The Crusaders season remains alive for another day. The boys put on a clinic at Apollo Projects Stadium on Friday night, beating Moana Pasifika 43-10.
In a fixture that also marked the potential last games for club legends Joe Moody, Owen Franks and Ryan Crotty, the team ran in seven tries in front of their last home crowd of the year.
Both Rob Penney and Codie Taylor told media post game the same thing: it’s frustrating to rely on other results to secure a quarterfinal. We’re a better team than that. Small margins and missed opportunities throughout the season has us in this position, but regardless the hope remains alive.
We’ve done what we can to control our own destiny. It’s now in the hands of others. Our members and fans remain loyal. The pride in the team and the jersey remains strong. Fingers crossed for Saturday’s results.
Some moments to remember from the night:
- Three rolling maul tries in the opening half, the team finding the rhythm they’d been looking for all season from the set piece. It’s getting harder and harder to score tries like these, and we smashed through three of these – two to captain Codie Taylor.
- Crotty dotting down in 37th minute in his potentially final game for the Crusaders. He collected a bullet from Noah Hotham and crashed across the line making it 26-10 going into the half.
- Noah Hotham’s opening gambit of the second half, chipping over Moana defence and collecting it in the goal area. Magic from the young halfback.
- Huge standing ovations for Joe Moody and Ryan Crotty when they came off in the second, big respect for some legends of the club.
- THAT chip from Johnny McNicholl in the 67th minute that found Macca Springer on the wing. The winger ran it in to give us the final score of 43-10
A huge occasion to end our home season in front of our fans. Thanks to all those who packed the stands for this one. We hear you. We see you.