Crusaders' defeat at hands of Chiefs confirms what many already suspected
An unstoppable force met an immovable object in Christchurch on Saturday evening, with the Chiefs holding possession for almost the entirety of the final 20 minutes of their grudge match with the Crusaders and the home side repelling wave after wave of attack.
Despite launching countless multi-phase attacks on the Crusaders, the Chiefs weren’t able to penetrate the line until the final minutes of the game when they eventually scored tries out wide to Shaun Stevenson and Rameka Poihipi.
It made for a fascinating final quarter and it will have given coaches Clayton McMillan and Scott Robertson plenty of food for thought. If the Chiefs need 10 or more phases to score tries, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for how the team is functioning on attack and they won’t always be able to string quite so many plays together in games to come.
From a Crusaders’ point of view, their effort on defence was inspirational and will give Robertson plenty of confidence as the season moves forward. At the end of the day, however, it’s McMillan who’ll remember the evening most fondly and rightly so; a scrappy win is better than a heartening loss.
The wider implications of the result are also worth considering.
Coming into the season, the Crusaders were unsurprisingly instilled as competition favourites. Even now, following a loss at their Christchurch fortress, it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the Cantabrians don’t take out the title come June – but they’re certainly not unbeatable.
We’re yet to see anything close to an 80-minute performance from Robertson’s men this season, with the Highlanders building a 13-0 lead in Queenstown and both the Hurricanes and Chiefs having the better run of the final quarters of their showdowns with the Super Rugby Aotearoa champions. Even against Moana Pasifika, whose struggles have been well documented, it wasn’t until the final play of the game that the Crusaders were able to earn a try-scoring bonus point.
Still, the Crusaders appears to be the best-drilled team in the competition at this point – even if they weren’t able to get the business done against an under-strength Chiefs side in Christchurch.
But where do the rest of the teams in the competition sit? While the Highlanders currently look a little underwhelming compared to their NZ rivals, there was very little in their losses to the Chiefs, Crusaders, Hurricanes and Blues. Meanwhile, the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes have suffered a loss apiece. The Chiefs and Crusaders might go into next weekend’s derbies with the Hurricanes and Blues as slim favourites, but it wouldn’t shock anyone to see the underdogs take home the spoils.
Sam Cane repeated in his post-game comments the same message the Chiefs have delivered after every fixture in recent times – any team can win on the day.
“Far out, we were on the other end of it last week,” he said. “I feel like we say it every time the Kiwi teams play, it’s just down to the wire.”
They were the team that bore the bad luck throughout 2020, coming within seven points of beating all five NZ franchises at various points throughout the Aotearoa season but instead finished the year with eight losses on the trot. The Hurricanes had a similarly frustrating time of things last season, dropping close games to the Crusaders and Chiefs (twice). Had those fixtures fallen in the Hurricanes’ favour, they would have been playing in the Aotearoa final. Instead, they finished bottom of the log.
Over in Australia, the two Super Rugby AU finalists from 2021, the Reds and Brumbies, remain unbeaten after four rounds of action. They’ll be hoping that after last year’s Trans-Tasman shambles, they’re better prepared for the New Zealand sides but it’s difficult to see the remaining four teams really challenging for Pacific glory – although it’s likely at least one will feature in the knockout stages of the competition. None of the Waratahs, Western Force or Fijian Drua have been regularly blown off the park this year, however, meaning the Reds, Brumbies and even the Kiwi sides can’t afford to be off their games for any major periods of time.
Even if the rugby isn’t always to the highest standard – as was especially the case last weekend – the closeness of matches means there are few games in this year’s Super Rugby Pacific competition that can be written off in their entirety.
As has been the case over the past two seasons, there’s very little separating the wheat from the chaff when the New Zealand and Australian sides are in the midst of derby games week-in and week-out. The Chiefs’ win over the Crusaders in Christchurch has just reconfirmed that no side in this competition is beatable and the repeat intra-national fixtures will provide plenty of food for thought before the trans-Tasman matches eventually arrive in late April.
Comments on RugbyPass
Sometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to comments