George Bridge goes full JONAH LOMU on the Reds

Poor tackling or supreme strength? Either way George Bridge powered through pretty much the entire Reds' backline to score a try as the Crusaders powered to a narrow 24-20 win in Christchurch, extending the Crusaders' unbeaten run at home to 34 games.

The Crusaders didn't get off to a great start but managed to get out to a 10-5 lead before Harry Wilson burrowed his way through the hosts defence to score Queensland’s second try. Wilson’s five-pointer came after a 20-metre Lukhan Salakaia-Loto bust, before the Reds camped on the Crusaders line for over 10 phases to give Wilson the opportunity to breakthrough. Campbell missed the tough conversion attempt with the scores locked at 10-all after the opening 25-minutes of play. 

Bridge stepped up soon after the break with the Crusaders down a man as he smashed through the Reds defence from a simple set play from the scrum. He bumped off Henry Speight before taking 5 defenders over the line with him as he went over to score.

The Reds made George Bridge look like Jonah Lomu pic.twitter.com/lqIKJ9Xbwu

— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) March 6, 2020

Queensland again struck back quickly, this time through Taniela Tupou who dove over the line from close range to score and cut the deficit to two-points.

 
A wonder try from the Crusaders saw Leicester Fainga'anuku regained the hosts’ lead in the 52^nd minute at 24-15 as momentum continued to swing in Christchurch. Queensland went almost 80-metres to score their next try, after a number of players combined within their own half to put Henry Speight into space, before the winger dashed away and over the line with the help of a neat Bryce Hegarty inside ball. Hegarty missed the conversion attempt, with the visitors trailing 24-20 with eight minutes remaining.

 
The Reds had the opportunity to snatch a win in the final minutes but were unable to pierce the Crusaders defence as they held on for a 24-20 win.

 

 

 

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Close but no cigar for the Reds 🤏 Full Time: Crusaders 24-20 Reds 🏉 #SuperRugby

A post shared by Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) on Mar 6, 2020 at 12:05am PST