The Chiefs won the battle of the breakdown, winning five turnovers to the Crusaders' two.
Liam Messam made 11 ball carries in this match for a total of 45 metres, while Kieran Read was the main runner for the Crusaders' pack with nine carries for 58 metres gained.
The Crusaders had to make 175 tackles in this game, 63 more than the Chiefs. But they only missed 13 percent of their tackles, while the Chiefs missed 22 percent.
Luke Whitelock made his debut for the Crusaders off the bench, meaning that all four Whitelock brothers took the field at some stage in this match.
FORCE v HURRICANES (19-46)
TJ Perenara had his first start for the Hurricanes, and starred with three tries in his team's big win in Perth.
Last year the Hurricanes failed to win a single game in Australia and had just one win in South Africa, but come home from this overseas trip with two wins from three games- a feat they last achieved in 2008.
Another good week for the Hurricane's lineout winning all but one of their 12 throws, with Victor Vito winning six and stealing one off the Force.
Linebreaks aplenty with a total of seven, plus six offloads in the tackle. Andre Taylor and Conrad Smith both made two linebreaks, while Tim Bateman got away two offloads.
He may be a veteran player now, but Jason Eaton made 17 tackles and scored a try - just his ninth since he debuted in 2006.
The Hurricanes' win means that the Force continue their wretched record of never winning their opening home game in any Super Rugby season.
This was the 200th Super game for the Hurricanes, and their victory over the Force gives them 102 wins for a 51 percent winning rate in all Super games.
HIGHLANDERS v WARATAHS (18-17)
This was captain Jamie MacIntosh's 50th game for the Highlanders as his team hung on to squeak a one point win over the Waratahs.
Andrew Hore continues to prove that front rowers can do anything, making a linebreak, an offload in the tackle, and winning a turnover at the breakdown.
Adam Thomson won nine of the Highlanders' 17 lineout this week, and overall this season has won 56 percent of all their lineout throws.
Yet again the Highlanders used phase play to break the opposition's defence, with 11 phases leading to flanker John Hardie's first try of the season.
The advantage of a covered stadium was evident when it comes to limiting the number of handling errors with just 12 in total coming in this game compared with an average of 19 across all the other games this weekend.
BULLS v BLUES (23-29)
The Blues broke a hoodoo this weekend with their first win over the Bulls in Pretoria since 2003. It was also their first win of 2012.
Gareth Anscombe, in his debut start for the Blues, scored all 29 of their points including two tries and two long-range penalties from the other side of halfway.
Bizarrely, his opposite - the goal-kicking maestro Morne Steyn - only managed to land 50 percent of his kicks for goal on his home ground.
Discipline issues this week for the Blues as they conceded a whopping 17 penalties, two yellow cards and a white card. This was more than double the number of penalties they conceded in the first two rounds.
The 30 penalties awarded by Steve Walsh in this match was ten more than the average number awarded across the other six games played this round.
But a more aggressive approach to the breakdown bore fruit this week, with the Blues winning seven breakdown turnovers to four.
Tighthead prop Charlie Faumuina starred this week with three ball steals at the breakdown.
