Cullen Grace scored both the Crusaders' tries. Photo / Photosport
Cullen Grace scored both the Crusaders' tries. Photo / Photosport
Crusaders 20 Chiefs 7
The Chiefs picked a bad night to have a bad night.
Heading into their Super Rugby Pacific semifinal against the Crusaders in Christchurch, they needed to be at their best. The Crusaders had an immaculate 26-0 record in home playoff games, but the Chiefs had beaten them down south earlier in the season, leaving plenty of intrigue as to whether the Chiefs could snap that streak.
But as good as the Crusaders are, they simply needed to sit back, make their tackles and wait for the Chiefs to shoot themselves in the foot, with the hosts claiming a 20-7 win.
That's not to say the Crusaders weren't good. When they got their opportunities they took them in superb fashion, with Richie Mo'unga impressing, while a handful of players made 20 tackles or more in a strong defensive effort.
Even when the Chiefs went a man down through a Quinn Tupaea yellow card inside the opening 10 minutes, the visitors dominated the territory and possession battle, and forced the Crusaders to make over 100 more tackles than them while being on the right side of a 13-8 penalty count.
But handling errors, poor execution from penalties and set pieces, and several blown tries meant while the Chiefs were the dominating force, they were chasing the game.
While the Crusaders' defence was immense inside their own 22, several Chiefs won't be too keen to watch the game back.
After Mo'unga knocked through a couple of early penalties, the Crusaders only had a few attacking opportunities, but made them count. After defending 10 minutes of the Chiefs trying to attack from their scrum – after a bombed try by Pita Gus Sowakula - the Crusaders pounced on an error, sent the ball downfield and forced Brad Weber to take it back over his own goal-line.
The Crusaders needed just one play from the scrum to score a try – with Cullen Grace doing what his opposite couldn't and making sure to plant the ball.
Cullen Grace scored both the Crusaders' tries. Photo / Photosport
While the Chiefs spent 10 minutes with a numbers disadvantage, two first-half yellow cards to Pablo Matera (in the 20th and 32nd minutes) meant the Crusaders spent half an hour with 14 men on the park – though it certainly didn't show as the Chiefs struggled to find a gap in the defence.
The Chiefs finally got over the line through Angus Ta'avao, but faced a 20-7 deficit at halftime following a second Grace try.
It was the same for the majority of the second half. The Chiefs had the better of the territory and possession, but the Crusaders kept tackling and turning them away. Even when they conceded penalties, the Chiefs weren't able to use it to their advantage.
They should have scored at least once, but Tupaea opted to try get the ball to an unmarked Alex Nankivell out wide rather than go himself from close range, and instead threw the ball well above Nankivell and into the stands.
Instead, there were no points scored in the second half, with a massive defensive effort solidifying yet another appearance in the grand final for the Crusaders.
