Happy Highlanders hold out cursed Crusaders
Every week seems to bring a new low for the Crusaders. The latest, coming at the bottom of the country against an opponent well accustomed to the depths of Super Rugby, must hurt more than most.
The Highlanders rode a thrilling first-half performance to their first win over New Zealand opposition in more than three years, dealing their fallen rivals yet another blow in a season from hell.
The southern side had lost their last 19 local derbies, their status as the country’s fifth-best team exemplified by an average losing margin of 19.1 points in that span.
But no more. Instead of merely sneaking into the playoffs, victory last night saw the Highlanders open a bit of breathing room in seventh, condemning the defending champions to the unseemly scrap for the final postseason berth. The Crusaders, improbably, can still win that battle, though that would require them to win a couple of games.
Not without their moments at Forsyth Barr Stadium, the visitors were nonetheless a distant second on the night, scoring two tries against 14 men and adding another as consolation.
The final whistle left coach Rob Penney looking a defeated man in the coaches’ box, and why wouldn’t he be slumped in his chair? His first year in charge has now brought 10 losses, the most in franchise history.
Penney must have thought a few things were in his side’s favour going into the match. Codie Taylor was returning from a six-month sabbatical, the Crusaders had owned this rivalry with nine wins in 10, and the Highlanders were hardly bringing much pedigree.
Indeed, when the game kicked off, the two southern sides could barely spot their northern foes occupying the first three places in the Super Rugby standings. The Highlanders’ and Crusaders’ combined points tally would have left them six short of the Chiefs.
But with the teams at a similar level, that parity made for an enthralling first half, as the Highlanders ran all over their opponents — when they weren’t having their own defence shredded.
Those 40 minutes saw much more of the former as the Highlanders raced ahead, only for Folau Fakatava’s yellow card to grant the Crusaders a way back into the contest. His side’s lead erased, the halfback played like a man who had spent 10 minutes thinking about how he would atone, sniping around the edges as the Highlanders’ supremacy at the collision and breakdown had him on the front foot.
Twenty-nine minutes had passed in a blink before the first scrum, by which point the teams had combined by 37 points. The Highlanders must have felt they left a few on the field with their opponents’ ill discipline affording them prime field position, and that feeling would have been exacerbated after the break.
With fatigue setting in after such a frenetic start, the Highlanders could rely only on the boot of Cam Millar in the second half. But their defence proved as reliable as the rookie first five-eighth, holding out the Crusaders despite Noah Hotham sparking his team while wrestling back supremacy in the halfback duel.
Taylor also produced a typically impressive 65-minute shift in his first game since last year’s World Cup final, solidifying the Crusaders’ wobbly lineout despite the late withdrawal of skipper Scott Barrett.
But it wasn’t enough, nor was Sevu Reece scoring his 10th and 11th tries of the season. Not once Millar slotted his sixth penalty, which took the lead to 10 points with time almost up.
The ball sailing through the sticks was greeted on the field, along the sideline and in the stands with a level of elation three years in the making.
Highlanders 32 (Tanielu Tele’a, Cam Millar tries; Millar 6 pens, 2 cons) Crusaders 29 (Sevu Reece 2, Dallas McLeod, Macca Springer tries; Chay Fihaki 2 cons, pen). HT: 26-14.