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Crusaders survive two yellow cards against Chiefs to claim Super Rugby Aotearoa title
By AAP
The Canterbury Crusaders have fought off a courageous Waikato Chiefs 24-13 in a thrilling final to retain the Super Rugby Aotearoa title at their Christchurch Stadium fortress.
A packed house was treated to an exhibition of the best of New Zealand rugby from both sides before the hosts secured a 12th Super Rugby title, a second in the domestic edition and a fifth in a row.
Winger Sevu Reece and fullback Will Jordan scored tries in the first 16 minutes but thereafter the Crusaders - reduced to 13 men in the second half - had to rely on the boot of their fellow All Black, five-eighth Richie Mo'unga, to keep the Chiefs at arm's length.
Damian McKenzie scored all the points for the Chiefs, converting his own try and kicking two penalties, but the fullback will rue his usual accuracy from the tee deserting him for a period around halftime when he missed three shots at goal.
Crusaders 24 (Tries to Sevu Reece and Will Jordan; conversion, 3 penalties and drop goal to Richie Mo'unga; yellow cards to Codie Taylor and Reece)
Chiefs 13 (Try to Damian McKenzie; conversion and 2 penalties to McKenzie)
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Look there are a few unarguable facts here that are very clear. SARU was close to bankruptcy with SR, bailed out by the Lions and they need the URC and EPCR. Inclusion of SA teams in URC has been a great for for ALL concerned, from a rugby perspective and financially, moreover there is massive growth yet to come. The GP is in financial trouble and this will be the catalyst for EPCR change to further cement the Boks.
If this all plays out with even greater rewards for the urc AND the Top14 & GP via EPCR, the 6N will become 7N. Nz and Aus NEED to get their version firing with Japan & the PI’s, otherwise they will find themselves increasingly regressing…
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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