{"id":302931,"date":"2026-02-26T09:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302931\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T09:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T09:29:10","slug":"chiefs-v-crusaders-2026-richard-turner-and-luke-jacobson-on-home-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/302931\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs v Crusaders 2026: Richard Turner and Luke Jacobson on home legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

That confidence was justified, as in the end, the Chiefs came away with the win, even though by a small margin: They defeated the Canterbury Crusaders 27-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably the quickest 80 minutes we ever played… There was such an anticipation, it felt like [the match] was over so quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner admitted the Chiefs \u201cunderachieved overall\u201d in the 1996 competition, placing sixth out of 12, and didn\u2019t make the playoffs, but he\u2019d still call his team\u2019s first season a success<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRugby was in its infancy in terms of professionalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we did was new.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were the guinea pigs – there was not much of a manual. We forged our own path in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking about being part of the new competition in general, Turner said it came with a lot of changes, including going from training two to three times a week to \u201ctraining all day every day\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiet and recovery became a big part … It was a lifestyle change for a lot of guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ActionAction from the Chiefs’ first ever match in 1996 against the Crusaders in Hamilton. Photo \/ Andrew Cornaga, Photosport<\/p>\n

He said it was a \u201cmore controlled environment\u201d, with the players being in the spotlight more and monitored on \u201call levels\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were excited to get into this [though].\u201d<\/p>\n

For Turner, who used to play for North Harbour, the biggest challenge was unifying the provinces that were part of one franchise.<\/p>\n

The first Chiefs team<\/a> included players from Northland, North Harbour, Thames Valley, King Country, Bay of Plenty and Waikato.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing together provinces that were, in some cases, fierce rivals, especially the fans [was challenging].<\/p>\n

\"ChiefsChiefs captain Richard Turner in action during the 1996 season. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did take a bit to get used to [the fact] that the cowbells were supporting us. Up until then, for some of us [not from Waikato], if you played well enough, you silenced the cowbells.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Turner is from Auckland and based there these days, he hasn\u2019t switched his allegiance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a Chief, always a Chief.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he still regularly watches the Chiefs\u2019 matches and would look forward to seeing the game in the stadium in Hamilton this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game has advanced so much. [The players] are better, stronger, faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" Former Waikato Chiefs captain Richard Turner.<\/p>\n

He said he was confident the 2026 team would repeat the 1996 team\u2019s win, though he feels like it\u2019s going to be by a larger margin.<\/p>\n

Current Gallagher Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson<\/a> said he, too, is confident in the team\u2019s ability to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe train and prepared well this week to get the win, whether it\u2019s by two points… or 30 points, we will be stoked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson said while the upcoming match\u2019s connection to 1996 was a nice touch, for the team, it was just as special as any home game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a cool privilege to be able to … go out and play a game that was played similarly 30 years ago but at the same time… whether it happened 30 years ago or not, we wanna be able to put ourselves in the best position to win this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"ActionAction from the Chiefs’ first home game in 2025 against the Crusaders. Photo \/ Andrew Cornaga, Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love playing at home … we feel a real responsibility to … play well … and make it as tough as we can for the opposition team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got the best supporters in the competition. [We are] looking forward to putting out a game [they] can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacobson acknowledged the 1996 team\u2019s work, saying they were the shoulders the team stood on today.<\/p>\n

However, he said, if the 1996 Chiefs and the 2026 Chiefs were to play each other, the current team would win.<\/p>\n

\u201c[They\u2019re] completely different eras, different styles of footie, but I think as athletes, over 30 years, we have become a lot more competitive, stronger, more powerful.<\/p>\n

\" Gallagher Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson. Photo \/ Danielle Zollickhofer<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to think that we\u2019d beat them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we work out now, the way that data analysis has come along … it\u2019s the resources that we have available 1772098150 that makes us into better athletes. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s to no discredit of the 1996 team. If they had the resources we have now, I\u2019d say that\u2019d be a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think based simply on modern professional evolution, the current squad would win.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the \u201996 team would give them a run for their money in certain areas and positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chiefs v Crusaders match is on February 28 at 7.05pm at Rugby Park, aka FMG Stadium Waikato, in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Danielle Zollickhofer is the Waikato news director and a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That confidence was justified, as in the end, the Chiefs came away with the win, even though by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[166079,2246,95,13381,17909,56380,7123,35934,1872,1888,32503,5269,1861,1345,302,26662,145031,5844,6176,102883,32573,10543,111,139,69,27257,90,32361,166078,15160,6327,4514,6926,1962,213,313,301,165,1961,413,4767,157313],"class_list":{"0":"post-302931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-166079","9":"tag-2246","10":"tag-and","11":"tag-captain","12":"tag-chiefs","13":"tag-crusaders","14":"tag-current","15":"tag-danielle","16":"tag-face","17":"tag-first","18":"tag-firstever","19":"tag-game","20":"tag-history","21":"tag-home","22":"tag-its","23":"tag-itself","24":"tag-jacobson","25":"tag-journalist","26":"tag-legacy","27":"tag-luke","28":"tag-mark","29":"tag-match","30":"tag-new-zealand","31":"tag-newzealand","32":"tag-nz","33":"tag-occasion","34":"tag-on","35":"tag-opposition","36":"tag-repeats","37":"tag-richard","38":"tag-rugby","39":"tag-same","40":"tag-season","41":"tag-special","42":"tag-sports","43":"tag-super","44":"tag-talks","45":"tag-their","46":"tag-this","47":"tag-turner","48":"tag-weekend","49":"tag-zollickhofer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}