Time right to shake off the Crusaders’ blues
Mark down tomorrow as the official return to the Blues and Crusaders rivalry, one promising to go beyond this weekend’s duel and decide the Super Rugby Aotearoa title.
The Crusaders, seeking a fifth successive crown, hold the mantle the Blues so desperately crave.
With a bumper home crowd at Eden Park and pristine afternoon conditions expected, the Blues may not get a better chance to snap their seven-year drought against the red and blacks.
It could determine who hosts the inaugural finale. No final last year and two Covid-19 cancelled matches between Super Rugby’s marquee teams — one of which had 40,000 tickets sold — heightens intrigue.
For a decent chunk of the modern era this matchup lost its headline billing as the Blues simply weren’t on the same level as the champion Christchurch franchise. For a long time, the Blues weren’t even close, with the Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes all claiming more recent titles.
Predictability breeds apathy. Not so, anymore.
Leon MacDonald’s arrival as head coach has revived the Blues, and in the third year of his tenure a sense of the unknown again hangs over a match against the Crusaders.
The Blues went close to an upset in Christchurch last year with Rieko Ioane’s 54th minute try establishing a 15-9 lead before the Crusaders, as often is the case, clinched the final quarter for a 26-15 victory.
Since then, though, the Blues have significantly improved their pack — the addition of All Blacks tighthead prop Nepo Laulala from the Chiefs a case in point.
Winning their past five games at Eden Park — their best run since 2014 — adds a level of comfort not previously tangible for the Blues.
“We’ve built a good record at home and that means a bit to us,” MacDonald said after making four starting changes to the side that crushed the Highlanders 39-17 in Auckland last week.
“We want to turn Eden Park into a fortress and be really hard to beat there. We’ve managed to do it so far in this competition and this is a good test for us.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in our game, we’re starting to work out what we’re good at and do it more often but when you get put under pressure that’s different.
“We haven’t dived into the history, the motivation was already there for us. We felt we had a good opportunity to beat them in Christchurch last year but a couple of mistakes cost us. “A lot of it is mental, staying on for 83 minutes, working hard. A lot of teams come close and don’t get there but that’s what you’ve got to do to get the result,” said MacDonald.
With the America’s Cup finished — and the Auld Mug expected to make an appearance via a chopper at Eden Park — attention, expectation, pressure is building for the Blues.
“There’s a lot of talk around town when you walk along the streets,” MacDonald said. “When I was a player you started hearing from people on Monday and it definitely has that buzz.”
MacDonald has made two injury-enforced changes to his team with All Blacks flanker Dalton Papalii and right wing Mark Telea ruled out with concussion. Former New Zealand Sevens silver medallist Bryce Heem finished quarantining two weeks ago after returning from France and his size and experience has been preferred to rookies Emoni Narawa and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens.
The Blues lose some size in their loose trio with Blake Gibson replacing the in-form Papalii. All Blacks prop Alex Hodgman, Tasman halfback Finlay Christie and midfielder TJ Faiane return from injuries — the latter two from the bench.
Despite impressing last week on debut the Blues opted not to field Sam Darry, the towering lock who spent two years in the Crusaders academy system before shifting north this season, with Josh Goodhue starting alongside captain Patrick Tuipuotu and Gerard Cowley-Tuioti on the pine.
The Crusaders have been dealt a blow with flanker Tom Christie, this year’s top tackler, ruled out for the season with shoulder surgery. Sione Havili takes his place with All Blacks prop Joe Moody, loose forwards Ethan Blackadder and Cullen Grace and halfback Bryn Hall, in his 100th Super Rugby match, to start.
MacDonald is well aware the attacking threats Will Jordan, Richie Mo’unga, Leicester Fainga’anuku and Sevu Reece pose but is equally certain where this contest will be won and lost.
“They’ve had a lot of dominance around their set piece — their scrum, lineout and maul are worldclass I don’t know if there’s many teams around the world that are better even at international level. If you can find dominance in one of those three, that’s a really good start.”