One dominant victory doesn’t transform a horribly lopsided rivalry or erase the pain of losing recent finals but after years of entrenched frustration you’ll forgive the Blues if they savour this result, their first win against the Crusaders at Eden Park in a decade, just a little.
“A win that hasn’t been achieved for 10 years is a monkey off our backs,” Blues coach Vern Cotter said. “We made it hard for ourselves with a lack of composure and stress with playing the Crusaders so hopefully we can put that behind us now the victory is there and the boys found a way but everyone needs to keep their feet on the ground.”
Kicking the defending champions while they are down can’t be considered cruel.
There may be some empathy, as Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu suggested prior to celebrating his 100th match. But after seven straight titles, seven years of dominating their peers, the tide has swiftly and definitively turned on the Crusaders.
Despite their extended outflux of influential coaching and playing figures, no one expected the Crusaders to traverse from tidal wave to ankle high beach breakers overnight.
That the Crusaders’ worst losing run in history – five defeats and counting – continues is no surprise. The manner in which it did is deeply concerning, though. Once again they offered nothing on attack. Caleb Clarke dislodging the ball from Levi Aumua’s arms over the line summed up the Crusaders’ struggles for points.
Twenty-six points in the last three weeks underlines one of their glaring issues.
The Crusaders lineout – two years ago the source of inspiration for their success in the upset final triumph over the Blues at this venue – capitulated to lose nine of their own throws. Nine.
Igniting an attack of that stuttering platform is inherently problematic.
And on defence, the Crusaders missed 44 tackles compared to the Blues’ eight.
Rob Penney has been dealt a cursed hand. Succeeding Scott Robertson was always a no-win task. But leading a rugby region accustomed to sustained success, Penney must feel as though the walls are rapidly closing in with minimal answers in reach.
Heavily depleted, with Ethan Blackadder, Scott Barrett, Codie Taylor, Fergus Burke, Will Jordan, Braydon Ennor, Quinten Strange among those absent, and David Havili departing this match with a calf injury in the second half, the Crusaders desperately need some bodies back, desperately need a morsel of confidence.
“We’ve lost David Havili for a period of time – not sure how long,” Penney said.
With the Chiefs in Hamilton in six days, though, their winless run is short odds to grow.
“You can’t expect to apply any pressure when your lineout doesn’t function,” Penney said. “There’s some reasons why it imploded. The Blues put some really good pressure on us. We’ve got to be better.
“If the group start looking out the window instead of in the mirror it could spiral uncontrollably but my hope is in the fact the group is well connected and they’re proud men. We’ve got some talent to come back to us after the bye. Who knows? IF we can secure a position in the top eight we’re in the hunt. We’re very clunky, lacking rhythm but we’ve got to get better.
“You can’t fix everything. You’ve got to pick the critical few and hope they make a big enough impact so we can get a result.”
After a fizzer of a first half the Blues squeezed the Crusaders with their physical forward pack, and several busts from Clarke, doing the damage but it was a far from flawless performance.
Akira Ioane runs the ball at the Crusaders defence. Photo / Photosport
It’s strange to say there are tougher tests to come.
Two yellow cards helped the Blues register their second win in their last 20 meetings with the Crusaders.
For a prolonged period, the Blues battled to convert pressure into points but their dominant ball carries – they ran for 642 metres to the Crusaders’ 177 – eventually broke through.
Crusaders halfback Willi Heinz earning a yellow card just before the break proved the turning point.
With a one-man advantage, the Blues took full advantage to claim two tries to AJ Lam and Ofa Tuʻungafasi. As pressure to defend their line mounted Crusaders wing Sevu Reece was the second offender sent to the bin to make a difficult comeback near impossible.
In admittedly challenging conditions after heavy rain, both teams could barely hold the ball in the first half. Frequent handling errors, forward passes, wobbly lineout throws – conspired to produce a painful watch.
With little in the way of continuity, fluency or flow, Reece was forced to jump up and down on the edge to stay warm.
The Blues survived an early yellow card to Dalton Papali’i but lost fullback Zarn Sullivan late in the half after his hamstring gave way to inject the livewire Cole Forbes into the backfield.
