Waratahs End 40-game Trans-Tasman Losing Streak

The NSW Waratahs ended Australia's 40-match losing streak against New Zealand rivals when they thrashed the Highlanders 41-12 Saturday, while Richie Mo'unga booted the Canterbury Crusaders back to the top of the Super Rugby ladder with a 32-24 victory over the Auckland Blues

Hong Kong, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th May, 2018 ) :The NSW Waratahs ended Australia's 40-match losing streak against New Zealand rivals when they thrashed the Highlanders 41-12 Saturday, while Richie Mo'unga booted the Canterbury Crusaders back to the top of the Super Rugby ladder with a 32-24 victory over the Auckland Blues.

Meanwhile, a last-gasp Hayden Parker drop goal saw Japan's Sunwolves down the Western Stormers 26-23. The Waratahs scored six tries to two in Sydney to rout the Highlanders, who played much of the match with 14 men after winger Tevita Nabura was sent off in the 19th minute for foul play.

The last time an Australian team beat a New Zealand side was just over two years ago when the Waratahs downed the Chiefs. The Waratahs began full of intent and opened an 8-0 lead after 14 minutes thanks to a Bernard Foley penalty and a try to massive winger Taqele Naiyaravoro.

They took complete control once Nabura inexplicably kicked NSW winger Cameron Clark in the head as he leaped for a high ball. Three minutes later the visitors were down to 13 men when Aaron Smith was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.

The Waratahs only scored once during Smith's 10 minutes in the sin bin, a second to Naiyaravoro, but they dominated the first half and took a 15-0 lead into the break. Israel Folau scored the 49th and 50th tries of his Super Rugby career in the opening stages of the second half as the Waratahs began to run away with the match.

The Highlanders scored twice but two more Waratahs tries underlined a dominant NSW win. "The last thing we'd been thinking about (was the losing streak)," Waratahs captain Michael Hooper said. "We'd been thinking about what we've been doing each week, incrementally building, and we got a good result tonight," he said.

- Bridge havoc - It was four tries apiece in wet conditions in Auckland, where penalties made the difference as the Crusaders downed the Blues to move a point ahead of the Wellington Hurricanes.

The Crusaders put away the bumbling start that affected them last week against the Waratahs and were up 7-0 in the second minute with a try to George Bridge, who created havoc down the left wing side throughout the game.

The impressive Crusaders pack kept the Blues on the defensive for most of the first half and delivered tries to Quinten Strange, Matt Todd and Bryn Hall as they raced to a 29-12 lead with the Blues points coming from tries to Matt Duffie and Rieko Ioane.

The Blues tightened their defence and focus in the second half to be rewarded with two tries by Michael Collins while the Crusaders, despite dominating territory, were limited to one penalty by Mo'unga, his second of the match.

"Conditions made it tough to play, so we wanted to make sure we played at the right end," Crusaders captain Matt Todd said. "In the first half when we got down their end we took points. "In the second half, not so much but credit to the Blues.

You give them a sniff and they take it. But we're happy. The boys dug deep at the end and did enough for the win." - 'We created history' - The Sunwolves have endured some torrid defeats since entering the competition in 2016, but they have now won twice in a row for the first time after last week's 63-28 rout of the Queensland Reds.

The win over the Stormers, their first away from Tokyo, also extinguished the faint play-off hopes of the South Africans, who are languishing at the foot of their conference. "We created history today," said Sunwolves coach Jamie Joseph.

"We've had some lean times, no doubt. But really we're headed in the right direction and I think that's really pleasing for the players." In sweltering conditions for Hong Kong's first Super Rugby game, the Stormers were quickly into the lead and were ahead 17-10 at the break.

The Sunwolves lifted their game in the second half and Parker stroked them into the lead for the first time with a coolly struck penalty on 65 minutes. In the closing 10 minutes, Stormers marksman Sarel Marais landed two penalties to regain the lead for the South Africans before the Sunwolves struck back with an 80th-minute penalty by Parker and then his post-siren drop goal.