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Crusaders batter the Blues in Super Rugby semi-final
The Crusaders have once again dashed the Blues’ title hopes by dominating their Auckland-based rivals in a 52-15 win in the first Super Rugby Pacific semi-final.
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In doing so the Crusaders stretched their unbeaten record in playoffs matches in Christchurch to 29 games and moved closer to their 12th Super Rugby title.
In next weekend’s final they will face the winner of the second semi-final between the Chiefs and the Brumbies.
The Crusaders again were in their element on a frigid winter’s night with a hint of early frost on the ground.
They pounced on Blues’ errors to score tries through centre Braydon Ennor and winger Leicester Fainga’anuku to lead 15-0 after 11 minutes.
“We were well aware of what the Blues were going to front up with and we knew we had to start well,” Crusaders captain Scott Barrett said.
“From there I think we just shut their game down with some big efforts on defence and that’s probably going to be required next weekend as well.”
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The Blues came into the match full of confidence after a solid regular season.
But playoffs rugby is different and the Crusaders are masters of it, especially in their home conditions.
The Blues showed signs of anxiety, even panic early on with careless passes and poor kicks as the Crusaders played at pace in defence as well as attack and built relentless pressure.
In the contest of All Blacks playmakers, Richie Mo’unga was pre-eminent for the Crusaders, taking advantage of time, position and opportunity to create attacking chances while Beauden Barrett was perpetually pressured and confounded for the Blues.
The match was a breakthrough for Crusaders backrowers Sione Havili Talitui and Christian Lio-Willie who both have had growing roles this season as injuries have taken a toll.
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They were regular and effective ball carriers and Havili Talitui carried twice in the movement that led to a try by fullback Will Jordan.
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Hooker Codie Taylor worked the ball over the goal line after waiting patiently for the opportunity from a protracted lineout drive and the Crusaders led 32-3 at halftime as a match that had been expected to be close turned into a romp for the Crusaders.
Barrett scored the Blues’ first try in the 58th minute, scooting between tacklers close to the line.
Mo’unga stretched the lead to 42-8 with a penalty and finished with nine goals from 10 attempts for 21 points.
He also handed off the last pass in a try to Fergus Burke which took the Crusaders to a 49-8 led in the 71st minute.
Mo’unga’s final penalty took the Crusaders past 50 points and left the Blues’ hopes not only dashed but devastated.
“Credit to the Crusaders,” said Blues captain Dalton Papalii.
“They’ve set the standard for years now and when it’s time for finals footy, they just seem to go up another level.”
– with Reuters
Comments on RugbyPass
‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
18 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
11 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
11 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
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