OPINION:
Super Rugby loyalties are a funny old thing – Kiwi rugby fans reserve their real passion for the highest form of the game, where the All Blacks (despite recent wobbles) are the benchmark for success. At domestic levels, emotions are more likely to be stirred by a decent National Provincial Championship fixture and a Ranfurly Shield parade will bring in a bigger crowd in a small town than a Super Rugby title celebration could manage in a major city.
But one thing remains constant: There are no neutrals when the Crusaders play.
If you’re from their part of the world, the red-and-black machine is a thing of wonder and a source of great pride.
For the first two years of their existence, the Crusaders sucked. But once Wayne Smith set about with his unique approach to player management, the players, backroom staff and local community developed a single-minded focus on winning rugby. New Zealand’s Super Rugby sides tend to play a similar style of footy, but if there’s a consistent theme to the Crusaders’ success, it’s efficiency. Their set piece is rarely wrong, they maul well, they smother opponents, they kick their threes.
After the earthquake in 2011, Crusaders players were out in the street, shovelling debris, mucking in and helping the people in their community. Their home stadium ruined, the team went on a remarkable run falling short in the final after playing every match away from home. For good measure, a hardened core of that side went on to play crucial roles in the All Blacks team that lifted the World Cup at Eden Park. They made their people proud.
Their remarkable coach Scott Robertson was part of the first winning Crusaders side back in 1998. Victory tonight would be his 11th title success as a player and coach. For context, consider some of the remarkable All Blacks who never triumphed on that stage either as players or coaches: Tana Umaga, Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson and Jerome Kaino for starters.
It’s a hard title to win once; 11 times is ridiculous.
The All Blacks’ status as rugby’s defining measure of success is built on more than a century of thumping opponents. At Super Rugby – the next tier down from the international game – the Crusaders have set the standard for the best part of three decades. They won’t acknowledge it in the wealthy clubs of Europe, but there’s little argument the Crusaders are the most dominant domestic force world rugby has ever known.
And yet... For those of us not from Crusaders country, it’s easy to dislike them.
A Kiwi rugby fan with no interest in either the Hurricanes or the Highlanders could enjoy the spectacle of watching the two sides play out a tense Super Rugby final without a strong preference for either team. It’s different when the Crusaders are on the field.
For Aucklanders, the antipathy is older than Super Rugby – the infamous “I hate you Auckland” sign held up by an eight-year-old kid was a legacy of rich inter-island rivalries.
It’s possible that all that success has put us off the Crusaders – their poppy is incredibly tall. The public’s interest in Super Rugby might be revived if it felt less one-sided.
For those of a liberal disposition, the Crusaders’ blank refusal to countenance changing the branding of the organisation following the 2019 mosque massacre will always grate. In the wake of that awful event, dressing up like Knights Templar and charging about brandishing medieval swords as pre-match entertainment plays into the idea that Christchurch has progressed less than the rest of New Zealand.
It’s not like those of us from outside of Christchurch switched from loving Richie McCaw in an All Blacks jersey to hating him in Crusaders kit, it’s more like we looked the other way when he ran out there in red and black. Like when a much-admired uncle starts embarrassing themselves at a neighbourhood barbecue.
The Chiefs should manage a full house for tonight’s final, and there’ll be plenty more barracking for them from around the country.
Go, the Chiefs!
Winston Aldworth is NZME’s Head of Sport, and has been a journalist since 1999. He grew up loving rugby but his favourite sporting spectacle today is off-field drama.