The Crusaders christened One NZ Stadium with a 35–20 victory over the NSW Waratahs in front of a sold-out crowd of 25,237, with late call-up Dallas McLeod scoring twice and Leicester Fainga’anuku delivering a compelling audition at openside flanker on a milestone night for the Garden City.
Key moments
4 mins – PENALTY WARATAHS: Sid Harvey opens the scoring at the new stadium, slotting from 38 metres after Leicester Fainga’anuku is penalised at the breakdown. (Crusaders 0–3 Waratahs)
10 mins – PENALTY WARATAHS: Harvey makes it two from two, sneaking a kick inside the left upright from 30 metres after Braydon Ennor is caught offside. (Crusaders 0–6 Waratahs)
12 mins – TRY CRUSADERS: A lineout drive brings a penalty advantage and Noah Hotham snipes to within five metres. The ball is shifted quickly right, with Johnny McNicholl finding space and sending Dallas McLeod over in the corner. Taha Kemara converts from the sideline. (Crusaders 7–6 Waratahs)
30 mins – YELLOW CARD WARATAHS: Miles Amatosero is shown yellow for preventing Noah Hotham from taking a quick tap penalty, sparking a mass scuffle between both sets of forwards.
33 mins – TRY DISALLOWED CRUSADERS: Dallas McLeod appears to waltz through a huge hole from the back of a scrum, but replays show David Havili obstructed Jack Debreczeni to create the gap. Penalty reversed.
35 mins – TRY WARATAHS: Against the run of play and down to 14, the Waratahs strike through the backline. Max Jorgensen throws a miraculous offload as he goes over the touchline to send Joey Walton bursting into the 22. Jack Debreczeni then delivers an inch-perfect cross-kick for Sid Harvey to claim and score on the left wing. Harvey converts his own try. (Crusaders 7–13 Waratahs)
40 mins – TRY CRUSADERS: Dom Gardiner wins the lineout and the Crusaders maul rumbles forward. Codie Taylor controls the ball at the back and is driven over the line on the stroke of half-time. Kemara converts. (Crusaders 14–13 Waratahs)
Half-time: Crusaders 14–13 Waratahs. An entertaining opening in front of a sold-out crowd at Te Kaha. The Waratahs led through Harvey’s boot and his superb try against the grain, but the Crusaders’ set piece — particularly their dominant scrum — kept them in it, with Taylor’s maul try handing them the lead at the break. Jake Gordon and Debreczeni controlled territory well for the visitors, while Fainga’anuku showed early promise at flanker with his carrying.
49 mins – YELLOW CARD WARATAHS: Ioane Moananu is sent to the bin within a minute of coming on as a replacement, penalised for illegally hunting a turnover after repeated team infringements on the Crusaders’ line.
50 mins – TRY CRUSADERS: The Crusaders’ forwards hammer away from the lineout drive. Leicester Fainga’anuku picks from the base of the ruck and powers over from close range, carrying capped Wallabies Matt Philip and Pete Samu with him. Kemara converts. (Crusaders 21–13 Waratahs)
56 mins – TRY CRUSADERS: Brilliant counter-attack from deep. Taha Kemara spots a chance and fires a cross-kick from inside his own half to Dom Gardiner, who gallops forward with the ball in two hands before throwing a perfectly weighted pass to send Dallas McLeod racing away for his second try. Kemara converts. (Crusaders 28–13 Waratahs)
59 mins – YELLOW CARD CRUSADERS: David Havili is shown yellow for shoulder-to-head contact on Max Jorgensen, who leaves the field for a head injury assessment. Jorgensen later passes his HIA and returns.
