Chiefs 18 Crusaders 5
View photosKEY POINTS:
If Daniel Carter and Nick Evans do both shoot through at the end of the year, the next All Blacks first five-eighths will almost certainly be called Stephen.
Crusaders pivot Stephen Brett is the undoubted favourite to be next cab off the rank but in Hamilton last night
it was Stephen Donald who looked the class act. Donald made a slow start to the Super 14 but his form has been building in recent weeks. Last night all the facets of his game came together as the Chiefs inflicted a first defeat on the southern giants.
Donald's raking kicking game won the field-position battle, and his brace of sublime individual touches prised open the miserly Crusaders defence.
He had a hand in all of the Chiefs 18 first-half points. The hosts didn't score in the second half but closed out the game with a gritty defensive display.
The win was the Chiefs fourth in a row, putting them squarely in semifinal contention.
For the Crusaders, it was a reverse they could afford but the Sharks will have a chance to eat into their seven-point lead at the top of the table in Canberra tonight.
Donald landed a third-minute penalty after Brett had put the opening kick-off out on the full and Mils Muliaina had broken deep into the Crusaders 22.
Brett missed with a handy chance to level the scores before Donald set up the first of two Chiefs tries, sucking in Crusaders winger Sean Maitland and slipping a neat ball around the corner to the unmarked Sitiveni Sivivatu.
The Crusaders had early advantage in the scrums and the Chiefs had to withstand a sustained period of pressure from the visitors that ended with lock Toby Lynn sent to the sin bin for playing the ball on the ground.
But the expected Crusaders rally never materialised. Instead it was Donald who again showcased his creative bent, chipping and regathering on the Crusaders 22 before releasing prop Simms Davison.
Davison had plenty of work to do but he dispensed with Caleb Ralph with a powerful fend and trundled over between the posts.
Donald's conversion and a sideline penalty on the stroke of halftime put the Chiefs 18-0 up at the break.
Brett had been a peripheral figure in the first 40 minutes but he struck early in the second, pouncing on a lose ball in the Chiefs 22 and slipping a tackle before sending Andy Ellis over for a try.
The Chiefs had their chances to bury the Crusaders but they couldn't quite manage it and they were fortunate when replacement flanker Nasi Manu lost the ball over the line after a sweeping Crusaders counter-attack.
That was as close as it got for the Crusaders, who were outgunned at the breakdown, conceding the turnover count 9-6.
The performance completed a significant turnaround for the Chiefs, whose early season struggles for forward parity are a receding memory.
"I thought Stephen Donald had a brilliant game," Chiefs captain Muliaina said. "His tactics were great."
Chiefs 18 S Sivivatu, S Davison tries; S Donald con, 2 pen
Crusaders 5 A Ellis try
Halftime: 18-0