\u201cWe\u2019ve still got some work to do, but hopefully we\u2019ll get a Super Round away [in 2027] and that\u2019s likely to be slightly earlier, not Anzac week, but maybe a little bit earlier,\u201d Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge says.<\/p>\n
Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley and Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge before the first game of the Super Round. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Bringing the Super Round back to Christchurch is surely a no-brainer for SRP, given its incredible success and popularity this season. Then there\u2019s the fact that the roof at One NZ Stadium guarantees conditions for running rugby \u2013 and the broadcast spectacle that the competition too often lacks. <\/p>\n
The success of the new stadium off the paddock was far in excess of predictions. Initial calculations suggested a $6.5m injection of cash to the local economy but official figures calculated the actual spend at $13m. <\/p>\n
The Crusaders then sold out every home game for the remainder of the season, a dream come true for Mansbridge. <\/p>\n
\u201cProbably better than a dream come true, better than all of our expectations, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Punters watch day two of the Super Round from the \u014ctautahi corporate lounge balcony at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch on April 25, 2026. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t all skyrockets and pony rides at the new home turf. The halftime fireworks during the final round-robin match against the Hurricanes left a thick cloud of smoke above the field reminiscent of the 2006 \u201cfog final\u201d at Lancaster Park between the same teams. It was a genuine face-palm moment. <\/p>\n
As for the pony rides, the famous Crusaders horses were retired one week and reinstated the next in a PR disaster that may have benefited from the aforementioned smokescreen. <\/p>\n
In pure rugby terms, the new stadium couldn\u2019t have delivered more. Compelling rugby and a perfect home record \u2013 despite the most gruelling closing campaign of any side. <\/p>\n
To make the finals (and host a game) after a sluggish start, the Crusaders had to beat the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes in consecutive weeks. Then the Blues again in the elimination finals. They managed to do just that before their campaign ended abruptly in Hamilton, beaten in the semi-final by a Chiefs side whose first-half performance was utterly breathtaking. Crusade over. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur plan is to win championships. Whenever we don\u2019t win a championship, we\u2019re naturally disappointed, there\u2019s just no way around it,\u201d Mansbridge says.<\/p>\n
Will Jordan suffered an injury-plagued end to the 2026 Super Rugby season. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
By the time the semi-final side were named, the Crusaders had 14 players out injured. Among them were Will Jordan, Scott Barrett, Tamaiti Williams, George Bell, Dallas McLeod and Cullen Grace. The front-row stocks in particular were strained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had good runs in the competition, but we were a bit un-Crusader-like at certain times,\u201d Mansbridge says. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s some areas we probably could have done a little bit better and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll try and get right for next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Reds and the Force were two frustrating games where we should have and could have won those.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rob Penney and David Havili at the presentation of the key to the City of Christchurch at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch on April 24, 2026. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
Rob Penney <\/p>\n
The 2026 campaign was head coach Rob Penney\u2019s third and final. After a tumultuous 2024 season saw them miss the finals altogether, Penney was at the helm of a dramatic turnaround in 2025 \u2013 winning the franchise\u2019s 13th title (they also claimed the Super Rugby Aotearoa titles in 2020 and 2021). <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a wise, wise old fox,\u201d Mansbridge says with a genuine admiration for the head coach. <\/p>\n
\u201cI see some commentators talk about he was lucky to keep his job [after 2024] and he had to prove himself to the organisation, all of which are completely untrue. <\/p>\n
The CEO does see fault in Penney \u2013 but not flaw. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe will never take credit. I think he\u2019s humble to a fault. You don\u2019t necessarily see that externally. Sometimes you see the wooden guy who gets pissed off when there\u2019s been a leak about change of coach. You see grumpy old Penz, but that\u2019s not who we see day in and day out inside the organisation and it\u2019s not what the players see. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d almost say sometimes coaches need a bit of ego about them. \u2018I made a difference here\u2019. \u2018I did this and this\u2019, and that whenever you try and have that conversation with Penz, he runs under a rock.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leicester Fainga’anuku transitioned from midfielder to openside flanker midway through the season. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Penney \u2013 by his assistants\u2019 appraisal, is incredibly trusting of his coaching team. In 2026, that bore fruit with the reinvention of Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku, the All Blacks midfielder who became a starting loose forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody thought it was a bit of an \u2018out there\u2019 move. And I must admit when I saw him on the team sheet, little alarm bells in my head started screaming thinking, \u2018oh my goodness, are they serious\u2019?\u201d <\/p>\n