65 mins – TRY WARATAHS: Teddy Wilson spots George Bell retreating in an offside position and uses him as a shield, bursting through the gap and beating the last defender to score left of the posts. Harvey converts. (Crusaders 28–20 Waratahs)
68 mins – TRY CRUSADERS: An immediate response. Leicester Fainga’anuku and Johnny McNicholl combine to put Macca Springer into space, and the winger runs a superb line to slice through from 25 metres and dive over untouched. Rivez Reihana converts. (Crusaders 35–20 Waratahs)
75 mins – TRY DISALLOWED CRUSADERS: David Havili appears to burst through for a try from the back of a Leicester Fainga’anuku carry, but the TMO rules Johnny Lee grabbed a defender to prevent him making the tackle. Penalty reversed.
Full-time: Crusaders 35–20 Waratahs
Match report
A new era — and a much-needed Crusaders victory. Fifteen years after the Canterbury earthquakes left Lancaster Park in rubble, Christchurch finally has a permanent home for professional rugby again, and the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions gave their sold-out crowd of 25,237 every reason to celebrate on the opening night of Super Round. It was far from flawless, but five tries to two was emphatic enough to matter, and a bonus-point win moved the Crusaders to 5–5 and level on points with the fourth-placed Brumbies heading into a pivotal ANZAC Day.
The result also carried historical weight. The Crusaders had lost to the Brumbies, Force and Reds already this season, meaning a defeat to the Waratahs would have completed an unwanted clean sweep of losses to Australian opposition for the first time in the franchise’s history. That did not happen, although it took longer than the locals would have liked to put the visitors away.
The Waratahs took some of the air out of the occasion early. Jake Gordon’s quick tap from a free kick caught the hosts off guard and led to a Fainga’anuku breakdown penalty, which Harvey slotted from distance. He added another soon after when Ennor crept offside, and at 6–0 inside ten minutes the sold-out crowd was noticeably restless. The Crusaders were generating width and tempo in attack — McLeod, Hotham and Springer all made ground through the opening exchanges — but handling errors and a combative Waratahs defence denied them until McLeod crossed in the 12th minute, taking a pass from McNicholl after Hotham’s snipe had brought the advantage.
The middle third of the first half descended into an arm-wrestle, with both sides struggling to complete their passages. Gordon and Debreczeni controlled territory with their kicking game, and twice the Waratahs scrambled to deny the Crusaders inside the 22. The frustration boiled over on the half-hour mark when Amatosero prevented Hotham from taking a quick tap, triggering a mass scuffle that drew players from everywhere. Amatosero was the only man carded, but it set the tone for what became an increasingly niggly affair — three yellow cards were shown across the 80 minutes.
McLeod thought he had a second try soon after, cutting through a gaping hole off the back of a scrum, but the TMO correctly identified Havili running an obstructive line on Debreczeni. Instead it was the Waratahs who struck next — and it was magnificent. Gordon sent two box kicks high from the base of the ruck, both of which were regathered by his side, before Debreczeni delivered the telling blow with an inch-perfect cross-kick to the left wing. Harvey climbed, claimed and scored, and suddenly the visitors led 13–7 with a man down.
The Crusaders needed something before the break and their forwards delivered. After winning a penalty for hands in the ruck, Kemara found touch six metres from the corner flag. Gardiner took the lineout, the maul built irresistible momentum, and Taylor was driven over the whitewash right on the stroke of half-time. Kemara’s conversion gave the hosts a 14–13 lead at the interval.
The second half belonged almost entirely to the Crusaders. Former Crusader Moananu lasted barely a minute after coming on as a replacement hooker before being sent to the bin for illegally competing at the ruck, and the hosts made the numerical advantage count immediately. From the ensuing lineout, Taylor drove towards the line before Fainga’anuku picked from the base of the ruck and powered through the tackles of Philip and Samu to crash over. It was the moment that validated Rob Penney’s boldest selection call of the season — the All Blacks utility had carried with venom all night, posted team-high running metres in the first half, and now had the try to show for it.
The best was still to come. With the Waratahs throwing numbers into the lineout, Kemara spotted a chance and fired a flat cross-kick from inside his own half. Gardiner gathered on the chest, galloped forward with the ball in two hands, and threw a sublime outside pass to send McLeod sprinting away untouched for his second. It was try of the night, and it pushed the lead to 28–13.
