Walking away with a 29-13 win against their Kiwi rivals was just reward for the hosts, who were strong at the breakdown, consistently disrupted the Crusaders’ lineout and were able to keep the visitors at bay despite a lopsided penalty count.
It was certainly not a perfect performance, but this was a Blues side that came out looking like a team that knew they needed a result.
“I’m just proud of the way we fronted in that last quarter,” Blues first five-eighths Beauden Barrett told Sky Sport.
“We gave away too many penalties for the most part of that game in our defence, but when we backed that, we felt really good and in control.
“We knew we had to turn up tonight against a classy side. It wasn’t perfect but we’re happy to win at home.”
The Crusaders, coming in after putting 43 on the Chiefs to win in Hamilton last time out, were clunky for much of the contest, with handling errors and unclean lineouts disrupting their evening, while they missed the punch in their attack that Will Jordan so often provides.
There was a late change for the hosts coming into the game, with Barrett called up to start in his first Super Rugby game of the year after initially being named on the bench behind Stephen Perofeta. With Perofeta being scratched, the All Blacks veteran showed few signs of rust or needing to be eased back into the contest as he was heavily involved in an 80-minute stint and had several classy touches – highlighted by a lovely kick-pass to winger Codemeru Vai for a try.
“My legs fell off at the end there, but VC [Vern Cotter] asked me yesterday if I could go 80 and I reluctantly said yes,” Barrett said.
The Crusaders had some good moments early in the contest and opened the scoring through a Rivez Reihana penalty.
The lead didn’t last long however, as Caleb Clarke scored in the corner. The Blues winger has made a habit of following a disappointing season with a great one and looks set to continue that trend as he added three more tries to his season tally – taking it to five.
That’s five more tries than he scored in the entire 2025 season.
A yellow card to Crusaders’ blindside flanker Dominic Gardiner for a high shot on Hoskins Sotutu saw the Blues capitalise with tries through Clarke and Vai, though they conceded as many when Clarke was sent to the sin bin late in the half for a deliberate knockdown.
The second half saw both sides have their opportunities, but neither particularly clinical in possession. A 48th-minute Clarke try was the only five-pointer of the half, with a late Barrett penalty pushing it beyond a two-score margin and into comfortable territory for the hosts to close out a deserved win.
Blues 29 (Caleb Clarke 3, Codemeru Vai tries; Beauden Barrett 3 cons, pen)
Crusaders 13 (Codie Taylor, Rivez Reihana tries; Reihana pen)
HT: 19-13
