Look no further than the All Blacks-laden Crusaders tight five for the defining difference in this tight and tense contest that everyone expected.
It was the usual suspects to the fore as the Crusaders squeezed and suffocated the Chiefs’ quest to send Clayton McMillan off to Ireland with an elusive championship.
All Blacks front-rowers Codie Taylor and Fletcher Newell delivered huge shifts as the Crusaders crushed the Chiefs scrum.
It’s not often a prop claims a man-of-the-match award but no one contributed more to the Crusaders improving their home playoff record to 32-0 than Newell, who played the full game – a rare feat from any front-row forward.
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett chimed in at the lineout, too, and Will Jordan, playing with a heavily strapped knee, made the most of the Chiefs capitulating under the high ball.
Pinned and pressured, the Chiefs couldn’t fire a shot in the second half. All that strike nullified.
Entering their fourth final in five years, having lost their last three attempts to claim the Super Rugby Pacific crown, the Chiefs were desperate to bin their nearly-men tag and deliver McMillan his first title.
To a man, their devastation at the final whistle was evident.
The Chiefs will rue their qualifying final loss to the Blues which squandered their home advantage, forcing them to travel to Christchurch where the Crusaders have now hosted eight finals.
Who knows if the result would have been different with a Hamilton final, but the Chiefs certainly made the road much tougher for themselves.
Sport, with its fine margins such as this, can be beautiful and brutal.
The Chiefs have been the most consistent team for the last three years – yet they have no silverware to show for it. Their 4340-day drought since their last title in 2013 – the longest of any New Zealand team – goes on.
The mental weight of that burden appeared to tell in the second half as mistakes, particularly under the high ball, proved costly.
McMillan, in his five years with the Chiefs, transformed the franchise from the depths of the Warren Gatland era. He rekindled the Chiefs’ identity, giving them direction and purpose by reviving their connection to the Māori culture cornerstones of the Dave Rennie and Sir Wayne Smith era.
But as a fairy-tale farewell faded before his eyes, the Perth-born, Rotorua-raised former policeman will be gutted to leave for Irish province Munster with another finals failure.
Disappointment will long linger, but with an overall 58-23 record, McMillan departs with the best coaching record the Chiefs have witnessed to leave an indelible mark.
For another year, though, the mantle belongs to the Crusaders.
The Blues’ breakthrough success under Vern Cotter last year, and the Crusaders’ sudden collapse following Scott Robertson’s elevation to the All Blacks, is now cast as an aberration.
Normal service resumes, it seems, much to the agony of the anyone-but-the-Crusaders brigade.
Such a them-against-us mentality is derived from envy, from the sustained success the Crusaders have constructed. They have now won 46% of all Super Rugby titles – a staggering stat that underlines their status.
It’s not always pretty but, once again, their set piece dominance, kick-heavy, pressure tactics, defensive resilience and the ingrained knowledge of how to hang tough and win finals proved highly effective.
What was likely the Crusaders’ final match at their necessary but derided Addington Stadium will live long in their memory.
Rob Penney deserves his praise, too. The Crusaders stood behind their head coach when he was widely fingered for last year’s nosedive.
That faith has paid off, with Penney adapting and adjusting by this season improving his selections and promoting youth – seeing the benefits in second-choice playmaker Rivez Reihana’s performance in the final.
From the verge of the outhouse to the penthouse, Penney is now certain to be retained for next year and maybe beyond.
Of those fringe All Blacks contenders, Quinn Tupaea pushed his case for selection with another highly involved performance but, in the immediate aftermath of this defeat, that will be of little consolation.
And so a familiar script returns. The Crusaders are champs, the Chiefs bridesmaids.
Will anything change next season?
Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.