Attack coach James Marshall is understood to have been the architect of the move, but it was Penney who signed off on it. <\/p>\n
\u201cPenz has allowed those people to see something that the rest of us don\u2019t see and that wasn\u2019t a universally accepted decision, amongst the group, but he worked his way through that and credit to him. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all sitting there going, wow, that was a master stroke. We weren\u2019t saying that on the day or the week of selection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former All Blacks assistant coach Scott Hansen will lead the Crusaders in 2027.<\/p>\n
Scott Hansen<\/p>\n
The coaching team will have a new head coach in Scott Hansen next season but the remainder of that group is unchanged, providing a settled environment for Hansen to move into. The new coach was last at the franchise as an assistant under Scott Robertson before following him into the All Blacks. <\/p>\n
That tenure ended early with both Hansen and Robertson shown the door at the beginning of the year following a scathing end-of-season review. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that came through the All Blacks review which I know, again the way it\u2019s reported externally about the environment and the whole place – it\u2019s almost like, who\u2019s the fall guy for that? There\u2019s a little bit of \u2018oh he\u2019s the head coach so it must be his fault\u2019, even though it\u2019s Razor [Robertson],\u201d Mansbridge says. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you go through all the player feedback about him [Hansen], everybody for whom he had responsibility, their feedback was exceptional, and many players continued to lean on him as a coach, after he left the All Blacks environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richie Mo\u2019unga will return to the Crusaders for the 2027 season. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Hansen has history with the Crusaders and history with the returning Mo\u2019unga. The pair are said to have a \u201cgreat relationship\u201d and were responsible for much of the blistering attack that brought the Crusaders\u2019 year-on-year success. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait for it, in some respects. I don\u2019t want to sort of gloss over this season too much because the semifinals are nothing to be sneezed at, but it\u2019d be nice to be planning to win a championship again that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Mansbridge says with some excitement. <\/p>\n
Hansen\u2019s appointment was supposed to be kept under wraps until the Crusaders season had finished, but it was uncovered early by the Herald, causing some red faces at their Rugby Park headquarters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were prepared a couple of weeks beforehand, but we didn\u2019t [announce Hansen] because the coach was quite keen to sort of see the campaign through. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it was unsurprising to me that the news was going to get out there, personally, and it probably looked worse externally than it was.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crusaders season ended in defeat to the Chiefs in Hamilton. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
Penney was less than impressed and let that be known at an awkward press conference. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was, we jestfully describe, wooden, wasn\u2019t he, when he fronted that presser? The irony is in those situations, sometimes you\u2019re better off just to answer the questions, and then it\u2019s less of a distraction. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably wasn\u2019t as bad as what we allowed it to be, or what we allowed ourselves to think it was,\u201d Mansbridge says. <\/p>\n
2027 <\/p>\n
The coming season carries enormous promise for Super Rugby\u2019s most successful franchise. A new coach, a returning superstar and what\u2019s widely regarded as the best home ground in Australasia.<\/p>\n
The crowd at the Crusaders-Blues round-13 match. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
It also has a fanatical fanbase in a sport where apathy is becoming a default setting for once devout followers. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re already getting people asking us about memberships for next year, who missed out on tickets for the quarter-final and the last two home games [this year]. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are people who would traditionally have just, [thought] \u2018I know I can just walk up on the day\u2019, so we\u2019ve got sort of waiting list emerging now – we haven\u2019t got a formal one. As we do a review we\u2019ll sit down and figure out how we do this. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut we think we\u2019re going to end up with a membership product for next year. We won\u2019t sell every single seat in membership, but we think that we\u2019ll give members a first right to purchase additional seats and from what we can tell, we might be selling them out before the first game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Crusaders will be aiming to recapture the symbol of Super Rugby Pacific supremacy in 2027. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n
Even without the silverware it\u2019s become accustomed to, the franchise is proving to be worth its weight in gold. <\/p>\n