Best Performance So Far
Crusaders produced which was arguably their best performance of the season to beat a Swaffham side riding on the back of 5 straight league wins. Crusaders pack once again deserve all the plaudits with another impressive performance against a larger pack. Crusaders had Swaffham on the back foot from the start, an uncharacteristic missed penalty in front of the posts by Rob Loone let the visitors off the hook. Within minutes the forwards had made ammends with a pushover try touched down by Josh Stuart which was unconverted.
When Swaffham eventually got out of their half they looked dangerous, despite all their early pressure Crusaders went behind when Tom Murray took advantage of some weak tackling in Crusaders defence to score under the posts and with the conversion they took the lead. Crusaders forwards once again took control of the game and prefering a scrum to a penalty opportunity they drove once more towards the Swaffham line and once more Josh Stuart picked up and finished the final metre to score his second try. Loone converted from the touchline 12-7 at halftime.
Swaffham made a determined start to the second half and posed a threat out wide and a desperate high tackle on the touchline earned Pete Blinkhorn 10 minutes in the bin. Crusaders completed a fine victory and gained a bonus point with two more trys in the second half from Pete Blinkhorn and Henry Joy, Rob Loone added two penalties and a conversion. Ryan Harris marked his debut at No. 10 by expertly executing Crusaders game plan and set an example to the team with his fearless tackling. No. 8 Josh Stuart was constantly breaching the game line, consequently Swaffham were starved of the ball on the day.