The Crusaders once again showed off their strength on Saturday with a dominant victory over the Blues.
Final score
Crusaders 54
Blues 17
The Crusaders will look to continue building their impressive form line ahead of the Super Rugby finals when they take on the Blues in the final round. Join The Roar for live scores from 5:35pm (AEST).
In terms of nothing matches late in a season, this is just about at the bottom of the pile with the Crusaders on fire and the Blues doing the complete opposite at the other end of the table.
At the top, there is no question the Crusaders have been the best team across the season. They sit first place on the ladder, taking the New Zealand conference place in the finals.
They won’t be caught by those teams on top of the Australian or South African conference either – being the Waratahs and Lions respectively for the moment.
The Hurricanes are the second-placed team in the New Zealand conference, but even they are seven points back, so there is no chance of the Crusaders being caught or not winning the minor premiership. The Christchurch-based club have lost just two games all season and have now won 11 straight.
They have barely looked challenged during their run and will be looking to keep things going into the finals.
The Blues, on the other hand, sit all the way down the bottom of the table. They are the only New Zealand conference team who won’t make the finals, and only narrowly avoid the wooden spoon thanks to the struggles of the Sunwolves, who sit eight points below them heading into the finals.
The Auckland-based outfit have won just four games all season, although one of those was just a fortnight ago as they got the better of the hapless Reds.
It was back to normal transmission last week though as the Hurricanes ran 42 points up on the Blues. They do have the capability to cause an upset though, given a win over the Waratahs away from home five weeks ago.
Prediction
There won’t be an upset in this one though. The Crusaders have been clinical and while they may not keep the foot down all the way to the finish line ahead of the finals, they will win and win well.
Crusaders by 18.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of the match from 5:35pm (AEST) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
HighTemplar
Guest
SANZAR no longer exists, it is the good folks at SANZAAR we have to thank :) But in all seriousness I think the crux of the problem is that there is more NZ super refs than other countries
Cugel
Roar Rookie
I appear to have got rugby in my league.
Cantab
Guest
;’’’’) Oh my friend, this is SANZAR at its finest.
Bing
Guest
Why is there a neutral referee for this game? Why wouldn’t this referee take the Highlanders v Rebels game? It doesn’t make sense. Who comes up with these decisions?