Overall an excellent result for the Canes. 5 points sees them shoot up the table to 5th. Conversely the the Crusaders slip down to 13th with their South African tour coming up. If there wasn't pressure on the Crusaders before there certainly is now!
The Crusaders attack started to click at times, but it was their defense this week that really let them down. It wasn't just one player either - everyone in the side seemed to missing 1-on-1 tackles. They conceded 4 tries, and were lucky not concede a 5th, with Savea's second try ruled out because of a forward pass.
Thrush and Levave were the pick of the Canes forwards for me for different reasons. Thrush has a big work-rate and was accurate in everything he did while Levave was incredibly destructive (though did miss a few tackles). Savea and Leiua were the pick of the backs - I have never really rated Leiua that highly, but he scored one of the best individual tries you will ever see. Taylor looked dangerous at fullback too, while Bateman slotted in well at 12.
The Crusaders froward pack as a whole did pretty well, but their weren't many individual standouts. The back-line looked better on attack this weak, but some of the defense was poor. Ellis created a lot with ball in hand but he was probably the biggest culprit on defense. Crotty was the pick of the backs for me - every week he seems to be one of the only Crusaders backs capable of breaking the line. I thought Nadolo made an excellent impact too, and he looks in far better condition than I was expecting. Though I remain unconvinced with Nadolo I think the Crusaders have no option but to start him - defensively he probably won't be any worse than Tuitavake who seems to cost the Crusaders a try every match by drifting in-field off his opposite wing. Guildford should be starting too, but I feel I'm a bit of a broken record on this. McNicholl scored two tries, but I'm starting to believe I was wrong about him. He still didn't look overly comfortable with the physicality at this level, and he was one of those guilty of missing Leiua on the way to his try. Dagg looked dangerous a couple of times (when he hit the line from first receiver), but apart from that you wouldn't have guessed he was an All Black fullback...