Then there were two
Slights can only stoke the fires so much.
Irrespective of whether Super Rugby’s conference system is good, bad or indifferent, the Crusaders will host the Lions in Saturday’s final at AMI Stadium. The Crusaders have been the best team all season and are thoroughly deserving of their place.
Some might argue about the fairness of the route travelled by the Lions, or their status as an elite side. This would make you a moaner, according to Lions coach Swys de Bruin.
But having got that off his chest last week, de Bruin isn’t bound for Christchurch with any choice words for the Crusaders or their fans.
The Lions gave the Waratahs a 14-point headstart in yesterday’s semifinal in Johannesburg, before coming back to record a convincing 44-26 victory. There has been a suggestion that a Lions win in Saturday’s decider wouldn’t be great for Super Rugby’s credibility and de Bruin was asked if he would use that to create an us against New Zealand mentality within the team this week.
‘‘Not really. For a final there, against them, you’ve just got to keep it simple. They’ll motivate themselves,’’ de Bruin said. ‘‘It would be stupid of me to find certain things to motivate them. So just focus on what we do and what we love to do – score tries and inspire people with the way we play.’’
In fact, rather than lifting for the final, de Bruin wants the Lions to remain calm. This is the team’s third Super Rugby decider in succession, having lost 20-3 to the Hurricanes in Wellington in 2016, then going down 25-17 at home to the Crusaders last year.
‘‘It’s got to be about the team and just the team,’’ de Bruin said.
The Crusaders qualified for the final thanks to the kind of clinical performance they are famed for. The Hurricanes went to Christchurch with a puncher’s chance of an upset and trudged off 80 minutes later having hardly landed a blow.
The final score of 30-12 didn’t do the Crusaders’ dominance justice, given the
(Richie Mo’unga, George Bridge, David Havili, Braydon Ennor tries; Mo’unga 2 con, 2 pen) (Julian Savea, Ben Lam tries; Beauden Barrett con). HT: 18-7.
(Malcolm Marx 2, Kwagga Smith 2, Aphiwe Dyanti, Courtnall Skosan tries; Elton Jantjies 4 con, 2 pen)
(Israel Folau, Jake Gordon,
Ned Hanigan, Tom Robertson tries; Bernard Foley 3 con). HT: 19-19. 7.35pm first Hurricanes try was a little dubious and the last arrived after the final hooter.
‘‘I suspect the Lions will probably try and impose themselves physically up front and that’ll be a good challenge,’’ beaten Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said.
His side hadn’t been able to do that, as forwards such as Joe Moody, Owen Franks, Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett and Matt Todd paved the way for backs Richie Mo’unga and Jack Goodhue to prosper. There’s no mystery to the Crusaders’ football, but the accuracy and relentlessness of it tends to be too much for most opponents. This was Joseph Parker’s Steve Hansen Lions moment. There was every reason in the world to complain, but be damned if he was going to come out a sore loser in the face of an excruciating defeat.
Just like when Hansen’s All Blacks were denied by some referee howlers in their stalemate 1-1 series against the British and Irish Lions last year, Parker had fair cause for complaint after copping a second-round headbutt that was ruled a knockdown and some fairly roughhouse tactics throughout in his unanimous points decision defeat to Dillian Whyte in London yesterday.
The defeat stings in so many ways. It is the second on the bounce for the 26-year-old classact of a New Zealander, and a serious setback in his previously ascendant heavyweight career.
It also came with a gamechanging series of events working against the KiwiSamoan.
Parker lost the fight by one point on one judge’s scorecard, by three on another’s and four on the third. In the second round, which Parker was well on the way to winning, the New Zealander copped a count for a knockdown which replays clearly showed to be the result of a headbutt (accidental or otherwise) from Whyte.
That was a three-point turnaround, and even putting aside the fact that Parker was almost certainly disoriented and displaced by the illegal blow – Whyte’s camp claimed they felled him with a left hook that led to him falling into a clash of heads – the scoring alone was dramatically skewed by that one act.
But Parker steadfastly refused to reach into the excuse bag after his defeat. That is not the sort of man he is; just as Hansen was not going to cry into his beer about the most bizarre referee decision turnaround seen in test history at Eden Park.
‘‘There are no bitter feelings from our team,’’ said Parker when asked about the fateful second round. ‘‘We did our best, I did my best, I didn’t follow the game-plan but we live to fight another day. He won today, and congratulations to him.’’