'I know we're disliked immensely': Was the whole country rooting for an upset in the Super Rugby Aoteroa final?
You don’t make it to the top without acquiring a few enemies along the way – but Crusaders coach Scott Robertson suspects there were more than just a few folk around the country rooting for an upset result in last night’s Super Rugby Aotearoa final.
The Crusaders are far and away the most successful side in Super Rugby’s history, winning 10 Super Rugby titles throughout the competition’s 24-year existence.
They’ve now added two Super Rugby Aotearoa crowns to their ledger following last night’s 24-13 win, and given the relative youth of their team, there doesn’t appear to be any stopping the Crusaders juggernaut.
Much like the unstoppable Auckland and Blues sides of the 1990s, that’s produced some frustration for fans of their opposition, who are often left wondering when their teams will finally get a shot at glory.
As such, Robertson was under no illusions heading into the grand final over where most viewers’ allegiances would have laid. Bar those from the South Island, northwards of North Otago, the majority of New Zealand would have almost certainly thrown their support behind the underdog Chiefs, who turned around an 11-match losing streak to book a spot in the final in Christchurch.
Samuel Whitelock was a man possessed. #CRUvCHI #SuperRugbyAotearoa @CrusadersRugbyhttps://t.co/trqwlwRiJI
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 9, 2021
“I know we’re disliked immensely, but I’d like to think we’re respected for what we’ve done,” said Robertson after the match.
“You have to stay hungry for so long, and put your body through it for so long and turn up every day. We have to get better as a team to keep winning.”
Despite lining up for their fifth title on the trot, Robertson wasn’t counting his chickens before they hatched. The Chiefs, after all, recorded five wins in a row this season, only ceding that run when they fielded a makeshift side against the Blues last weekend.
They also bested the Crusaders last time the two met.
“I was nervous – I know how good they are,” Robertson said.
"If you need someone to create a hole in the opposition midfield, you give the ball to Leicester Fainga’anuku. If you’re looking for someone to glide through one, then David Havili is your man."#SuperRugbyAotearoa #CRUvCHI #AllBlacks
✍️ @TomVinicombe https://t.co/jFJ1DwW0kR
— RugbyPass+ (@RugbyPassPlus) May 8, 2021
“We had to be at our best – at times we were against the ropes and all the leadership stuff we do, making the right calls and staying present, showed tonight.
“There was a lot of emotion in the box…we were in all sorts for a bit – I think the players were a bit calmer.”
The Crusaders were down to 13 men at one stage after both Codie Taylor and Sevu Reece were shown yellow cards for dangerous tackles but the normally reliable Damian McKenzie couldn’t convert opportunities into points and the Crusaders eventually marched their way to their 12th title.
Now, the Crusaders’ attention turns to the Brumbies – who fell agonisingly short of winning Super Rugby AU but conceded a post-buzzer try to James O’Connor, handing the Reds a come from behind victory. The old rivals will square off in Christchurch on Saturday night.
The top two teams from the upcoming Super Rugby Trans-Tasman competition will play in a sudden-death match at the end of the season to decide the overall winner, and the Crusaders will be aiming to add a second trophy to their cabinet for 2021.
“I’m really proud to coach this team,” said Robertson, “but it’s only half the season done.”
Comments on RugbyPass
More useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
22 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
1 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
21 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
13 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
21 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
13 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
22 Go to commentsVern challenging this Blues side might be the edge they need to fulfill their potential. Convincing results from strong D and strong carries are hard to argue against.
1 Go to commentsLove seems to add a strong back field defense with speed to close the gap and tackle to his ability to attack, kick and pass (an accurate long pass). This sets him an edge over some of the other names - JRK in particular. Has to be said that Jordan and Stevenson have also been exposed defensively while Love has yet to face test match intensity. Spoilt for choice.
1 Go to commentsHe’s strung together a few strong seasons, I’d like to see him in the ABs and build some depth along with Reiko and ALB. Levi Aumua hasn’t taken the step we hoped to see but time yet.
2 Go to commentsWhere has our good friend Pecos gone!? Similar place to the Crusaders D, the abyss.
4 Go to commentsNice piece Nick. I haven’t seen much of the brumbies this year so will keep my powder dry on charlie, but clearly has the speed and footwork to be damaging in space. Similar to Samu, I’d worry about the size of our pack if the likes of Mcreight and Cale were in the b/row together. Maybe Cale could play a similar finisher role like Samu did for Rennie’s wallabies. Has Cale leapfrogged wilson in your eyes? He obviously has the lineout, but harry probably better (although not great) in the physical stuff and also has great hands in the loose. You’d have to say mcreight and valetini are shoe-ins at 7/8, so the question becomes who matches best with them at 6 and on the bench. I don’t know if he has a high enough ceiling, but id love to see wright given a shot based on how much bad luck he has had with injuries. He may also fit that no-nonsense graft/work rate irish approach…? If schmidt wants size and a 4/6 tweener then I’d probably pick Uru. On the bench I’d have no idea, Wilson if you want to give valetini a rest, and maybe hanigan/wright/uru as 6 replacements.
21 Go to commentsWho the heck is Billy Fulton?
13 Go to commentsCale has all the potential no doubt. So has Harry Wilson except for his dumb arse coach over the last few years who told him just to run at brick walls all the time. Valentini would be devastating at 6. As he was until some idiot thought oh yeah, move our best player to another position. Not mentioning any flightless or thank you names of course. I very much dislike claiming one player is the saviour, because injuries are so prevalent in the game these days as the players are bigger and faster, so the discussion should be who are at least the best two players in one position. For me it’s Harry Wilson and Cale at 8 at the moment with Valentini or Hooper from the Brumbies at 6. Great options. Seru Uru should be in the reserves too. A game changer.
21 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a card waiting to happen, Cane has been out with injury as well as playing in Japan, I think they’ll go with in-Japan-but-still-the-man Savea. Samisoni Taukeaho will be Captain after 2027, so he might get some Captain minutes against an Italy or Japan.
13 Go to commentsDissapointed that after 7 years Crusaders could not have found a coach that believed their system and improved on it. What was he expecting?
6 Go to comments