Havili’s yellow card for a high shot on Jorgensen — shoulder meeting the fullback’s forehead as he came to ground — gave the Waratahs a lifeline, and Wilson took it smartly. The replacement halfback spotted Bell retreating in an offside position, used him as a shield, and wriggled through the gap to make it 28–20 with 15 minutes remaining. But any notion of a repeat of the Force’s comeback in Perth the previous weekend was extinguished within three minutes. Fainga’anuku and McNicholl combined to put Springer into space, and the returning winger ran a beautiful line to slice through from 25 metres. Reihana’s conversion made it 35–20 and the stadium could breathe easy.
Dom Gardiner was arguably the best player on the park, his lineout work, carrying and that extraordinary pass for McLeod’s second try the hallmarks of a complete loose-forward performance. Fainga’anuku’s debut at openside was the talking point, but Gardiner was the engine. In the backs, McLeod seized his opportunity after Reece’s late withdrawal, while Hotham’s tempo from the base kept the Waratahs defence under constant pressure.
For the Waratahs, Angus Scott-Young and Pete Samu battled mightily in the pack, and the back three of Harvey, Kellaway and Jorgensen posed a constant counter-attacking threat. But two yellow cards — Amatosero’s for the quick-tap incident and Moananu’s within seconds of entering the field — proved decisive. Discipline and a lack of time in good field position ultimately cost them.
The Crusaders still have work to do. They remain in the top six but have the Hurricanes (twice), Blues and Chiefs still to come in the run home. Rob Penney will know his side need to be sharper than they were at times tonight, but this was a night about more than just the rugby. Christchurch has waited 15 years for this stadium. The Crusaders gave the city a result to match the occasion.
Match details
Crusaders 35 (Tries: Dallas McLeod 12′, 56′, Codie Taylor 40′, Leicester Fainga’anuku 50′, Macca Springer 68′; Conversions: Taha Kemara 4/4, Rivez Reihana 1/1)
Waratahs 20 (Tries: Sid Harvey 35′, Teddy Wilson 65′; Conversions: Sid Harvey 2/2; Penalties: Sid Harvey 2/2)
Half-time: 14–13
Yellow cards: Miles Amatosero 30′ (preventing quick tap), Ioane Moananu 49′ (repeated team infringements), David Havili 59′ (shoulder to head)
Attendance: 25,237
Venue: One NZ Stadium, Christchurch
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Damon Murphy
TMO: Brett Cronan
Teams
Crusaders: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Dallas McLeod, 13 Braydon Ennor, 12 David Havili (c), 11 Macca Springer, 10 Taha Kemara, 9 Noah Hotham, 8 Christian Lio-Willie, 7 Leicester Fainga’anuku, 6 Dom Gardiner, 5 Tahlor Cahill, 4 Antonio Shalfoon, 3 Fletcher Newell, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Finlay Brewis.
Replacements: 16 George Bell, 17 George Bower, 18 Seb Calder, 19 Jamie Hannah, 20 Johnny Lee, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Rivez Reihana, 23 Maloni Kunawave.
Waratahs: 15 Max Jorgensen, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joey Walton, 12 Lawson Creighton, 11 Sid Harvey, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Pete Samu, 7 Charlie Gamble, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Miles Amatosero, 4 Matt Philip (c), 3 Siosifa Amone, 2 Folau Fainga’a, 1 Isaac Kailea.
Replacements: 16 Ioane Moananu, 17 Tom Lambert, 18 Dan Botha, 19 Angus Blyth, 20 Clem Halaholo, 21 Jamie Adamson, 22 Teddy Wilson, 23 Triston Reilly.
What’s next
The Crusaders remain in Christchurch for the remainder of Super Round, with the Blues their next opponents in Round 13 back at One NZ Stadium. The Waratahs have the bye in Round 12 before hosting the Reds at Allianz Stadium.
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