{"id":718702,"date":"2026-06-06T09:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T09:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718702\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T09:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T09:31:26","slug":"super-rugby-finals-2026-crusaders-vs-blues-highlights-match-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/718702\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby finals 2026: Crusaders vs Blues highlights, match report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Malachi Wrampling\u2019s 19th minute red card sunk the Blues<\/a> as the Crusaders<\/a> improved their perfect home finals record to a remarkable 33-0 on Saturday.<\/p>\n

It was 7-7 when Wrampling caught Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku with a brutal high shot and the defending champions weren\u2019t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Malachi Wrampling’s red card shot.\u00a0Stan<\/p>\n

Super Rugby\u2019s<\/a> benchmark club ran out 52-31 winners under the roof<\/a> at their new One New Zealand fortress in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

Australian referee Nic Berry initially handed Wrampling a yellow card but it was no surprise that it was later upgraded to red.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually ask for this violence,\u201d ex-Blues hooker James Parsons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he is a centimetre away from being perfect in this tackle. Leicester didn\u2019t know he was coming and just stumbled a little bit, which dropped his height enough. Look, fair red card, but I don\u2019t think there was any malicious intent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely don\u2019t think he saw him coming, and that\u2019s why he wasn\u2019t absorbing that contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bizarrely, Crusaders flanker Fainga\u2019anuku wasn\u2019t sent for an HIA after being flattened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A Crusaders fan shows off his hair.\u00a0Stan<\/p>\n

Fullback Johnny McNicholl – filling in for the injured Will Jordan – scored a hat-trick as the Crusaders joined the Hurricanes in next weekend\u2019s semi-finals.<\/p>\n

The match-ups won\u2019t be confirmed until after the third and final Chiefs vs Queensland Reds qualifying final.<\/p>\n

The fourth-ranked Blues will advance as the \u2018lucky\u2019 loser if the Chiefs beat the Reds in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, the Crusaders are a big title threat again. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how good we are at finals footy,\u201d captain David Havili warned.<\/p>\n

MORE TO COME…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Malachi Wrampling\u2019s 19th minute red card sunk the Blues as the Crusaders improved their perfect home finals record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":718703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-718702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}