Chiefs crush Crusaders 49-12 to storm into Super Rugby final

The Chiefs did not just beat the Crusaders in Hamilton. They blew them off the park, running out 49-12 winners in a brutal semi-final statement at FMG Stadium Waikato.

After years of playoff pain, final heartbreak and big-game questions, the Chiefs delivered their most complete performance of the season to book another shot at the Super Rugby title.

Jamie Wall was in Hamilton for DSPN as the Chiefs produced a first half that bordered on ridiculous. Everything stuck. Every bounce seemed to land in a Chiefs hand. Every Crusaders error was punished. By halftime, the damage was done.

Jono Gibbes called it clinical.

“First half, I thought we were on, clinical,” Gibbes said afterwards. “Any mistake we pounced, we were ready, all on the same page.”

But for all the noise around the 49 points, Gibbes was just as proud of the 12.

The Chiefs spent long stretches of the second half defending. The Crusaders had ball, territory and moments, but could not break the game back open.

“That was a testament to the grit in the group, the will and the collective effort,” Gibbes said.

Tupou Vaa’i summed up the mood in the Chiefs camp perfectly.

“It was bloody awesome,” he said. “To score 40-odd points in that first half was amazing. Not just for us, but for the fans as well. It shows how dangerous we can be if we nail the basics and do what we’ve been doing all year.”

This was a win with history attached. The Crusaders had beaten the Chiefs twice in the round robin. But the Chiefs got them in the one that mattered.

Gibbes pointed to an internal moment after the loss in Christchurch, when Luke Jacobson spoke to the group about what had been learned and what could be carried into the playoffs.

“We won the game that mattered against the Crusaders,” Gibbes said. “We lost two of the round-robin games, and we managed to get on the right side of the game that was knockout.”

For the Crusaders, it was a brutal end to the season and to Rob Penney’s time in charge.

Penney was generous in defeat.

“The Chiefs were magnificent in that first 30,” he said. “We probably primed them a bit with a few uncharacteristic errors, but I’m so proud of the way the boys turned it around after halftime and showed the character and grit that you’d expect.”

David Havili said the Crusaders simply could not handle the opening storm.

“I don’t think we fell off,” Havili said. “It was just the Chiefs brought an intensity that we couldn’t handle in that first 15 minutes. They put points on us early.”

Havili also paid tribute to Penney, calling him “the glue for our franchise” and “one of the best coaches I’ve been under.”

For Jamie Wall and Nigel Yalden, the reaction afterwards told the story of two very different changing rooms.

Jamie felt Tupou Vaa’i looked like a man who knew the job was not finished. A huge semi-final win, yes. But after three straight trips to this stage of the season, the Chiefs are chasing the one thing still missing.

Nigel said the Chiefs may have found the ideal final preparation.

“You had that really clinical opening 40 minutes where everything did stick,” Yalden said. “Then having to grind in the second half. They didn’t have a lot of ball. They were in their own half for a lot of that, and only conceded seven points.”

The big concern now is the casualty ward.

Luke Jacobson, Quinn Tupaea and Isaac Hutchinson all left the Chiefs with worries ahead of the final, while Wallace Sititi is also unlikely to be available. Nigel said Jacobson and Tupaea in particular would be massive losses.

“Luke Jacobson, that’s massive. That’s the leader,” Yalden said. “When you look at Quinn Tupaea, everything starts with him. A lot of what they do is on the back of those really good thrusts from the guy at 12.”

So can the Chiefs finally break the curse?

Nigel is giving them a chance. But he warned a likely trip to Wellington to face the Hurricanes would be a massive challenge.

“Based on what I saw tonight, they’re a chance,” he said. “But going down and playing the Hurricanes in Wellington is going to be a heck of a challenge.”

Still, this was the night the Chiefs finally got the Crusaders when it counted.

Not this time.