Crusaders dominate Rebels 10-55 to extend lead at top of New Zealand Conference

Rebels 10 - 55 Crusaders, Melbourne
Scorecard

Crusaders ran an eight-try riot as they trounced Melbourne Rebels 10-55 in their Super Rugby encounter at AAMI Park on Friday.

This is Crusaders' eighth win from 10 games that keeps them at the top of the table while Rebels are at second in Australian Conference.

Jack Debreczeni kicked a fourth minute penalty to begin the proceedings for Rebels but the response from Crusaders came when Seta Tamanivalu crossed over in the eighth minute for an unconverted try.

Rebels suffered a setback when Reece Hodge was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 15th minute but once again Crusaders extended the lead when Andrew Makalio crossed over four minutes later.
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Hodge returned from sin-bin and made an impact straightaway when he dotted down in the 33rd minute that had Matt Todd and David Kaetau Havili yellow-carded on either side. The first half ended level at 10-10.

The second half saw Rebels struggle to score a point but Crusaders dominated with further tries from Makalio (45'), Jack Goodhue (52'), Peter Samu (64'), Bryn Hall (66'), Wyatt Crockett (78') and Manasa Mataele (81') to complete a 10-55 victory.

HIGHLIGHTS: 2018 Super Rugby Week 12: Rebels v Crusaders
Despite an extremely close first half the @crusadersrugby put on an impressive display to beat the @MelbourneRebels by 45 points. https://t.co/q9tN1CMkVG #REBVCRU #Highlights #SuperRugby

— Super Rugby (@SuperRugby) 4 May 2018