Match Report: Crusaders v Chiefs - Round 13

A top of the table clash between two great rivals - the Chiefs and the Crusaders - in front of a passionate sellout crowd in Christchurch set the scene for an exciting evening of footy in the garden city.  

The Chiefs kicked off and showed their purpose and intensity from the beginning, but it didn’t take long for the Crusaders to take control.  

A 50-22 from Chay Fihaki set the Crusaders up for a lineout. Noah Hotham went close to the line, before some quick hands by Chay Fihaki sent Tom Christie flying over in the righthand corner. 

Rivez Reihana flawlessly slotted the conversion from the sideline to give the Crusaders an early 7-point lead. 

Will Jordan limped from the field in the 19th minute with a knee issue and was replaced by Dallas McLeod, while Daniel Rona left the field for an HIA and was replaced by Gideon Wrampling.  

Another HIA came for the Chiefs – this time for former Crusader Brodie McAlister, who was replaced by Samisoni Taukei’aho. 

A penalty then came for the Chiefs and Reihana found touch in the left corner. Cullen Grace won the lineout, and the ball was fired from the maul out to Braydon Ennor who was eventually dragged down.  

Reihana found a gap and was stopped short of the line, only for the ball to be recycled for Scott Barrett to find a hole and stretch over the line and extend the lead out to 12. 

The Chiefs got their first chance of putting some points on the board when the Crusaders were penalised for an obstruction and Damian McKenzie slotted it from right out in front to make the score 12-3 to the home side.  

Reihana then re-started, only for the clearance kick from McKenzie to go off the side of his boot to find touch 20m from the try line 

The Crusaders found their momentum, before play was taken back for an offside penalty against the Chiefs. Reece had a go at the tryline, only to be stopped short. Tamaiti Williams is also denied, then Hotham popped a pass up for Antonio Shalfoon to bury himself in the Chiefs defence to somehow find the tryline.   

A conversion from Reihana gave the Crusaders a 16-point lead in the 39th minute, but the Chiefs weren’t done. 

McKenzie found touch in the right corner and the visitors were desperate to claw back the deficit. Shaun Stevenson fired a pass out wide to the right, which Sevu Reece leaped at to get a hand to it. Emoni Narawa picked it up off the bounce to touch down in the corner two minutes after the halftime siren.  

A conversion by McKenzie had the halftime score at 19-10 to the Crusaders.  

The Chiefs must have had a rark-up in the changing sheds at halftime, as they came out in the second half firing.  

Shaun Stevenson picked up Hotham’s kick and answered Chay Fihaki’s 50-22 from the first half with one of his own.  

Naitoa Ah Kuoi had a go at the line after the lineout, only to be stopped short. McKenzie then threw in a convincing dummy pass to create some space for himself to score the Chiefs second try of the evening.  

The momentum for the visitors was building and they were looking dangerous on attack. Their second try came just three minutes later Gideon Wrampling scooped up David Havili’s grubber kick and went flying down the left side. Leroy Carter was right with him and broke past halfway for a solo try next to the posts.  

A conversion from McKenzie put the visitors out in front for the first time in the game at 22-19. 

After a bit of back and forth for 10 minutes, the Crusaders were penalised for not rolling at the ruck, and the Chiefs decided to line up the shot at the posts which was good to give the Chiefs a 25-19 lead. 

In a repeat offence, the Crusaders were pinged for not rolling at the ruck again and subsequently warned for too many penalties. The Chiefs punished the Crusaders lack of discipline with another successful penalty kick to give the visitors a nine-point lead.  

The Chiefs took a Crusaders win out of reach when Wallace Sititi received a short ball and burst through the Crusaders defence to score.  

McKenzie had the last say of the game with a conversion.  

The Chiefs did have one final chance at a penalty kick with two minutes on the clock, but McKenzie’s kick went wide to leave the final score 35-19 to the Chiefs. 

“How they were able to go through us, particularly towards the back end of the game, they were ruthless, and we weren’t able to counter it,” says Head Coach Rob Penney.  
 

“Our response now is the critical piece; we were taught a lesson and it’s how we respond to that now that counts. 
 

“We did some really good things when we went hard on attack, but we weren’t as clinical as we needed to be.” 
 

Final score: Crusaders 19 Chiefs 35