KEY POINTS:
There was an instant - a moment of runaway lack of confidence - that said it all about the Waratahs' miserable season.
Lote Tuqiri latched on to a Crusaders' pass 85m from the goal-line and set sail. Yes, that Lote Tuqiri.
One of the best three-quarters in the
world over the past two years. An Australian sevens player. A rampaging winger who combines power, guile and speed. He is also the bloke who has held much of Australia in thrall (or disgust) as he has pondered whose money to take (union's or league's).
But he was beaten for pace by Crusaders' fly-half Stephen Brett as he steamed off for the far goal. Tuqiri's confidence visibly flowed out of him as he realised Brett was hauling him in.
So he offloaded to winger Peter Hewat who hesitated and then hot-potatoed the ball to green-as-grass fullback Kurtley Beale - who was thumped in a fine ball-and-all tackle by Rico Gear.
It should have been a try under the sticks and seven points. It should have been 12-12. But it turned out to be a perfect illustration of the lack of belief running through the Waratahs and seemed to explain why they wouldn't win this and other matches this year.
Meanwhile, the Crusaders looked as if they might be about to score at will. Campbell Johnstone opened the scoring by flopping over the line and looked slightly embarrassed at the ease of his try, from a maul, and the time it took for the opposition and the referee to realise he had scored.
Then - after rookie winger Lachlan Turner scored an absolute peach by running around Gear, Brett and Leon MacDonald - the Crusaders scored another crushingly easy try.
Corey Flynn threw one of his misguided missiles over the lineout, Richie McCaw made the catch. McCaw beetled off, with tacklers looking the other way. He split them, made another incursion from the first ruck and so many Crusaders lined up for the try they must have felt that Gear was selfish when he scored it.
To say that there weren't many Waratahs around at that stage would be understating things.
And then came Tuqiri's interception and the chance to get into the match; a chance that slipped through the cracks in the Waratahs' self-belief.
After that, the Crusaders ran in easy tries to No 8 Mose Tuiali'i and second five-eighths Aaron Mauger and were only prevented from running away with the match before halftime by Brett's poor goalkicking.
The Waratahs scored a fine try to replacement forward Sam Harris before the break after good work by Hewat and lock Will Caldwell and a Hewat penalty meant the Waratahs changed ends only seven points down.
They went one better after the break. A Hewat penalty and then a try - albeit from a rank forward pass - to first five-eighth Sam Norton-Knight put the Waratahs ahead 25-22.
The Crusaders snapped up a gear and Casey Laulala scored after good work by Tuiali'i and Mauger before Gear scuttled over for his second.
Tuqiri made amends - a blistering run full of self-belief and menace which ended with replacement hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau scoring.
The Waratahs did well. Four tries earned their first bonus point - and they could have taken the lead with 10m to go had Hewat coverted Polota-Nau's try. But they found their belief too late to swing this match. And maybe the rest of the season.
* Waratahs 33 (L. Turner, S. Harris, S. Norton-Knight, T. Polota-Nau tries; P. Hewat 2 con, 3 pen), Crusaders 34 (C. Johnstone, R. Gear 2, M. Tuiali'i, A. Mauger, C. Laulala tries; S. Brett 2 con). Halftime: Crusaders 22-15.