The Crusaders will face the Chiefs in the Super Rugby Pacific final in Christchurch on Saturday.
Crusaders coach Rob Penney credits the team’s success to returning players and strong defence.
The Chiefs, led by Damien McKenzie, showcased their attacking prowess in their win over the Brumbies.
The Super Rugby Pacific final on Saturday night, when the Crusaders host the Chiefs, should be a tremendously tense, exciting contest. I can fully understand why the TAB is offering exactly the same odds, of $1.90, for both teams.
Few would have been predicting, before the 2025 seasonstarted, the journey by the Crusaders to the final.
While some – including legendary car maker Henry Ford – say history is bunk, I lean to the Crusaders. For 27 years, they’ve never lost a home playoff game. That startling, almost mythical record that began at Lancaster Park in 1998 when they beat South African team the Sharks may well be continuing. Apollo Stadium, a former rugby league headquarters, could be the coldest ground in New Zealand, but the bitter conditions are again this year feeling ideal to the Crusaders.
Crusaders coach Rob Penney has been quick to attribute the giant leap from the nightmares of last year (when the Crusaders finished ninth) to the return from injury of a group of leading players.
There’s a massive element of truth in that, but winning a brutal arm wrestle with the Blues 21-14 in Friday night’s semifinal spoke to the attitude of everyone in the red-and-black ranks, as much as it did to the quality of the personnel available. Penney would possibly be embarrassed to hear it, but staunch defence is a reflection of unity in a squad – and for that to develop you can’t go past the coaching staff, and in particular the head coach.
In the frantic last five minutes of the Christchurch semifinal, previous achievements as a player meant nothing. But a grim determination for every man to stand up again and again, to face another wave of men in blue and white, was essential.
It’s certainly what will be demanded against the Chiefs.
The Chiefs are a formidable team, as they showed in dispatching the ACT Brumbies 37-17 in Hamilton. The scrum is where their attacking threat begins, but it certainly doesn’t stop there.
The back three of Shaun Stevenson, Emoni Narawa and Leroy Carter all offer huge try-scoring potential. Wing Narawa gave two perfect examples of the prowess the Chiefs flyers possess. In the 19th minute, he darted past two bemused-looking Brumbies defenders to score, and then in the 46th minute, when the Brumbies had clawed their way back to only be down 19-17, he effortlessly ran in the try that would prove to put victory out of reach of the Australian side.
Saturday night also saw second five-eighths Quinn Tupaea show he’s fully recovered from the weird injury he suffered in Dunedin a fortnight ago, when his head collided with a teammate’s knee in a tackle.
Tupaea hasn’t had a great run with injuries. His career could have been over when, while playing for the All Blacks in Melbourne against Australia in May, 2022, Wallabies lock Darcy Swain smashed the midfielder’s knee with an illegal cleanout at a breakdown. Swain was banned for six weeks, which basically amounted to getting away with an unforgivable action.
It’s a tribute to Tupaea’s resilience that he’s back, and in the form that took him into the All Blacks three years ago.
Reason to smile
Damian McKenzie is a daring, cheeky, fearless runner with the ball at first five-eighths for the Chiefs. You could almost lose sight of the fact that he’s also a top-level goalkicker. His nerve-calming wee grin before he strides in for a kick worked its magic on Saturday night, when his six penalty goals made damn sure the Brumbies weren’t going back to Canberra with a victory.
Damian McKenzie impressed for the Chiefs, with the ball in hand or at his feet. Photo / Photosport
Emotional? Nah, or maybe yeah
From coach Penney through to captain Scott Barrett, there’s an old-school mindset at the Crusaders that isn’t keen on over-the-top public displays. How much success in Super Rugby Pacific means to the current Crusaders was illustrated a couple of times in their win over the Blues.
Ethan Blackadder usually expresses himself in the form of a smashing tackle or a bone-rattling run. So to see him embracing Tom Christie as if Christie was an older brother who had just been rescued from a life-threatening situation on Mt Cook was an example of the passion in the Crusaders’ side.
Another example? The brilliant Will Jordan usually follows scoring a try by channelling players of the 1960s, jogging back to halfway looking vaguely embarrassed. To see him punching the air and shouting to the heavens was not only appealing, but also informative of Jordan and his team’s mindset.
Faith repaid
There’s plenty of experience in the Crusaders but in the vital decision-making positions of halfback and first five-eighths, the faith placed in Noah Hotham and Rivez Reihana has been handsomely rewarded. Hamilton Boys’ High School graduate Hotham is still only 22 and was pursued by the Highlanders before signing with the Crusaders. His confidence has grown to the point where he’s now a commanding figure.
Reihana signed with the Crusaders last year, when he started just two games. But this season, he’s looked the complete package. At 25, his career might have just hit its stride.
Backbone never a problem
On the topic of finding form, the Blues deserve huge praise for how they bounced back to be desperately close to making the final. I’d reserve special praise among the players for Beauden Barrett, who beautifully set up the early try for Mark Tele’a, was impeccable in his goalkicking and in general play showed why his career is far from over.
And, as was the case with Penney, coach Vern Cotter had his team firing when it really mattered.
Phil Gifford is a Contributing Sports Writer for NZME. He is one of the most-respected voices in New Zealand sports journalism.
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