Crusaders admit they were lucky

SYDNEY - The Crusaders knew fortune was on their side when they scraped through with a draw against the Western Force in the biggest upset of the Super 14 rugby season at Perth's Subiaco Oval last night.

"We were a little lucky I guess to come away with two points," Crusaders captain Richie McCaw admitted.

The Force were denied their first win by the call of the television match official ruling that winger Haig Sare was partly in touch when he dived over with four minutes to play.

Few would disagree with McCaw that the Force were desperately unlucky not to win. Force captain Nathan Sharpe said his players were gutted with the 23-23 result after they made so much of the play.

It was a frenetic match in which the competition cellar dwellers stood up to the unbeaten Crusaders and refused to bow.

The result thwarted the Crusaders' efforts to put a break on the second-placed Waratahs on the points table and puts more pressure on them as they head to South Africa today for matches against the Stormers and Bulls.

"We knew the Force wouldn't be easy but we didn't have quite the intensity we needed," McCaw said afterwards.

"This is Super 14 rugby and you have got to turn up 100 per cent or you finish second."

Coach Robbie Deans said his side didn't get the platform they normally achieved through the scrums and lineouts to propel their attacking forays.

"But the players need to look at themselves in terms of what they brought to the game."

His rival and former colleague in the All Blacks coaching team, John Mitchell, was even blunter about the Crusaders.

"They're a side that enjoys momentum and they didn't get a lot of that tonight and that is partly due to ourselves but also some of their top players not having the top four inches right."

Mitchell was greeted warmly by the 30,000-strong crowd as he came down from the coach's box to congratulate his players and he was clearly pleased with their effort.

"You've got to take those opportunities to physically get into them and we did that."

His side rocked the Crusaders early with a try to fullback Cameron Shepherd and when Mose Tuiali'i replied for the visitors soon after, the Force side continued to take the game to them.

Scott Staniforth broke the line and flicked an inside pass to Brock James, who scored. By halftime the Force led 20-8, a scoreline no one could have predicted.

The Crusaders dominated territory early in the second half, but couldn't breach the stout Force defence.

Finally, a Leon Macdonald try in the 68th minute when the Force were a man down after a period of persistent offending closed the score to 23-16 and then Rico Gear crossed with eight minutes to go, with Dan Carter's conversion levelling the scores.

Ordinarily, the Crusaders would have been expected to finish the Force off, but they stuttered and instead it was Sare who appeared to score in the corner in the tackles of MacDonald and Tuiali'i. Referee Marius Jonker referred the decision to television match official Geoff Acton, who after numerous replays ruled Sare had a foot in touch.

Sare crossed again in the dying minutes, but was called back because of a forward pass and there was no late rally from the Crusaders.

"It doesn't feel like a win," a disappointed Sharpe said afterwards.

"It's not often you get a chance to put away the Crusaders like that. The boys are gutted and that's a great sign... because it means we don't take second best."

The Force next play the Cats in Johannesburg on Friday night.

- NZPA