The Crusaders have kept their unbeaten streak alive following a crushing 54-28 victory over the Waratahs in Wollongong this afternoon.
It was not the most clinical of performances from Scott Robertson's men, with two players spending time in the sin bin, as well as several uncharacteristic errors while in possession.
However, it did not matter, the Waratahs unable to keep up with the electric running rugby of the Super Rugby Aotearoa champions, who ran in eight tries to the Waratahs three.
The writing was on the wall early, as Drummond finished off a play he started around the halfway line, the Crusaders backs shifting the ball quickly to the right wing, where Reece found Jordan on the inside to streak through a gap and pass to Drummond to touch down near the posts.
At the half hour mark, the Crusaders again showed their skill in open play, a wonderful set move allowing Fainga'anuku to split the Waratahs defence and offload to Mataele, who in turn threw an inside ball for Taylor to race over the line.
The Waratahs had their moments, scoring two back-to-back tries early in the second half to reduce the deficit to ten, but the gulf in class was shown when a flying Will Jordan grabbed Burke's cross-field kick, beat his man and threw off tacklers to score late in the second half.
Richie Mo'unga failed to score himself, but kicked well in unfavourable windy conditions in Wollongong, nailing all but one of his conversions.
The victory takes the Crusaders to second place on the table behind the Hurricanes, although a bonus-point victory for the Blues later tonight will see them slip to third.
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