Ruthless Crusaders Book Final Spot
Tamanivalu scores twice in semifinal win
Winning a grudge match never felt so sweet for the Crusaders. A relentless defensive effort by the men from Christchurch shattered the Chiefs’ hopes of farewelling coach Dave Rennie with an appearance in the Super Rugby final following this 27-13 victory in the semifinal at AMI Stadium last night. These two teams have never really been too hot on each other since Rennie arrived at the Chiefs in 2012, determined to teach the southerners a thing or two about respect.
Rennie certainly did that at times during his tenure. He built-up a siege mentality against the Crusaders, but on this occasion his team were on the receiving end of a brutal lesson; the Chiefs were simply overwhelmed as they failed to capitalise on their favourable possession and territorial stats, bullied by the red and black tacklers and conceding four tries to boot. Forced to feed off crumbs for long periods they simply slammed any opponent that moved into the mud, got off the bums to do it again - and again.
The rot started to set in for the Chiefs in the 50th minute. Sometimes sport can be terribly cruel, and James Lowe knows fullwell just how much after he gifted Crusaders wing Israel Dagg one of the easiest tries in his long career. Chiefs left wing Lowe received a ball under pressure inside his own quarter and as he attempted to favour his powerful left boot for the clearance, he was grabbed by Richie Mo’unga and lost the pill.
That really was it for the Chiefs. There was no coming back from that.
Then the Crusaders struck again. This time it was the fellow on the other wing; Seta Tamanivalu charged onto a short ball from replacement halfback Mitchell Drummond and burst through three tackles to blast over the chalk. Of course there was some controversy, too. TMO Glenn Newman played the role of detective in what was far from an open-and-shut case in the first half, poking his beak into the drama after ref Glen Jackson had already awarded a “try” to Chiefs wing Tim Nanai-Williams. Damian McKenzie was preparing to convert when Newman ordered a halt to the game, telling Jackson it was time to tune into the telly; what transpired was not good news for those Chiefs fans in the disappointing crowd of around 13,000 fans. Williams was deemed to have lost the ball in the act of sliding over the line, and just to add to the Chiefs annoyance, Jackson refused to acknowledge the penalty advantage by stating it had expired. Earlier Bryn Hall nailed the only try of the first 40 minutes, the Crusaders halfback steaming up the fat man’s track following a break-out that started on the other side of the halfway line and required some smart thinking by Dagg and Ryan Crotty.
Crusaders gaffer Scott Robertson must have gazed at the stats sheet at halftime and wondered how his men had held onto their 10-6 lead. If you were in the red and black camp, the digits certainly made for scary reading. The Chiefs had doubled their running metres (320) and grabbed 72 and 75 per cent of possession and territory, respectively.
Yet the Crusaders, thanks to tight forward warriors such as Codie Taylor, Sam Whitelock, Jordan Taufua and Matt Todd, repulsed their opponents by tackling themselves to a stand-still.
The Chiefs’ strike weapons were the usual suspects. Big Brodie Retallick was everywhere in the first spell, and Aaron Cruden, McKenzie and Lowe were prominent in the backline attacks.
Crusaders 27- Tries: Bryn Hall, Israel Dagg, Seta Tamanivalu (2), Conversions: Richie Mo’unga, Penalty: Mo’unga
Chiefs 13- Try: Brodie Retallick, Conversion: Damian McKenzie, Penalties: McKenzie (2) Israel Dagg, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Seta Tamanivalu, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Bryn Hall, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Matt Todd, 6 Jordan Taufua, 5 Sam Whitelock (captain), 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody.
16 Ben Funnell, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Michael Alaalatoa, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Pete Samu, 21 Mitchell Drummond, 22 Mitchell Hunt, 23 George Bridge
15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Tim Nanai-Williams, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown , 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 James Lowe, 10 Aaron Cruden (co-captain), 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Michael Leitch, 7 Sam Cane (cocaptain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Mitchell Brown, 3 Nepo Laulala, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Kane Hames.
16 Liam Polwart, 17 Aidan Ross, 18 Atu Moli, 19 Dominic Bird, 20 Lachlan Boshier, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Stephen Donald, 23 Shaun Stevenson