The homeless Canterbury Crusaders continued a relentless charge towards Super Rugby glory with a 29-10 semi-final triumph over Western Stormers at a wet Newlands on Saturday.
Forced to play their eight regular-season home games and a play-off at other New Zealand venues after a deadly earthquake struck Christchurch in February, the Crusaders travelled 11,000 kilometres to outplay the Cape Town team.
The New Zealanders have one more away assignment — against the Quade Cooper-inspired Queensland Reds in Brisbane next Saturday — as they chase a record eighth southern hemisphere championship title.
“I am really proud of what the team achieved tonight. We decided after the earthquakes to stand up for the people at home and that is what we did here,” said All Blacks and Crusaders captain and flank Richie McCaw.
“All the travel we have had to do was not fun — but you recover and gear up for a supreme effort come each matchday. It was a great team effort with special praise for our tight five.”
Stunned Stormers centre and vice-captain Jean de Villiers conceded his men were outclassed in all phases and not up to the task of reaching a second consecutive final having lost to the Pretoria-based Northern Bulls last year.
“We did not pitch up individually or collectively. There were some early scoring opportunities we did not take and all that can be done now is to try and learn from our mistakes.”
The visitors led 23-10 at half-time despite having far less possession than the home side, whose captain and flank Schalk Burger was forced to retire with a broken thumb at the interval.
Hunger at the breakdown where their counter rucking was superb, virtually impenetrable defence and the deadly goal kicking of All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter were key factors in the success.
Stormers, who suffered a late pre-match blow with injury doubt scrum-half Dewaldt Duvenage forced to withdraw, did themselves no favours by conceding penalties within scoring range and gifting Crusaders their first try.
Nick Koster, starting at number eight in place of long-term injury victim Duane Vermeulen, saw a careless pass intercepted by right wing Sean Maitland, who sprinted clear for his ninth try of the season.
Crusaders second try on 34 minutes was created by All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams, who drew two Stormers and then made a trademark off-load for fellow centre Robert Fruean to dart over.
Stormers supporters finally got something to cheer on the stroke of half-time when Springbok left wing Bryan Habana took a tap penalty and dived over.
It could have been an even more depressed Stormers dressing room at the break as outside centre Jaque Fourie made a superb intercept just short of his tryline to prevent another Crusaders score.
The hoped-for Stormers second half comeback never materialised with the wily Crusaders in no mood to surrender the big lead they had established by feasting off scraps.
Carter succeeded with two of three penalty attempts while Stormers came closest to breaching the Crusaders red wall when Fourie was deprived by a superb cover tackle from left wing Zac Guildford.
Carter finished with 19 points from five penalties and two conversions while opposite number Peter Grant had to settle for a meagre five points from an early penalty and a conversion.
the woodster
Guest
Watching the replay just seen a ginger head for the stormers that raises a question in my head cant remember the last red head SA rugby player...didint know sa had red heads but then again theres shawn pollock. :)
Rusty
Roar Guru
Like most numbers they can be misleading - there may be 50 million and some say 60 million but over 25% are not in employ. Over 12 million people or 3 times the population of New Zealand or half of Australias not knowing where their next meal is coming from let alone if they are going to buy a ticket to a game of rugby. Even so you might say thats 38 million. True but if you had to be honest in terms of the percentages the average numbers drawn to our game in each population centre it is miniscule, sub 2%. So really if you get a good turnout thats awesome and its a good gauge on the level of support for a team and the relative health/wealth of a union but in the greater scheme of things its pretty meaningless
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Hi Damo! Please don't tire of my comments re rucks. In the past two years I've been somewhat obsessed with rucks, but being away from rugby for whole months has cured that. What's the point of players hanging on to each other in the ruck? If they're standing while grappling each other, they're still part of the ruck, but they're wasting manpower which could be better deployed in offense/defense.
Bayboy
Guest
The fact that South Africa has a population of some 50 million people more than twice that of NZ and Aus combined, it's a no brainer that the cowd averages will be higher.
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, well so what? Samoa are crap at rugby and we nick all your best players. So nyah.
