Will Harris was threatening on the edges and the Force’s backline, including Harry Potter and Mac Grealy, managed to test the Crusaders.
And while the Crusaders managed to score four first-half tries, they didn’t come easy with the home side getting through the phases before some quality finishing and straight-running from Ennor helped.
Force captain Jeremy Williams scored in the second half against the Crusaders. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
The turning point in the game came when stand-in fly-half Max Burey missed a penalty in the 49th minute when the visitors trailed by just six points.
Moments later, the Force were playing in their own half and conceded a penalty after failing to release.
The Crusaders took full advantage of the opportunity as the home side won the lineout and O’Connor threw a “lovely pass” to Jordan, who in turn freed up Springer to score his third try of the match.
Seven minutes later the Crusaders had another two tries as Springer went bang-bang to bring up his fifth five pointer of the afternoon.
Although Williams got one back, Jordan’s try through the middle of the Force defence saw the home side bring up their half-century.
Harry Potter scored a late try for the visitors to help put some respectability on the scoreboard, but it was a second half to forget for the Force, who slumped to their third straight loss.
The 22-point win saw the Crusaders move up into equal first on 14 points, with the table-topping Chiefs (14) to host the Blues (6) and Waratahs (13) travelling to Brisbane to take on the Reds (9).
The Force, meanwhile, are in eighth on nine points.
