The Crusaders beat the Blues on the buzzer in Christchurch. Photo / Photosport
Crusaders 25
Blues 22
The Crusaders continue to charge.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround for Rob Penney’s team in 2025 after missing the post-season last year, coming into Friday night’s clash with the Blues at the top of the table.
In wet, windy conditions, the Crusaders got the job done again, outlasting the Blues to claim a 25-22 win.
“Blues-Crusaders, it was a classic,” Penney told Sky Sport after the match.
“We had to resort to different tactics. The conditions were really tough, but you have to admire the commitment of both sides. It was a ding-dong battle, and the separation was marginal in terms of the points score at the end of the day.
“All it did was reflect the effort and energy both sides put into it.”
Things were tough for both sides, and that reflected in the back-and-forth nature of the contest. It took a massive scrum followed by a James O’Connor penalty goal on the hooter to decide things, after the Blues fought back from being 19-7 down to hold a 22-19 lead going into the final 12 minutes.
The Crusaders were at times guilty of not valuing territory and trying to play too much in their own half, which the Blues made them pay for.
Particularly in the second half, it seemed the Crusades would withstand an attack, only to lose the ball at the breakdown or concede a free kick at the scrum soon after getting possession back.
And they had plenty of attacks to withstand.
The Blues, for the most part, were the dominant force in the contest. Playing the majority of the game in the Crusaders’ half, with plenty of opportunities inside the Crusaders’ 22, the visitors had more than twice as many carries as their hosts and went to work with their pick and go game. But the Crusaders’ goal-line defence was immense for most of the game.
The Blues did strike from swinging it wide in the second half – albeit from Hoskins Sotutu throwing an around-the-back flick pass that was straight out of a coach’s nightmares, fortunately finding AJ Lam on the bounce.
But this was a true battle.
Until the final minute, the game was in the balance, with O’Connor’s penalty rewarding the work of the forwards and proving the decisive moment in a thrilling clash.
Both sides lost key figures early, with Dalton Papali’i succumbing to a suspected ankle injury for the Blues late in the first half, and David Havili being replaced at halftime by the Crusaders.
Things got off to a great start for the Crusaders, scoring in the opening minutes from close range through Tamaiti Williams.
Their lead held for about 20 minutes, despite the Blues dictating the play ever since falling behind, when Josh Beehre crashed over for the visitors.
Penalties hurt the Blues on either side of halftime, with a couple of attempts at a lineout drive ultimately ending in a try to Will Jordan on the stroke of halftime before Christian Lio-Willie charged through off the back of a lineout drive early in the second half.
At 19-7, it felt like the Crusaders had found another gear and might go on with the job.
Instead, the Blues assumed the ascendancy in the match through possession and territory.
After Sotutu finally cracked the Crusaders’ defence when they had done well to keep the Blues’ pick and go game at bay, and then assisted on Lam’s try, it set up a nervous finish.
Both sides looked to play for territory, with some great kicks being exchanged. In the wet conditions, the possibility of a knock-on seemed heightened, and when the Blues dropped the ball inside their own half near fulltime, the Crusaders scrum did what they needed to in order to give their goal-kicker a chance to win the game.
Crusaders 25 (Tamaiti Williams, Will Jordan, Christian Lio-Willie tries; Taha Kemara 2 cons, James O’Connor 2 pens)
Blues 22 (Josh Beehre, Hoskins Sotutu, AJ Lam tries; Beauden Barrett 2 cons, pen)
HT: 14-7
It was an impressive showing as the Chiefs ran in 13 tries to one.