{"id":311341,"date":"2023-06-24T00:36:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T00:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=311341"},"modified":"2023-06-24T00:59:08","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T00:59:08","slug":"why-crusaders-have-edge-over-chiefs-in-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=311341","title":{"rendered":"Why Crusaders have edge over Chiefs in final"},"content":{"rendered":"

In all its match-ups this season, the Chiefs<\/a> have lost just once.<\/p>\n

Yet, the Crusaders<\/a> are being tipped to topple the hosts of this year's Super Rugby Pacific final.<\/p>\n

Former Wallabies James Horwill and Stephen Hoiles have backed the Scott Robertson-led team to beat Clayton McMillan's men in Hamilton.<\/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

\"Braydon<\/p>\n

From 14 regular season rounds, the Crusaders lost four matches \u2013 twice to the Chiefs, and once each to the Fijian Drua and Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

The Chiefs, meanwhile, only succumbed to the Reds in a thrilling three-point loss.<\/p>\n

It's been an intriguing finals series to date. The Chiefs faced the Reds in a close contest, coming from behind to win their quarter-final 29-20 before a 19-6 win over the Brumbies.<\/p>\n

The Crusaders have had a relatively cruisy run through, demolishing the Fijian Drua 49-8 and then the Blues 52-15.<\/p>\n

Although the Chiefs have been the most successful side in 2023, the Crusaders have momentum firmly on their side, according to Horwill and Hoiles.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Queensland's baby': Gould's grim Origin admission<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie superstar falls one run short of Ashes ton<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Fittler reveals shocking reason for Luai's 4am post<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1672062057468796928<\/a><\/p>\n

"I think the Crusaders pip them, just," said Horwill on Stan Sport's Rugby Heaven<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I think they take in a lot of confidence. They've been playing very well the last two weeks and I'm interested to see whether the last two games have taken it out of the Chiefs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think the Crusaders, the last two weeks, probably have been on a bit of a canter. They've probably got a little bit more petrol in the tank, so I'm tipping the Crusaders, but only just."\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hoiles added, "I'm going to go the Crusaders as well, simply because you just can't tip against the Crusaders in a game like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Last week was the one that swung me massively. The Chiefs have been the best side all year.<\/p>\n

"The Crusaders had a slow start, but this is very much a typical Crusaders late run, a dominant side in the last 10 weeks. It'll be a helluva game, but I'm going Crusaders."<\/p>\n

\"Fantastic<\/p>\n

The Crusaders have scored more than 20 points in all but two matches this season.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, the Crusaders average 34.8 points per game while the Chiefs average 33.4 to date.<\/p>\n

Just as fascinating is the points conceded with the Crusaders letting in more points than the Chiefs \u2013 18.8 versus 17.9.<\/p>\n

In the quarter-final and semi-finals, the Crusaders have amassed 101 points while the Chiefs have 48 to their credit.\ufeff<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Sean Maloney, Morgan Turinui and Stephen Hoiles work out where the Brumbies came unstuck, hand out some awards and preview the final between the Chiefs and Crusaders<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/between-two-posts-1\/awards-night-the-last-dance\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

The Chiefs, defensively, have the edge over the Crusaders in Morgan Turinui's eyes.<\/p>\n

"I love the best defensive team in the comp \u2013 that's why I'm going with the Chiefs," he said.<\/p>\n

"Some of their defensive performances this year, including against the Crusaders, have been excellent. I think that might be enough to get them up by four."<\/p>\n

In their two contests this year, the Chiefs beat the Crusaders 31-10 in the season opener in Christchurch and 34-24 at their Hamilton home.<\/p>\n

Coverage of the Super Rugby Pacific final is live and ad-free on Stan Sport or free-to-air on 9Gem from 4.30pm (AEST).<\/p>\n

\"Chiefs<\/p>\n

CHIEFS IN SUPER RUGBY FINALS<\/strong><\/p>\n

APPEARANCES: 4 (2 won\/2 lost)<\/p>\n

FIRST TITLE: 2012, defeated Sharks\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffMOST RECENT TITLE: 2013, defeated Brumbies<\/p>\n

CRUSADERS IN SUPER RUGBY FINALS\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

APPEARANCES: 16 (11\ufeff won\/5 lost)<\/p>\n

FIRST TITLE: 1998, defeated Blues<\/p>\n

MOST RECENT TITLE: 2022, defeated Blues\ufeff<\/p>\n

CHIEFS (15-1):<\/strong> Shaun Stevenson, Emoni Narawa, Alex Nankivell, Anton Lienert-Brown, Etene Nanai-Seturo, Damian McKenzie, Brad Weber (co-c), Luke Jacobson, Sam Cane (co-c), Pita Gus Sowakula, Tupou Vaa'i, Brodie Retallick, George Dyer, Samisoni Taukei'aho, Aidan Ross<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Tyrone Thompson, Ollie Norris, John Ryan, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Samipeni Finau, Cortez Ratima, Josh Ioane, Rameka Poihipi<\/p>\n

CRUSADERS (15-1):<\/strong> Will Jordan, Dallas McLeod, Braydon Ennor, Jack Goodhue, Leicester Fainga'anuku, Richie Mo'unga, Mitch Drummond, Christian Lio-Willie, Tom Christie, Sione Havili Talitui, Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett (c), Oli Jager, Codie Taylor, Tamaiti Williams<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> George Bell, Kershawl Sykes-Martin, Reuben O'Neill, Quinten Strange, Dom Gardiner, Willi Heinz, Fergus Burke, Chay Fihaki<\/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><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In all its match-ups this season, the Chiefs have lost just once. Yet, the Crusaders are being tipped to topple the hosts of this year's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311346,"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\/311341"}],"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=311341"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311350,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311341\/revisions\/311350"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/311346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=311341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=311341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=311341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}