The Crusaders have strangled the Blues with a ruthless display of rugby power to win the Super Rugby Pacific final in Auckland, claiming an 11th Super Rugby crown that breaks the record.
The Christchurch-based big franchise broke the Blues’ 15-game winning streak as they dominated Saturday’s final at a rain-filled and exhausted Eden Park in Auckland.
Skumhalf Bryn Hall and winger Sevu Reece scored on each side of the break, while Richie Mounga led the game with a brilliant display in the half and contributed 11 points from the boot.
The Blues, roaring from a big local fan base, simply couldn’t get ahead and release their talented backs until it was too late.
With 59 minutes played, Finlay Christie’s Reece found an opening in the visitors’ left side defense, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper.
It was the sixth consecutive title for the Crusaders under coach Scott Robertson after winning the last three editions of Transcontinental Super Rugby and also the national Aotearoa Super Rugby competition in the last two years of the pandemic.
“We’ve always talked about effort on both sides of the ball,” All Blacks and Crusaders veteran Sam Whitelock said. “It’s not always about getting points, sometimes it’s about preventing them.”
Super Rugby was relaunched this year as a Pacific-focused championship, but the end result was the same as in 10 of the 24 editions of the pre-COVID competition.
On display were the steely defense, the dominant game, the forwards fighting for every breakdown and the wingers looking to attack at every opportunity in the DNA of the Christchurch dynasty.
The Blues, dominant in the early years of the competition, had tried to usurp the Croats from a high-octane attack, but initially seemed shocked by the intensity of the competition.
Despite all the dominance of the territory and possession in the first half, the Crusaders only had a drop-goal and a penalty from Mounga to prove their effort until just before the break. Leicester Fainga’anuku had previously stopped above the line and the wide side stopped short when it was launched again.
Argentine winger Pablo Matera was deflected from close range, but Hall hit the ball smartly to try it through a leg bend.
The Blues had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch – his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today.
Christie finally got the blues on the board when he threw a loose ball into the back of a Crusaders scrum for a converted try that reduced the deficit to 16-7, but even that was a mountain too steep for go up against the visiting defense.
“Tonight hasn’t been our night, we haven’t really been good enough,” Blues midfielder Beauden Barrett said. “Very disappointing, we had a good season, we wanted to come here and do a job here tonight. It’s hard to swallow. “