A long season brings Chiefs, Crusaders together in long-anticipated final

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — After 17 weeks Super Rugby Pacific has produced a final that was anticipated from the opening weeks of the season, between the top-ranked Chiefs and the defending champion Crusaders.

The season has had its twists and turns and both teams have had ups and downs but their progress towards Saturday’s final has seemed inexorable.

The Chiefs were 13-1 in the regular season to earn top seeding in the playoffs and the Crusaders were 10-4 and second seeds.

The Crusaders progress through the quarter and semifinals was imperious: they beat the Fijian Drua 49-8 and the Auckland-based Blues 51-12 in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The Chiefs were more hard-pressed, edging the Queensland Reds 29-20 in a quarterfinal and the ACT Brumbies 19-6 in a tight semifinal on Saturday.

Once again it is an all-New Zealand final, which might be enough to ramp up tension between the trans-Tasman rivals who haven’t been able for some time to see eye to eye on Super Rugby and its future.

The final also will have its sub-plots, notably that it will be Scott Robertson’s last match in charge of the Crusaders before he steps down in anticipation of becoming the All Blacks’ head coach after this year’s World Cup.

Robertson became Crusaders coach in 2017 after they had gone eight years without a title and has led them to championships in every season since, becoming the most decorated head coach in the tournament’s history. He needs one more win to sign off in style while the Chiefs are seeking their first title in 10 years.

Robertson’s over-sized personality has been a feature of his era as Crusaders coach: his heart-on-sleeve reactions and expressions in the coaches’ box during matches, to his break dancing celebrations of championship victories.

He faced the semifinal against the Blues, knowing it might be his last match in charge of the 11-time champions. But the Crusaders scored two early tries and led 15-0 after 11 minutes, allowing Robertson to relax and enjoy his last match in front of the Crusaders’ home crowd in Christchurch.

“I actually was a little bit nervous beforehand,” Robertson said. “Potentially your final game.

“It’s a final, you don’t always get a fairy tale ending. I was a little bit nervous but after the first 20 I was like ‘oh, here we go. We’re on’.”

Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan wasn’t able to breathe easy until the 77th minute when lock Brodie Retallick scored the only try of their semifinal against the Brumbies and made their win certain.

There were only penalties in the match until that moment: the Chiefs led 6-3 at halftime and 12-6 before Retallick’s try. The match was played in wet and slippery conditions and saw massive defensive efforts from both sides.

Having watched the Crusaders crush the Blues before his team’s semi, McMillan already had began to devise a plan with his assistants to cope with the Crusaders if the Chiefs reached the final.

Then, he said, he “just sat back and hoped like hell that we were going to actually get a chance to put it into place.

“We’ve had two tough games (against the Reds and Brumbies) and I’d be lying if I sat here and said I wouldn’t have loved it to have been a little bit easier on my heart.

“But we’re just getting the job done and at this stage of the season there’s no bonus points. It’s irrelevant how big the scoreline is, it’s just about being at the right end of that scoreline at the end of the game.”

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