AussieKiwi
Guest
Not sure who "they" is but I am jjust giving my tip for this particular game. I tipped the Reds in the Semi against the Blues. But I may be the only one who didn't think the Reds were that convincing despite the win. The Crusaders in Cape Town were totally convincing. I did tip the Crusaders against the Reds last time, and that was so close it was anyone's game (not to mention some questionable reffing, but we won't go there). This time I think the Crusaders will move up a gear. But hey, if sport was that predictable, we'd all be millionaires and the bookies would be broke.
Damo
Guest
Bazza, please - No-one mentioned cheating. I brought the topic up because there seems to be different interpretation of fair breakdown play between the two nations. Some Kiwis reckon that Reds are getting away with murder in the rucks. On the other side to my eye some Blues 'clean outs' looked like gridiron without a helmut, ie holding players without ball. We don't need to argue about it. I would appreciate a senior ref comment. Do other fans see a difference?
Rusty
Roar Guru
Saders completely crushed the Stormers. Outside of the first 10min and until Koster gifted Maitland a runaway intercept the Saders were in control. The scrum devastating, the lineout never troubled and with Whitelock making Bekker look the amateur. Saders defences was exemplary. The Stormers were blown away by a team that has "destiny" written all over them. Incidentally - I wonder why Maitland didnt receive a citing for the off the ball larynx massage he gave the defenseless pronated Koster. After Koster helped bump up Maitlands fox sports value too tsk tsk
kovana
Roar Pro
South Africa Also gets bigger crowds then NZ.. Even the Lions got higher crowd averages then ALL the NZ SR teams.
Bayboy
Guest
Quite clear someone has an almighty chip on their shoulder. Reality is Kovana the Stormers got pumped at home by arguably the best team in the competition.
Rusty
Roar Guru
pants
Jerry
Guest
Dribble dribble crowd figures goo goo ga ga.
kovana
Roar Pro
Well... They have won the 1995 and 2007 RWCs..... However they havent won any Invitational RWCs.
kovana
Roar Pro
They also said the Blues and Crusaders would win against the Reds last time too...
Uncle Bob
Guest
Yes gumboot, a lot of people from the other rugby states of the world do not realize that rugger is actually only a private schoolboys game here in Oz and really only played in the two northern states. The rugby league has stolen the march from rugby because of Australians love of money over the last century. Maybe Kiwis and South African sportsmen are better heeled than us. So the rugby players of any note always ended up playing league. Fingers crossed the Reds win it, because the sport here needs a lift. It is really struggling.
AussieKiwi
Guest
I am so excited my two favourite teams have made it through. What a great finale to the season! I tip the Crusaders to win in a close, high scoring game. I feel like it's really the men against the boys. The youngsters might have the razzle dazzle but the Crusaders have the steely determination (and the set pieces) to see them through. In the words of the old cliche, rugby will be the winner on the night.....
Jerry
Guest
The Bulls smashed everyone in 2010. How did the Boks go?
Bayboy
Guest
Anything but a win by the Reds will be an almighty failure on their part. They are favorites going in to this match, top qualifier and home advantage oh and did I mention they have the Messiah (snigger). The Crusaders are up against all odds to win this competition, no home ground, incompetent officiating (last time the two met) and of course the Messiah (cough). The game will be interesting for sure, if the Crusaders pull it off not only will be a huge upset but one of the greatest team sporting achievements in the history of rugby. Write off the Crusaders at your own peril. 10 finals in 14 years of which they have won seven, no other team compares
gumboot
Guest
Being a kiwi I obviously hope you're wrong. I want the Saders to thrash the Reds but in all honesty, I wouldn't be too disappointed if the Reds won, that could only do good for rugby in Oz, it was great to see the huge crowd attendance for the Reds v Blues. A few years back when I was in Oz, I was surprised that rugby wasn't as big as it is over here in NZ. So I hope for Ozzies sake and rugby in general grows more momentum in Oz. On a side note, I'm damn glad the saffas aren't in the final. For both countries that have suffered serious natural disasters I think it's fitting that the Reds and Saders have reached the final. GO THE SADERS
Uncle Bob
Guest
Reds to smash the upstarts from Canterbury, this will really put NZ rugby back in their box and the panic will set in at the Blacks camp. The biggest kick in the balls is to come my NZ friends.