Crusaders survive bruising contest to secure home Super Rugby final / Photo: Sanka VIDANAGAMA - AFP
Crusaders survive bruising contest to secure home Super Rugby final
The Canterbury Crusaders reached the Super Rugby final after fighting back for a nail-biting 21-14 win over holders the Auckland Blues in Christchurch on Friday.
It takes the Crusaders' record in home playoff games to 31-0 since the competition's inception.
That perfect record had looked at serious risk after a brilliant start from the visiting Blues, but by half time their advantage was gone.
The home side then withstood more than five minutes and 35 phases of Blues attack on their own line to conclude the game, earning a home final against either the Waikato Chiefs or ACT Brumbies as they chase an eighth title in nine years.
"Just pride from me," Crusaders winger Will Jordan said at the end of a brutal 80 minutes.
"Some guys must have made 10 or 15 tackles just in that final five minutes."
The start of the semi-final was a tactical arm wrestle, with several kicks showing the nervy nature of the opening exchanges.
Eventually one of those kicks paid off, with a crafty chip in behind the Crusaders defence giving the Blues the ball on their opponents' goal line.
Mark Telea crashed over after space opened up on the right flank.
Rieko Ioane doubled the Blues' advantage soon after.
A grubber kick pulled up just shy of the Crusaders line and halfback Noah Hotham was only able to collect before being tackled out of play.
From the resulting set piece Ioane crashed over under the posts to become the Blues' all-time leading try-scorer, ahead of Doug Howlett.
That seemed to wake Canterbury from their slumber.
The Crusaders immediately won the ball back from the kick off and marched over through Tom Christie.
Two minutes later, Blues prop Joshua Fusitu'a was handed a yellow card for a dangerous tackle and the Crusaders capitalised to tie it up.
Jordan received the ball with a blue wall of defenders between him and the line but jinked past three before stretching to score.
The tug of war continued at the start of the second half as neither side was able to gain a tangible advantage.
With 10 minutes remaining, and after almost 20 minutes of sustained Crusaders pressure, Jordan scored his second of the match near the left flank to give his side their first lead of the evening.
The Blues had been scrambling to stay in the match, penalised several times and even enduring a scrum without two proven props on the field.
Number eight Hoskins Sotutu was carded late on after a high tackle on Chay Fihaki, which left the Crusaders winger dazed, but the Blues still threw everything at a late equaliser.
Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu said his side let the Crusaders back into the match.
"They were able to capitalise and on top of that we were pretty ill-disciplined," he said. "We showed a lot of courage in that last five minutes, but it wasn't enough."
B.Blanc--JdCdC
