WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Leon MacDonald potted a drop goal four minutes from fulltime to steer Canterbury to a 15-13 win over the Auckland Blues on Saturday, keeping the Crusaders in contention for a place in the Super 14 rugby semi-finals.
MacDonald held his nerve to put his team back in front after the Blues had threatened to steal the victory with a late contentious try from centre Isaia Toeava.
The result lifted the New Zealand-based Crusaders to 41 points and third place in the standings midway through the final round of the regular season.
The defending champions will make the playoffs for the eighth year in a row unless two other results go against them.
The Crusaders could have wrapped up their place in the semis by scoring four tries to collect a bonus point but were unable to score even one. MacDonald contributed all their points with four penalties and the drop goal.
"We talked about it before the game, it's just a bonus, that's why they call it bonus points," Crusaders captain Richie McCaw said in a televised interview.
"We just had to get the win first. We weren't going to be scoring four tries tonight.
"At least we've done what we can now and we can sit back and hope for the best."
The Crusaders led 6-3 at halftime then 12-6 with 10 minutes to go after MacDonald and Jimmy Gopperth traded penalties, when the game suddenly came to life.
The Blues hit the front eight minutes from the end when Toeava was awarded a try by the video referee after plunging his way through a pile of bodies.
Gopperth converted to put the home team in front at Eden Park before MacDonald's late reply gave the Crusaders their seventh win from their last eight matches.
(Reporting by Julian Linden in Sydney; Editing by Peter Rutherford; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)