THE Nashua Crusaders beat the Zululand Rhinos 47-23 in their Fidelity Moor Cup clash on Saturday. The ‘Saders ran in seven tries to two with Merlynn Pieterse bagging a brace. The home side started off sluggishly and were on the backfoot just three minutes into the game, as Rhinos outside centre, Jors Dannhauser, slotted over a penalty. Another penalty from Dannhauser made it 6-0 to the visitors.

Despite the away team’s bouyant start, the Crusaders soon found their groove with tries from Merlynn Pieterse, Cohen Wortley, Owen McMillan and Curtlee Johnson to oveturn the deficit and lead 28-9 going into half-time.

The second half started in much the same fashion with Wade Worthington and Pieterse scoring his second of the game.

Crusaders youngster, Jasper Genis, who started his first game for the premier league outfit, scored his first try of the game with virtually first touch, scything past some tired Rhinos defenders. However, the visitors did manage to pull two tries back through Tokazani Nduli and an intercept try from Victor Comfort.

Crusaders coach, Ronnie Uys, said he was pleased with his team’s performance but felt the margin of victory could have been bigger.

“I’m extremely happy with the win and the bonus point considering that we’ve been plagued by injuries this week. It was an outstanding result after a frustrating start. I felt we could have beaten them by a bigger margin but we didn’t look after the ball in patches, which hindered our attacking play. But all in all, it was a fantastic win with some standout performances from the boys,” he said.