Jeff Wilson: Crusaders v Highlanders game should have been postponed

A dejected Waisake Naholo of the Highlanders. Photosport

All Blacks great Jeff Wilson says Saturday's quarter-final between Highlanders and Crusaders should have been postponed a day.

The Crusaders defeated the Highlanders in shocking conditions 17-0 after the men from the deep south almost failed to get into Christchurch to play the game.

The Highlanders had been scheduled to fly on Friday, but their flight was cancelled due to the South Island storm and the team was forced to delay their journey until Saturday, eventually landing just seven hours before kickoff.

Wilson, who played 72 games for the Highlanders, told the Radio Sport Breakfast that the quarter-final should have been delayed.

"We should never have played. We should have missed another flight and turned up on Sunday or turned up late Saturday and played on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Christchurch," Wilson told the Radio Sport Breakfast.

Listen: Jeff Wilson on the Radio Sport Breakfast

"The game would have been pushed to Sunday if the Highlanders hadn't had reached Christchurch in time.

"We all saw the number of people in the crowd. It was a miserable, miserable night."
Wilson heaped praise on the Crusaders who bounced back from their first defeat of the season against the Hurricanes last week.

"In saying that the Crusaders were far too good. They were outstanding," the Sky Sport's Breakdown host said.

"They went to work in the conditions. They played the conditions perfectly on all parts they thoroughly deserved to win the game. They were going to be tough regardless of the conditions but I think it was a disadvantage to the Highlanders. They didn't arrive until 1pm. It was 2pm by the time they got to the hotel, four hours later they were off to play a game in atrocious conditions."

"Aside from that it was a real shame for the fans. In the end the conditions were horrific, it was a state of emergency in surrounding parts of Christchurch, people decided, and rightfully so, that safety was the right port of call. So they didn't come to the game. And we were denied probably what could have been an absolute classic.

"If the conditions are like that again, I think the Crusaders are near impossible to beat."