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The Melbourne Rebels were put to the sword in a 85-26 loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday night.
With a home final up for grabs and the injury-depleted Rebels in their sights, the Crusaders went for the kill with 13Â tries as the Rebels lost Mike Harris and Reece Hodge to injuries and Adam Thomson to a concussion.
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The Rebels are put to the sword in a dominant performance by title contenders, Canterbury.
The Rebels endured a horror start in the first two minutes as Jack Debreczeni's relieving kick from defence was charged down by Jimmy Tupou, who regained the ball and almost scored before being tackled at the line.
Crusaders captain Sam Whitelock followed in behind Tupou and powered the ball over the line to open the scoring and on four minutes the home side was in again as centre Ryan Crotty got on the end of some slick play to score the second try.
White-line fever: Jordan Taufua brushes off the Rebels defence during an avalanche of points at AMI Stadium. Photo: Getty Images
Things went from bad to worse for the Rebels as Harris was replaced by Jonah Placid at fullback. But the Crusaders showed no mercy as they forced the turnover and burst down the left wing with winger Nemani Nadolo breaking clear and then passing to lock Scott Barrett, who happily made it 18-0 after nine minutes.
Seven Rebels' errors in those opening stages just fed the beast and the Crusaders continued to attack with prop Alex Hodgman scoring in the 14th minute and Nadolo following him on 23 minutes after a powerful run.
Down 33-0, the Rebels tried to stem the tide but were pinned to their own line and missed tackles amid waves of attacks. Speedy winger Johnny McNicholl then scored the sixth try with a powerful crossfield run on 27 minutes.
For all the Crusaders' dominance, they couldn't stop the Rebels breaking their duck on 34 minutes after winger Sefa Naivalu fielded a kick, broke the line and beat multiple defenders before passing to captain Nic Stirzaker to score.
The teams went to the break with the score 43-7 and McNicholl scored two more in the second half. Though the Crusaders seemed to score at will, late tries to Rebels lock Culum Retallick and Naivalu added some respectability for the Rebels.
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