The Crusaders will host the Super Rugby final after edging the Blues 21-14 in the first semifinal
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The Christchurch-based Crusaders will host the Super Rugby final for a record eighth time after edging the Blues 21-14 on Friday to end the Blues' one-year title reign.
The Crusaders improved their winning record in home playoffs to 31-0 in a thrilling match that ended in the 85th minute.
They will now face the winner of Saturday's second semifinal between the Hamilton-based Chiefs and ACT Brumbies as they attempt to win the Super Rugby title for the 13th time.
The Crusaders rallied from two tries and a man down after 21 minutes to level the score at 14-14 by halftime. They took the lead for the first and last time with Will Jordan's second try of the match in the 70th minute and held on under immense pressure.
The Blues held the ball through 40 phases on the Crusaders' goalline after the fulltime siren, won a penalty and attacked again before backrower Christian Lio-Willie won the turnover that ended the match.
'That was just pride,' Jordan said. 'Some boys must have made 10 or 15 tackles just in that last five or 10 minutes.
'The Blues are a helluva side, champions and showed that tonight. We just managed to hold out.'
The Blues opened the scoring with a try to winger Mark Tele'a after 11 minutes. The Crusaders were then reduced to 14 men when center Braydon Ennor was sin-binned after a head clash with Hoskins Sotutu.
Blues center Rieko Ioane scored under the posts in the absence of his marker in the 21st minute and Beauden Barrett converted to make the score 14-0.
The Crusaders scored through backrower Tom Christie in the 24th minute and when the Blues were down to 14 men with Joshua Fusitua in the sin-bin, scored through Jordan to level the scores. Jordan was outstanding in the aerial contest and dangerous around the field.
The Crusaders weathered pressure near their goalline between the 46th and 51st minutes before relieving that pressure with the first of a series of scrum penalties. The Blues were forced to use hooker Ricky Riccitelli at loosehead prop temporarily after exhausting their prop resources.
After a series of eight consecutive penalties in the Blues' 22, Jordan scored the match-winning try.
The Blues then threw everything at the Crusaders to keep the match and their title defense alive but couldn't score again.
'We started very well but we let them back in and they were good at what they pride themselves on around their set piece,' Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu said. 'On top of that we were pretty ill-disciplined and they wre able to get on top of us in that way.'
___
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
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