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Match Highlights - Mo'unga shines as clinical Crusaders reach Super Rugby final
By Peter Thompson
Richie Mo'unga sparkled as the Crusaders blew the Hurricanes away to reach the Super Rugby final with a 30-12 victory at AMI Stadium on Saturday.
The defending champions were relentless in Christchurch, overpowering their New Zealand rivals and showing great quality with ball in hand as well as magnificent defence to set up a showdown with the Lions or the Waratahs.
Fly-half Mo'unga gave another demonstration of his ingenuity, pulling the strings and scoring 15 points - including the first of four Crusaders tries - as his side stretched their unbeaten home play-off record to 20 matches.
George Bridge, David Havili and Braydon Ennor also went over in a dominant display from Scott Robertson's side, who bossed the set-pieces and will be strong favourites to retain their title with home advantage next Saturday.
Julian Savea and Ben Lam touched down for the Hurricanes, but they were comfortably second best in Chris Boyd's last match before taking over as Northampton Saints director of rugby.
The Crusaders have never lost a semi-final or final against the Hurricanes and they were behind 15 minutes in when Mo'unga threw a dummy and dotted down after a spell of sustained pressure.
Savea was awarded a try at the other end when he was adjudged to have grounded the ball reaching out under pressure in the corner, but Bridge stepped inside to put the holders back in front after more powerful work from the forwards.
Two Mo'unga penalties in as many minutes just before half-time gave the Crusaders an 18-7 lead and Havili took a pass from Bryn Hall before slicing his way through to go over early in the second half after great work from Jack Goodhue.
Mo'unga showed his class again to get his head up and set up Ennor for Crusaders' fourth five-pointer with a sublime cross-field kick.
Prolific wing Lam crossed for the Hurricanes right at the end, but that was scant consolation, Brad Shields stepping up to strike the post with a conversion attempt in his final match before joining Wasps.
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Latest Comments
The New Zealand performance in the return fixture in 2016 was filthy. A lot of Irish supporters were pretty shocked by it, viewed it as de facto cheating just to avoid another defeat.
Also shocked by the abuse to Ireland, captain, vice-captain and spectators after the full time whistle in Paris defeat, last match.
Sledging is sledging, but that happens during the game and targetting spectators should be completely out of bounds.
The Irish public used to enjoy these matches, even in defeat. Now they are necessary but unpleasant, because NZ apparently cannot accept or respect successful challengers.
Go to commentsThanks for the analysis Nick, thought provoking as usual. Couple of queries though, in the pic where you've circled Williams bind , I'm pretty sure it shows Stuart's knee on the ground, surely that's a NZ penalty? Also having had the chance to watch it again the All Black scrum seeems to improve after halftime, but before either England or the All Blacks replace their props. Not sure if that was the result of Tuipolutu coming on or some halftime tips. Either way this is only Williams second international season, so he'll be better for the experience.
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