The Crusaders broke a Super Rugby record with an extraordinary defensive performance to surprise the Chiefs and book a spot in next weekend’s final.
The red-and-black giant set a competition record of 222 innings in the 20-7 semi-final victory at Christchurch to extend its perfect 27-27 home record in the playoffs.
The Crusaders, who have reached their 16th final, will face the winner of Saturday’s Blues-Brumbies semifinal at Eden Park.
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Scott Robertson’s side struggled with the loss of star winger Pablo Matera, who was sent off by Australian referee Nic Berry in the first half.
Matera received two yellow cards: the first for a ruck offense after a series of penalties against his team, and the second for a high shot on Bryn Gatland.
“I think it’s a bit of an anomaly with a team penalty and an individual card,” Argentine Matera coach Michael Cheika told Stan Sport.
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Matera fell into a controversial thistle
“He paid the final price.”
All Blacks ’great Andrew Mehrtens went beyond Cheika, who joked that he was trying to get back to the referees’ good books.
“I think that’s absurd,” Mehrtens said.
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“This infraction in itself requires a yellow card and 10 minutes.”
Matera was at the heart of everything in his brief time in the park.
The Pumas power also received a hit from Quinn Tupaea that attracted a yellow card despite Matera’s fall.
The referee showed Crusaders’s Nic Materry the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. (Getty)
“I thought he didn’t deserve a card at all,” Mehrtens said.
“The process is bad. They never looked at it at real speed. Matera was coming down, Tupaea didn’t have time to change altitude.”
Cheika will now be sweating over whether Matera gets more punishment from the judiciary.
“Expect them to make the smart decision,” the former Wallabies chief said.
As the countdown suggests, the Chiefs had a lot of possession and opportunities to score more than Angus Ta’avao tried to shore up.
But its execution was simply not good enough in cold and windy conditions.
“This one hurts a lot. There will be a lot of remorse,” said Brad Weber, the Chiefs’ co-captain.
“It’s going to be hard to beat him. Damn, we should have scored more points and probably won the game. The conditions were very tough. I don’t think he played a game like this.”
Crusaders No. 8 Cullen Grace scored two attempts to pick up a missing local package from Sam Whitelock.
“I think there was a lot of effort behind a lot of tackles,” Crusaders captain Scott Barrett said.
“You have to take your hat off to the Chiefs, they threw 120 percent at us and I’m sure there will be some painful guys in the next few days.
“We like challenges. Sometimes we were up to 14 men and we had to be forwards. The football in the final is about defense and there was a lot of good effort.”
The Brumbies will start massively disadvantaged in the second half against a blue team led by Beauden Barrett and with a record winning streak.
But Cheika, a winning Super Rugby coach with the Waratahs in 2014, didn’t count them.
“If they are in the right head space they can do it.”
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