Clinical Crusaders embarrass Blues to advance to yet another Super Rugby final
Yellow card: Hoskins Sotutu (Blues) 38min.
The Scott Robertson era at the Crusaders will go the distance.
A barely believable 52-15 annihilation of the bumbling Blues in Christchurch on Friday night made sure of that, setting up a Super Rugby Pacific final against either the Chiefs or Brumbies next weekend.
The Crusaders will have to wait until Saturday night for confirmation of their opponent and venue, but they're 80 minutes away from giving Robertson the ultimate send-off.
Indeed, having continued their utter dominance of the Blues - they've won 18 of the last 19 matches between the sides - a seventh title in as many years remains a real dream.
And, boy, they can sit back and watch the other semifinal battle knowing they didn’t just beat the Blues, they demolished them on the back of a brutally physical and clinical performance in front of more than 15,000 amped fans.
So much for a nailbiting clash between old foes. This was over when hooker Codie Taylor flopped over the line on the brink of halftime and scored the Crusaders’ fourth try of six on the night.
A lip-reader wasn’t required to know what four lettered word Blues assistant coach Paul Tito spat out in disgust, before Richie Mo’unga’s conversion made it 32-3 and the teams retired to the sheds.
And Tito wasn’t the only Blues staffer in disbelief as the Crusaders made fools of them. Departing head coach Leon MacDonald looked like he’d seen a horde of ghosts when Leicester Fainga’anuku made a mockery of a couple of defenders and scored from long-range to blow out the score to 39-3 early in the second spell.
The reality is the Blues were a disaster, as the MacDonald era ended without a fully fledged title, ensuring their drought will extend beyond two decades.
To think this was touted as the most golden of opportunities for the Blues to roll into the Garden City and hand the injury-riddled Crusaders their first home playoff defeat in 29 matches since 1996.
While the Crusaders refused to make excuses ahead of the match, they were without 12 injured players, including a whopping eight All Blacks, at least making them appear vulnerable on paper.
Forget it. A Crusaders buzz saw awaited them.
After Robertson marched into the centre of Orangetheory Stadium and lit a fuse under the crowd with fist pumps and waving arms, the hosts roared out of the sheds and bossed the semifinal from Angus Gardner’s opening whistle.
Barely two minutes had ticked over when centre Braydon Ennor dived over to cash in a Dallas McLeod 50-20, before Will Jordan ghosted through a gap and put Fainga’anuku over 10 minutes later.
But those strikes weren’t as slick as the Ennor transfer which put Jordan over under the sticks five minutes before the break, as the hosts turned in their sharpest performance of what’s been a testing season.
It was slick stuff from the backs, but the tone was set by the brutality of the forward pack, led by captain Scott Barrett and superbly supported by an immense performance by hard-running No 8 Christian Lio-Willie, who racked up 84 metres on 11 bruising carries.
The hosts’ defence was also typically relentless, shutting down wing Mark Telea, who threw an awful forward pass and again went missing against the Crusaders, and snaffling plenty of breakdown pill against the sloppy visitors.
It wasn’t until Robertson had the luxury of going to his bench early in the second half that the Blues finally showed the ability to string anything significant together, including a Beauden Barrett consolation try.
But it meant zilch, as Robertson made his way to the sideline in the waning minutes to “Razor” chants.
The big moment
If Taylor’s try on the cusp of halftime didn’t seal it, Fainga’anuku’s storming five-pointer early in the second half rammed it home on what was nothing but a miserable night for the Blues.
Match rating
8/10. Sure, it wasn’t a nail-biter, but it was beyond a statement from the depleted reigning champions, who turned in an eye-popping performance ahead of next week’s grand finale.
MVP
Ennor was fantastic. Not only did he score a sharp try and set Jordan up with a lovely touch, he was defensively superb.
The big picture
And now the waiting game begins. The Crusaders will know in about 24 hours whether they’re off to Hamilton to face the Chiefs in the decider next weekend, or if the Brumbies are coming to town.
What’s clear is they won’t have hooker Brodie McAlister available, after he left the park with a serious leg injury.
