Rob Penney’s emotional response to the Crusaders’ championship journey

In stark contrast to how the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season unfolded, Crusaders head coach Rob Penney has led his team to their 15th Super Rugby title, this time against the Chiefs in Christchurch on Saturday night.

The Chiefs didn’t go down without a fight, but ultimately couldn’t contain the Crusaders set piece in the second half, which gave the home side all the momentum heading into the final stages.

The Crusaders’ All Blacks stood out, especially the likes of Fletcher Newell, Scott Barrett, Will Jordan and David Havili, who have been influential for the Crusaders all year long.

When speaking to reporters after the match on Saturday night, Penney explained that he couldn’t be prouder of the playing group and management.

“First of all, extremely proud, but I’m always proud of them, as I said probably a few times now that I treat them all like my sons,” Penney said post-match to media.

“I’ve got sons similar ages, so it’s just the respect I have for the group, they work hard, they’re young men that just love this place, and their commitment is total. So the pride goes without saying, and yeah, the moment, it’s a wonderful one.”

Penney avoids taking much credit for the victory, praising the management and everyone involved in the club to help the playing group get over the line.

“Well, winning is fantastic and just being part of a group is, a small cog in the wheel.

“There’s some wonderful people that work feverishly for the group and then the 15 that lead when they’re on the field, and the subs that come on plus the boys that don’t get to play are all an integral part of it.

“For me personally, it’s just the joy that they have right at this moment with their families, they’re deep in song, wrapped in each other’s arms, and it’s just such a pleasure to be able to contribute in some small way to that feeling for these young men.”

When asked about what the victory meant to him after players had made it clear they were playing for him, Penney admits that makes him emotional thinking about it.

“Yeah that’s going to bring a tear to my eye, you’ll be very careful when they start talking like that. I think my initial reaction is, what you see is what goes on the 80 minutes at the end of the week.”

“Last year we had some hiccups, and we had, some things that didn’t go well for us. This year, we’ve been on the other side of the ledger, we’ve had some calls that have gone for us, and we’ve had some injured boys available a lot, and it’s small margins.

“But at the business end, the right people know how to do the right things, and that was evident today the way David Havili and his leadership group orchestrated the game plan that was put together beautifully by the coaches, and just got so much admiration for them to do those things under pressure.

“I think I said at the start, it was going to be like a Test match, it was going to be that intense and boys are all talking about that and so to be able to do that and there’s some people here that are contributing today, that are going to be here for a long time.”