Lions, Crusaders triumph to set up final showdown

JOHANNESBURG: Super Rugby history will be created when Golden Lions and Canterbury Crusaders contest the 2018 final next weekend, the first time the same sides have contested successive title deciders.

The New Zealanders won 25-17 in South Africa last season and will be favoured to lift the trophy again, given their outstanding form, tradition and having home advantage in Christchurch.

Crusaders have won 16 of 18 league and knockout matches this year, and have never lost a play-offs match at home with the 30-12 semi-final win over Wellington Hurricanes Saturday their 20th straight success.

Lions also had an 18-point semi-finals winning margin, coming from 14 points behind to defeat the NSW Waratahs 44-26 in Johannesburg and reach a third consecutive final.

“We have a chance,” insisted Lions skipper Warren Whiteley as he looked forward to what many will consider a “mission impossible” — overcoming the Crusaders in their fortress.

“It is a massive opportunity for us,” said the back-row forward who missed the final losses away to the Hurricances and at home to the Crusaders through injuries. “Christchurch is a great place to go for a rugby match and we will be up against a great Crusaders team.”

Waratahs skipper Bernard Foley accepted that the better team won, calling the Lions’ performance “exceptional. “It was tough being reduced to 14 men for 10 minutes during the second half,” he said, referring to the sin-binning of substitute hooker Damien Fitzpatrick. While the Australian was off the pitch, the Lions scored 12 unanswered points, stretching a narrow advantage to a 34-22 lead.

Jake Gordon offered the Sydney outfit a glimmer of hope when he scored four minutes from time and Foley converted to trim the deficit to 11 points.

But Courtall Skosan scored three minutes later off a cross-field kick from Elton Jantjies to wrap up victory for the Lions.

Ned Hanigan and Israel Folau scored in a whirlwind start by the Waratahs, who were level 19-19 at half-time before gradually fading in the second half. Crusaders charged into their 13th final with a comprehensive victory over the Hurricanes in Christchurch. The platform was set by the All Blacks-laden pack who drove relentlessly into the Hurricanes, allowing fly-half Richie Mo’unga the time and space to dictate play.

In a match billed as the final before the final, with the conference format putting the top two teams from the regular season this year on the same side of the play-off draw, the Crusaders struck early and never fell behind. The eight times champions enjoyed 54 percent of possession, forcing the Hurricanes to make 134 tackles and miss 31 more.

Their ability to launch a long-range counter from turnover ball, and to score either side of half-time, proved crucial as they built an 18-7 lead by the break and immediately moved to 25-7 after the resumption. Captain Sam Whitelock said the Crusaders fed off the direction given by Mo’unga and a passionate defence.

“Richie’s done it all year. He’s pretty quick over those first couple of steps and is hard to keep up with.

“And defence reveals what the team means to you and the boys worked hard for each other.”

Hurricanes skipper Brad Shields, playing his last game before heading to England, said the turnover proved costly.

“You’ve got to build phases down the right end of the field and a couple of times we let them off the hook pretty easy and turned around and they scored pretty easy.”

Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd said before the match that the result would be determined by the forwards and that’s how it turned out with the Crusaders turning on a merciless display.