Crisis, what crisis?
An already Good Friday became a great one in Christchurch, as the Crusaders stunned the Chiefs to finally find their first win of the Super Rugby Pacific season.
Beleaguered coach Rob Penney had done his darndest to cut a positive figure pre-match, with his first words of a TV interview 10 minutes from kickoff wishing the country a happy Easter. And there’ll be no-one that the chocolates taste sweeter for than the under-fire new red-and-blacks mentor after their 37-26 victory at Apollo Projects Stadium.
It’s a victory which not only breaks their five-game losing run to open the season, but which could well prove the big turning point for the seven-time defending champions in their effort to swim out of these unchartered murky waters.
The Chiefs will be left wondering what might have been had they not opted to sit out star playmaker Damian McKenzie, through a combination of a niggly knee and All Blacks rest protocols. Their numbers with and without him on the park this season are stark, and while rookie Josh Jacomb excelled in a maiden Super start, there was nothing like the educated boot or control of attack to get the visitors out of a few spots of bother.
Then, when Josh Ioane was introduced for the final quarter, he again had moments to forget, shanking a clearance for touch, then notably having an intercept picked off by a flying Johnny McNicholl to effectively seal the contest.
McNicholl was enormous for the Crusaders in just his second game back on the Super stage since 2016. The 10-test Welsh international had earlier scored the easiest of tries and laid on another for Cullen Grace down that left touch, too, going on to reel off a whopping game-high 167 metres, along with an equal game-high three clean breaks.
Holding a halftime lead (22-12) for the first time this season, Penney was probably trying to think up a new speech for the sheds, and no sooner had he sat back down in the box than came the sight of George Bell extending the advantage in sensational fashion.
With Xavier Roe’s kick out on the full punished dearly, the young hooker went on a 42-metre burst, through the Chiefs’ props, then all the way round Jacomb at the back in a remarkable show of speed, on a night where he also racked up a matchhigh 20 tackles.
With their much-maligned lineout back to full functionality, helped by the return of Quinten Strange, and their scrum asserting dominance, the Crusaders were able to actually do a bit with the ball, after rolling up the sleeves and holding strongly against several Chiefs waves.
You couldn’t have got much more of a contrast in first halves from last week’s slop at a sodden Eden Park, to this high-octane back and forth display on a crisp, clear night in the Garden City.
These were two teams intent on holding the ball and flinging it wide, with the Crusaders looking a completely different outfit to the one who had last week been kept tryless for the first time in 145 Super games, and who had managed just one five-pointer in each of their two outings before that.
While the Crusaders suffered yet another setback in their curse of the captains (Scott Barrett injured in round three, then David Havili last weekend), with Mitchell Drummond out of the contest with illness, the late promotion it gave youngster Noah Hotham to start proved more than handy.
His speedy dart down the right touch which set up the opening try, as he kicked ahead for Chay Fihaki to outpace Roe, whose night swiftly turned sour, with some poor kicking and getting monstered around the ruck.
The Chiefs were far from deterred, and struck when they got their chance, in a swift reminder they didn’t need much invitation to inflict damage, with Jacomb showing his real potential, distributing well and taking the line on aplenty.
But this was the Crusaders’ night. The drought is over.