{"id":308711,"date":"2023-06-16T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T09:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308711"},"modified":"2023-06-16T14:01:49","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T14:01:49","slug":"crusaders-into-final-after-destroying-bumbling-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=308711","title":{"rendered":"Crusaders into final after destroying bumbling Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Crusaders<\/a> are into the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> final after a dominant display at home that left the Blues<\/a> bumbling in arguably their worst performance of the year.<\/p>\n

The visitors never looked like threatening – mistakes were plentiful and the home side made the most of every opportunity. All told, it was a 52-15 demolition.<\/p>\n

It continued a record run for the Crusaders who now have a 29-0 win record at home in play-off matches.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Blues, meanwhile, remain winless in away semi-final appearances, 0-3. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

"Well, I think quite conclusively, I don't think this is how many expected this game to play out," Stan Sport commentator and ex-All Black Justin Marshall said.<\/p>\n

"It was expected it was going to be a real fight, a war of attrition, right to the final whistle. However, it was anything but.<\/p>\n

"The Crusaders dominated this contest from the opening whistle and they never looked like a side that would get beaten on the night at any stage."<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> The Ashes first test, day one scores<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Bugger off': Chappell fires up at England request<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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The Blues almost immediately gave away possession with an early knock-on, which gave the Crusaders a chance to execute a 50:22.<\/p>\n

Off the back of that line-out, Braydon Ennor scored to make it 7-0.<\/p>\n

\"Fainga'anuka<\/p>\n

A penalty followed a little over five minutes later and made it 10-0 which quickly became 15-0 when Leicester Fainga'aunuku scored, courtesy of a blistering run by Will Jordan.<\/p>\n

In the first quarter, the Blues made five handling errors and only improved marginally as the half time break approached.<\/p>\n

Two penalties apiece took the score out to 18-3 before Jordan scored one of his own, finding a gap in the Blues defence after a lengthy phase play on the try line, the score 25-3.<\/p>\n

\"Fantastic<\/p>\n

Not helping their error-prone start was ill-discipline and the yellow was drawn in the 38th minute when Hoskins Sotutu entered the maul from the side.<\/p>\n

The Crusaders pounced almost immediately as Cody Taylor drove over the line off the back of another line-out maul \u2013 the score 32-3 at the break, four tries to none.<\/p>\n

After scoring his 12th try of the season earlier, Fainga'anuka made it 13 with arguably his best of the year in the 48th minute.<\/p>\n

Off the back of a line-out on halfway, the winger burst through multiple Blues defenders.<\/p>\n

\"Barrett<\/p>\n

Finally, after 58 minutes, Beuaden Barrett scored the first Blues try \u2013 but that went unconverted, the score 39-8.<\/p>\n

Another penalty followed and then in the 71st minute Richie Mo'unga enjoyed a blistering run before offloading it to Fergus Blakes, who scored in the corner.<\/p>\n

With the conversion, that made it 49-8. Another penalty followed to rack up the half-century, making it 52-8.<\/p>\n

A consolation try came at the death when Caleb Clarke put the pill down in the corner at full-time \u2013 the final score 52-15.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1669629723624845312<\/a><\/p>\n

The Crusaders will wait to see the result of the other semi-final, which will decide where the final is held.<\/p>\n

Should the Chiefs beat the Brumbies, the Chiefs will host the final. However, if the Brumbies get up, it'll be the Crusaders that host the decider.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs host the Brumbies in Hamilton on Saturday \ufeffwith coverage live and ad-free on Stan Sport from 4:30pm.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Crusaders are into the Super Rugby Pacific final after a dominant display at home that left the Blues bumbling in arguably their worst performance […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":308715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308711"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=308711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308723,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308711\/revisions\/308723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/308715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=308711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=308711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=308711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}