Leicester Fainga'anuku during the 2022 final of the Super Rugby Pacific match between the Blues and the Crusaders, convincingly won by the visitors at Eden Park last June. Photo: Brett Phibbs
Will New Zealand's most heated Super Rugby rivalry get another blast this weekend?
The Crusaders travel north to take on the Blues at Eden Park on Saturday night, easily the most intriguing game of the round. These teams have history, most recently in last year's Super Rugby Pacific final, but this time around things are looking a little different.
The Crusaders will come in fresh off a shock loss to the Drua up in Lautoka, a result that showed just how difficult travelling to Fiji will be this season.
The Blues, meanwhile, did win last week but have had an upset loss of their own, to the Brumbies in the Super Round.
So, it's an intriguing battle in Auckland, which will be a rematch of last year's final. Crusaders fans will call it memorable but really, the game that ended 21-7 in their favour was far from the aesthetically pleasing rugby that Super Rugby Pacific showcased in its inaugural season.
The real highlight was the cerebral dismantling in the final of a Blues side that had won 13 in a row, masterminded by Crusaders coaches Scott Robertson and Jason Ryan.
Unsurprisingly, the Blues haven't forgotten about it.
"Yeah, I can't lie. It's like an ember burning inside, but we can't let emotion take control when the game starts," said skipper Dalton Papalii at training this week.
"We've got a plan together for them. If we stick to it then we should be all right and it'll be a good game."
Dalton Papalii prepares to sidestep the Crusaders defence, during the round-robin match between the two sides at Orangetheory Stadium in Christchurch. Photo: Photosport
Historically, there's never been any love lost between the two most successful New Zealand Super teams - from the 1998 final that went down to the last play, to the 2003 final which was the Blues' last proper title, to Carlos Spencer flipping the bird to the Lancaster Park crowd a year later.
The last time the Blues beat the Crusaders away from home, Carlos Spencer did this
— Ultimate Rugby (@ultimaterugby) April 14, 2022
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That was a while ago now, but as Papalii alluded to, the heat that this rivalry generates is exactly what Super Rugby needs dearly right now. The Blues and the Crusaders should draw the biggest crowd, will have the most All Blacks on display and will probably lay down a marker for how each team will fare for the rest of the season.
Robertson can ill-afford another loss, not just for the current campaign but the one he is running to become All Blacks coach as well - something that his counterpart and former teammate Leon MacDonald was tight-lipped about being a part of.
MacDonald was far more open about being on both sides of the Blues v Crusaders rivalry, at times getting his pronouns mixed up when recalling his time in a red and black jersey, in particular the 2003 final.
"It's a funny world, isn't it. We missed a couple of moments [in 2003], they gave the Crusaders a hiding in the round robin, so we had that… oh I'm speaking like a Crusader again, so this feels really weird. Who is we? It's confusing."
Leon MacDonald turning out for the Crusaders in 2014. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Blues coach can be forgiven for slipping back into old habits, given that he played 122 games for the Crusaders over 12 seasons. That includes plenty against the Blues, and he showed that his knowledge of the history between the two regions was on point.
"I think it's one of the great rivalries, and that's going back before Super Rugby to the Canterbury and Auckland [Ranfurly] Shield eras.
"There's a lot of history beyond this and finals, we sort of love to hate each other. And I know because I've been on both sides of the fence, we always look at the draw when it comes out and check when we play the Crusaders first."
This should be a decent battle at Eden Park, the Crusaders are arriving with their tails between their legs and the Blues are desperate to make up for last year's deflating performance in the biggest game of the season.
