{"id":459525,"date":"2026-06-03T22:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459525\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T22:18:10","slug":"adds-more-motivation-crusaders-celebrate-home-comforts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/459525\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Adds more motivation’ \u2013 Crusaders celebrate home comforts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Crusaders are expecting the Blues to travel to Christchurch for their Super Rugby playoff with a sense of hurt and that feeling may to extend to more than just the Aucklanders\u2019 recent on-field humbling by the Chiefs. <\/p>\n

The Blues needed to beat the Chiefs<\/a> at the weekend to finish third and host the playoff qualifier but instead fumbled their way to a 59-34 defeat.<\/p>\n

Losing in Hamilton against a Chiefs team guaranteed to finish second regardless and having travel to Christchurch\u2019s wildly popular new stadium<\/a> would have been bad enough but the defeat will also carry consequences for the Blues\u2019 bottom line.<\/p>\n

The Blues had lost only three matches by the time they played the Crusaders early last month and the franchise\u2019s administrators would likely have been budgeting for an Eden Park playoff in front of about 25,000 fans but a loss in Christchurch tipped them into what has likely turned out to be an expensive freefall to the tune of high six figures.<\/p>\n

The Crusaders, meanwhile, are riding high on the fifth successive sellout at a new stadium which is living up to its promise of a world-class arena.<\/a><\/p>\n

Their coach Rob Penney said the excitement of a packed crowd probably played its part in his team losing a bit of shape in their big recent big victory over a weakened Hurricanes team and the need for more ruthless finishing would be underlined this week.<\/p>\n

But the performances of the defending champions in winning four from four at Te Kaha has proven that the Crusaders do not necessarily need cold and slippery conditions to make the opposition pay at this time of year. Rather, a finals mentality of constant pressure can do the job just as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m stoked to be at home\u2026 we\u2019re looking forward to playing in front of another packed-out stadium again,\u201d veteran hooker Codie Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s a reflection of what we\u2019ve got here now. The last few weeks have been amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saturday afternoon\u2019s match sold out in 20 minutes, something that would add to his team\u2019s motivation, Penney said.<\/p>\n

\"Smoke<\/p>\n

Smoke from fireworks lingers over the Crusaders and Hurricanes players inside Christchurch’s new stadium. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey get the importance of the stadium and playing at home in front of their crowd,\u201d he said. \u201cIn these tough economic times we\u2019ve had a run of home games and people have been dipping into their pockets. We\u2019re very appreciative of the support and how quickly the stadium sold out\u2026 I guess that adds a layer of motivation to the lads.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crusaders\u2019 revival after a poor start has coincided with the new stadium they have been waiting 15 years for.<\/p>\n

They lost to the Highlanders in Dunedin in round one and Brumbies at home in round two \u2013 the latter a record defeat. They also lost to the Reds and Force in Australia and Blues at Eden Park.<\/p>\n

Their surprise victory over the Chiefs in Hamilton in February clearly gave them self-belief and it has clicked since their victory over the Waratahs <\/a>in the first game at their new home kicked off the Super Round over Anzac Weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an interesting season with the start we had,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cWe had to muscle our way back and build a little momentum over the last couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a reflection of a lot of tough conversations \u2013 ones that were needed \u2013 and the team coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penney said of a Blues team preparing to welcome senior lock Patrick Tuipulotu back from injury: \u201cThey\u2019ll be hurting deeply and have some big names coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the arch-enemy I guess to a large degree \u2013 the history and traditions of playing the blues has gone deep with both organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super Rugby Pacific playoffs<\/p>\n

Friday, 7.05pm: Hurricanes (1) v Brumbies (6) in Wellington.<\/p>\n

Saturday, 4.35pm: Crusaders (3) v Blues (4) in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

Saturday, 7.05pm: Chiefs (2) v Reds (5) in Hamilton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Crusaders are expecting the Blues to travel to Christchurch for their Super Rugby playoff with a sense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[33339,17909,56380,49155,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-459525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-blues","tag-chiefs","tag-crusaders","tag-hurricanes","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459525","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=459525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}