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Blues vs Crusaders takes: Blues season on it's last legs, Penney proved right
By Henry Lee at Eden Park, Auckland
The Blues’ season has gone from bad to worse, falling to yet another defeat, this time at the hands of famous rivals, the Crusaders.
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There were All Blacks all across the park for both teams, but the non-capped players stood out the most, including impressive performances from Crusaders hooker Ioane Moananu, wing Chay Fihaki and Blues midfielder Xavi Taele.
The Crusaders have now won 33 games against the Blues in their storied history, the most any team has against a single team in the history of the competition.
Here are five takeaways from the Crusaders’ 42-19 victory over the Blues.
That could be all she wrote for the Blues
The Blues lost two games during the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season, they have now lost five in the space of six rounds in 2025.
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It’s not pretty viewing for the Aucklanders and it seems like every game this season has been a nailbiter, yet they haven’t been able to get over the line.
The sixth-placed team in last year’s playoffs finished with eight losses after the regular season and the way the Blues are heading, it’s not a bold take to believe they will lose more than that.
This season may be much closer in terms of the table, but as the Blues still have to play the Hurricanes and Crusaders again, as well as three more Australian sides, they will have to significantly improve their performances to avoid falling to eight losses, or more.
Multi-talented hooker takes NZ derby by storm
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A late withdrawal to All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor saw Ioane Moananu come into the starting side, which didn’t give the Crusaders any less power, strength or quality.
Moananu bizarrely kicked twice in the game, with two very handy in-play kicks hitting the Eden Park turf.
Moananu wasn’t perfect from the lineout but added enough power in the scrum to dominate the Blues scrum, winning several important set-piece penalties.
Not only was the 24-year-old a menace with ball in hand, but his two turnovers at breakdown also proved crucial in stopping any Blues’ attacking momentum.
You get the feeling it won’t be the last Moananu performance to remember.
Penney’s benching masterstroke
Not many would have predicted that five-try hero from last weekend, Macca Springer, would find himself on the bench for the round six encounter against the Blues, but Rob Penney’s decision worked a treat.
Chay Fihaki started the match with a couple of solid carries, before striding away through a huge gap in the Blues defence to score in the 12th minute. Fihaki then backed that up with a nice defensive shut on Hoskins Sotutu, pushing him backward towards his own line.
Fihaki’s long-range banana kick exit from his own 22 in the 27th minute was outstanding, keeping the Blues frustrated in their own end.
The Crusaders winger didn’t take long to make an impact in the second half, diving over the line in the corner to score within 60 seconds.
Should Vern Cotter be receiving the 2024 Rob Penney treatment?
The Crusaders’ season in 2024 went completely pear-shaped after a title in 2023, and likewise, the Blues’s season couldn’t have started much worse in 2025, after their title win last year.
Should Vern Cotter be copping some of the heat about his side’s poor form this season, like Penney received last year? The Crusaders squad was decimated with injuries last year that set them back, around the same number of injuries the Blues have had this year.
Maybe this season has just been unlucky for the Blues given that their multiple close matchups, decided by less than five points, could easily have seen them in a much higher spot than they are currently.
But the Blues coaching staff, including Cotter, have clearly got some things wrong in 2025, decisions that they would have got right last year. If you remember the Highlanders game in Dunedin, the Blues had a one-man advantage with less than 15 minutes to go. The Blues’ leaders on the pitch decided on a lineout, even though the under-manned Highlanders would have had to pack all eight players in the golden oldies scrum, leaving them two players short out wide. Cotter left his players to make the decision.
Saturday evening’s blame can’t solely be on Cotter, but maybe his decisions are in need of more scrutiny.
Defence wins championships, or loses them
The Crusaders’ long Super Rugby winning dynasty was built off hard-nosed, disciplined defence, keeping teams to low scores, winning games and championships through it.
In last season’s Blues Super Rugby triumph, Cotter’s side did exactly that, defending their way to a grand final victory over the Chiefs.
Saturday’s round-six Crusaders victory was exactly what we’ve seen from the Christchurch-based side over many years, not only keeping the Blues to under 20 points but limiting the chances for the home side to score points.
The Blues leaked 42 points on the night, failing to string together any defensive momentum to stop the Crusaders.
Cotter’s side is yet to keep a team under 20 points in a game this season, something they did eleven times during the 2024 season.
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I thought it was a mistake to start Chay Fihaki over Macca Springer after Springer’s 5 try performance. Fihaki played very well as did Springer when he came on in the second half. Both have very good kicking games for wings in addition to pace.
Chay Fihaki and Ioane Moananu as stated were impressive. After Macca Springers performance the week before, Chay really answered . Scoring a great try and all round game. Ioane Moananu has blossomed this year for the Crusaders , coming off the bench and starting.
“every game this season has been a nailbiter”
for some as yet unrevealed new definition of nailbiter. coach killer, perhaps? No concept of ball retention, tactical kicking skills that sink to a new low; what happened to the hard-nosed forward-driven side that we lauded last year?
👍🏼