The Waikato Chiefs held off a late barrage to beat the Canterbury Crusaders 24-19 in a bruising Super Rugby encounter in Napier.
The Chiefs, who upset the Auckland Blues last week, scored tries either side of halftime through flanker Liam Messam and prop Sona Taumalolo while flyhalf Aaron Cruden punished the frequent Crusaders penalties with 14 points from the boot.
The Crusaders, playing what was technically a home match, picked up from a disappointing first half performance with a try from Robbie Fruean after the break but still slumped to a second successive defeat after losing to the Highlanders last week.
They will particularly rue scrumhalf Andy Ellis's attempt at a quick dropout from his 22 midway through the second half, which backfired for Taumalolo to crash over the line under a pile of bodies moments later.
The Chiefs had the best of the first half and but for two missed penalties from Cruden would have had a bigger lead than the 16-6 advantage they held at halftime.
Flanker Messam had made the most of the Waikato pressure to barge over the line in the 26th minute and Cruden added the extra points and three penalties.
The seven-time champion Crusaders applied some pressure around the break and centre Fruean got over the line eight minutes after the restart after a rampaging run and neat offload from number eight Kieran Read.
Despite Taumalolo's try, two penalties in three minutes from Crusaders flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal made it a two point game at 21-19 soon after the hour mark but Cruden slotted his fourth penalty three minutes from time and the Chiefs held on.
"In patches there it was great for us," Crusaders captain Read said in a pitchside interview. "But we couldn't sustain it and too many penalties killed it for us."
