Crusaders turn it on when it counts

History wasn’t just repeating itself when the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 33-22 on Saturday night. It was bettering itself.

All those other times the Hurricanes had played well enough to meet the Crusaders in knockout, the resulting matches had gone with the southerners but the matches hadn’t necessarily been great spectacles. This time the rugby matched the occasion.

The visitors to AMI Stadium were first out of the blocks, wing Zac Guildford scoring after charging down a slow Dan Carter clearance, and for most of the first half as nothing more than penalties were traded the Hurricanes frustrated the home side. If the Hurricanes had gone to the half-time sheds leading 8-6 the Crusaders would have had every right to be furious with themselves.

They had camped for long periods in the Hurricanes’ half and were steadily gaining an edge at set piece, but their finishing of opportunities was not optimal and the Hurricanes seemed comfortable with the disjointed pace of play. Defence on both sides, meanwhile, was fierce and correct. It was going to take something pretty special to break through.

Finally a Hurricanes clearing kick lacked chasers, a return by the Crusaders was regathered, and the weight of pressure began to tell. Width here, pick-and-go there, width once more, a series of broken tackles and the Hurricanes backpedalling inside their own twenty-two again… a freekick with red jerseys swarming, almost competing with each other to be the ball-carrier… and the Hurricanes defence stretching too far, hanging on by the bootlaces, as the Crusaders finally hit the top gear they’ve threatened to find all year.

No longer surprising, that they save such performances for knockout games.

Side by side, Hurricanes forwards and backs desperately reformed into tackle lines with each phase, and the Crusaders kept hurtling into them. Three more times over the advantage line into the corner, all wonderful support play punctuated by the hard slapping of shoulders into ribcages, and each time with more and more tacklers committed as the line beckoned… then back into the middle for the coup de grace, which was fullback Leon MacDonald hitting the line at pace and wrong-footing number eight Chris Masoe under his posts.

It was a glorious end to forty brutal minutes.

Robbie Deans’ message to the Crusaders during the interval was simple. “Keep working,” he barked. Don’t expect these guys to crack easily, in other words, they’re up for it. The MacDonald try had been a perfect drill. Make second efforts, be cohesive and patient, be prepared to wait until late in the phase count for the crucial play.

And MacDonald scored another in exactly the same manner after the break, under the posts at the other end, this time not humiliating Masoe but both Hurricanes locks as he split them like an axe. Crash, recycle, stretch, recycle, crash… the Hurricanes’ tackling all the while drawing low whistles of appreciation… but the defensive line eventually snapping like an overwound string on a guitar.

This is when your self-preservation instinct needs to kick in against the Crusaders on their home turf, when they score a couple of crowd-pleasing fifteen man tries, effectively like ear-ringing shots from a boxer a weight division above you… they get that quick points look in their eye, and watch out.

Backs aren’t required.

Next siege of the Hurricanes line, a quick tap went right. Quick hands meant a shovelled pass went behind hooker Ti’i Paulo, but he turned and caught it, offloading to blindside flanker Kieran Read who was in better battering stance. With great leg drive and copybook low body position, Read carried two Hurricanes on his back over the line.

Other teams might have gone into their prescribed shells after such a classic game-winning sequence. Such lethal scores before and after half-time are almost always decisive, and in other situations I’ve seen winners either sit comfortably on their lead or go on to blow away a psychologically already-beaten opponent. No such apathy here from either side. The Hurricanes are one of the most dangerous long-range-scoring and come-from-behind sides in the competition’s history, and the Crusaders knew exactly what to expect.

A moment’s hesitation cost reserve five-eighth Stephen Brett a charge-down similar to Carter’s in the first half, and Hurricanes lock Jeremy Thrush dived over for a try. It was the third Hurricanes try in a row from charge-downs, counting Hosea Gear’s at Eden Park last week.

Thrush’s try had come in the seventy-sixth minute and meant the Crusaders were doubly determined to have the final say, but the Hurricanes had that too. Defending their own line again they broke clear, and a kick by Gear turned the defence into full-on attack. The desperate Crusaders’ clearance was returned stylishly by fullback Cory Jane, who left six tacklers flailing at his heels as play was brought to within a yard of the Crusaders’ line. Prop Neemia Tialata’s was about the fifth or sixth low drive for the chalk after that, and brought up the final scoreline of 33-22.

There was no way the Sydney semifinal that followed could compete with it, because that match only had one team prepared to play positively… the Waratahs. The momentum that the Sharks had built over the past few weeks as they finally found some try-scoring form was gone, and the niggly and jersey-pulling Sharks returned right on cue for knockout.

Perhaps flanker Epi Taione’s suspension for head-butting against the Hurricanes six weeks ago was a week too short. His return was a 2009 contract-losing performance. Everything he touched turned to s***. First five-eighth Ruan Pienaar had a similar shocker.

Sharks halfback Rory Kockett was worst offender in the foul play stakes, sneaking rabbit punches, throwing the ball at people and having generally too much to say for himself… too much even for a halfback.

Don’t play dirty in the Waratahs’ backyard… I thought most people knew this. Built on lawlessness, in Sydney they know a thing or two about fighting dirty. The smaller and louder you are, in fact, the harder big men will smack you. Kockett was the recipient of three or four tackles and clean-outs where flankers went on with the job and crushed him into the turf.

With their halves having bad nights and their loose forwards already out of sync, the Sharks were easily torn apart. Tries to wing Lote Tuqiri, centre Rob Horne, first five Kurtley Beale and halfback Luke Burgess had the Waratahs out to a 25-6 lead.

If Beale had been kicking even half his goals the home side would have been well clear, but a late try saw the Sharks pull back to 13-25. It only delayed the inevitable. The Waratahs were too well organised to let the game slip from their grasp. A final dropped goal to Beale saw New South Wales home with a 28-13 win.

That sets up a repeat of the Crusaders v Waratahs final from three years ago, won 35-25 by the Crusaders. Another Christchurch match between the teams, from round robin a few years before that, resulted in a record 96-19 hiding for the visitors. Next Saturday’s final is likely to more closely resemble the former, but the Crusaders are by no means guaranteed a win. The 2008 team are the best Waratahs yet, and no other team in Super 14 rates a better chance of upsetting the Crusaders.

If that happens… no, in fact, regardless of the outcome… the NSWRU should get ready to eat humble pie and reinstate the coach. The signing of Deans as Wallabies coach notwithstanding, the loss of Ewen McKenzie could be a near mortal one for Australian rugby right now.

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