KEY POINTS:
Everyone in Christchurch should rest easy - the Crusaders' legacy looks pretty safe with the next generation dousing the flames of a fiery Bulls outfit last night.
The home side never fully convinced and were more flailing hatchet than flashing blade when it came to making the kill.
But they got the job done and it was the two emerging golden boys - Stephen Brett and Kieran Read - who were first over the top and leading the way.
Read popped up here, there and everywhere and deep within coach Robbie Deans he must know that the man wearing No. 6 last night is a bigger, faster, better version of Reuben Thorne - the man who will want to be wearing No. 6 this week.
Read will feel like he's been served the scabbiest bit of cheese if he finds himself immediately returned to the bench after such heroics. His lineout work was exemplary, his support play extraordinary and he made his considerable presence felt at the breakdown.
That was really where the Crusaders had it all over the Bulls. The South Africans' ball-retention was strangely erratic. The big units would all thunder in but, more often than not, the ball would spurt back on the red side.
Brett, like a mini-me Dan Carter, displayed that innate understanding of how to make possession tell and hurt the Bulls with his booming kicks that forced them to turn and then run back at a red wave.
The Bulls couldn't get the same numbers back and it was all too easy for the Crusaders to force the penalty or make fullback Jaco van der Westhuyzen rely on what was anything but a reliant right peg.
When Brett didn't kick, he passed and ran with an authority that let his outsides know he was in charge.
It was a nice way for the young man to sign off. Unfortunately for Brett, Daniel Carter has to come back into the side because, well, he's Daniel Carter and only someone without the requisite number of brain cells to pull off the not-so-spectacular feat of rubbing them together would leave the All Black first-five in the stands.
It's rough justice for Brett who was a bit like a startled mouse when he ran out at Eden Park on February 2 until he dinked a chip kick into space and threw an immaculate long pass.
From there he got better and better and for much of the second half it was impossible not to make comparisons with Carter.
The headache for the Crusaders is not so much what they do with Brett for the rest of this season, it is what do they do with him long term?
Aaron Maugers's departure to Leicester will create the potential for Brett to learn his craft in the No 12 jersey next season, playing the sorcerer's apprentice.
That solution would shut the door on the even younger Tim Bateman, who tackled the Bulls demonically and then dummied, swerved and accelerated his way to a gem of a solo try early in the second half that gave the Crusaders the bonus point.
As well as Brett, Read and Bateman played they couldn't secure five points all by themselves. Mose Tuiali'i has obviously decided it's France or bust and smashed his way through plenty of blue jerseys and got himself in the thick of some of the darker stuff.
If he doesn't make the All Black World Cup squad he'll at least know that he gave himself every chance.
Rico Gear, too, can sleep a little easier having got his hands on the ball more than he has in recent weeks. That gliding, silky-smooth action of his remains a joy to watch but he'll be a little down on himself for crossing the line and then botching the score by being too casual with the placement.
Crusaders 32 (J. Leo'o, R. Gear, S. Hamilton, T. Bateman tries; S. Brett 3 cons, 2 pens) Bulls 10 (W. van Heerden tries; D. Hougaard cons, pen)
