The Crusaders have cruised to a 41-17 victory over the Melbourne Rebels at AAMI Park.
The visitors put up a gutsy effort in the first half to only trail 7-3 at the break, however, were blown out by a second half blitz
Three tries in 13 minutes broke the Rebels and allowed the Crusaders to cruise away with the contest.
Whilst Reece Hodge and Matt Philip got well-deserved tries at the end, a late effort for Leicester Fainga’anuku sealed the bonus-point victory for Scott Robertson's men.
Melbourne's hopes of an upset weren't helped by losing veteran midfielder Matt Toomua to a head knock 13 minutes in, replaced by youngster Carter Gordon, who has only had one start at 10 this season.
The Rebels were in the hunt at halftime, trailing 7-3 with No.8 Cullen Grace the sole tryscorer with the Crusaders making a swag of uncharacteristic errors.
But the men from Christchurch put the hammer down immediately after the break with the home side unable to match them for skill or pace.
Rebels coach Kevin Foote said missing 34 first-up tackles meant his team were gassed, while the Crusaders in comparison only missed six.
"I think halftime we're right in it but we had too many first phase errors so we couldn't get any attack at them," Foote said.
"Even at the end of the game to score two tries showed the guys kept believing, but we are disappointed."
"The message at halftime was if you hit the first time tackles, you don't have to run 30 metres backwards to go and scramble, so we will look at that."
All Blacks flanker Ethan Blackadder scored twice within 10 minutes to push the lead out to 19-3 by the 53rd minute.
Argentina captain Pablo Matera was another of the Crusaders' stars, with a hand in two tries.
In the second the flanker showed his skills by toeing the ball ahead before reeling it in and recycling, with Tamaiti Williams finding the line for the Crusaders' fourth try of the night.
Melbourne made the scoreline more respectable with Reece Hodge running on to a Gordon grubber into the in-goal to score before hard-working lock Matt Philip was rewarded with a try.
But the Crusaders had the final say with winger Leicester Fainga'anuku managing to wrestle the ball down despite the efforts of three Rebels defenders.
Coach Scott Robertson said his team unnecessarily complicated their attack.
"Early on we made so many opportunities we didn't know which one to take," he said.
"More of our a mindset was to complete them and put pressure on them straightaway but we kept them in the game.
"We got there in the end - the frustration could have got to us but we kept a clear head."
CRUSADERS 42
TRIES: Grace, Blackadder 2, Hall, Williams, Fainga’anuku
CONS: Mo'unga 5/5, Burke 1/1
REBELS 17
TRIES: Hodge, Philip
CONS: Hodge 2/2
PENS: To'omua 0/1, Hodge 1/2
Crusaders: 15 George Bridge, 14 Sevu Reece, 13 Braydon Ennor, 12 Jack Goodhue, 11 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Mitch Drummond, 8 Cullen Grace, 7 Ethan Blackadder, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Zach Gallagher, 3 Olie Jager, 2 Codie Taylor (captain), 1 George Bower
Replacements: 16 Ricky Jackson, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Dominic Gardiner, 20 Corey Kellow, 21 Bryn Hall, 22 Fergus Burke, 23 Chay Fihaki
Rebels: 15 Reece Hodge, 14 George Worth, 13 Andrew Kellaway, 12 Stacey Ili, 11 Glen Vaihu, 10 Matt To’omua, 9 James Tuttle, 8 Michael Wells (captain), 7 Brad Wilkin, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Josh Hill, 4 Matt Philip, 3 Cabous Eloff, 2 James Hanson, 1 Cameron Orr
Replacements: 16 Efi Ma’afu, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Rhys Van Nek, 19 Josh Canham, 20 Tamati Ioane, 21 Sam Wallis, 22 Joe Powell, 23 Carter Gordon
Referee: Brendon Pickerill
Assistant referees: James Doleman & Jordan Way
