Crusaders extend unbeaten home finals run to 33 with 52-31 rout of Blues

The Crusaders secured a Super Rugby Pacific semi-final place with a commanding 52-31 victory over the Blues at One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch on Saturday, extending their unbeaten home finals record to 33 matches. Fullback Johnny McNicholl was the standout performer, crossing for a hat-trick as the defending champions ran in eight tries in total.

The match turned decisively in the Crusaders’ favour when Blues No.8 Malachi Wrampling-Alec was shown a red card before half-time. Australian referee Nic Berry initially issued a yellow card for shoulder-to-head contact on flanker Leicester Fainga’anuku, but the TMO intervened, citing a “high degree of danger with no mitigation” to upgrade the decision to a permanent dismissal.

The Crusaders wasted no time capitalising. McNicholl found a gap in the defence two minutes later to score the first of his three tries, and the hosts marched into the break with a 33-14 lead. Young playmaker Taha Kemara crossed in the 37th minute to round off the half and also contributed four conversions. Captain and centre David Havili, who scored in the 29th minute, said the squad leaned on the club’s storied finals pedigree.

“Yeah, it’s pretty special. We spoke about it this week, and we know how good we are at finals football, and we just backed our history in that,” Havili said. “There’s a few boys who aren’t out there, but we trust everyone in our jersey.”

The Blues, who finished fourth on the ladder — one place below the Crusaders — showed brief signs of a fightback when centre Xavi Taele scored in the 53rd minute. But McNicholl ended any hope of a comeback with his third try of the afternoon, pushing the score to 47-21. Reserve hooker Manumaua Letiu then touched down in the 73rd minute to take the Crusaders past 50 points, before the Blues added two late consolation tries to make the final scoreline 52-31.

McNicholl, who joined the squad mid-season to cover injured All Blacks fullback Will Jordan, was among the Blues’ try-scorers alongside halfback Sam Nock, who opened the scoring in the second minute, and flanker Anton Segner.

The Crusaders join the Hurricanes in the semi-finals after Wellington thrashed the Brumbies 66-12 in Friday’s qualifying final. The remaining two semi-final spots were to be decided by Saturday’s later match between Queensland and the Chiefs in Hamilton, with the three qualifying final winners guaranteed progression alongside the highest-ranked loser.