Updated at 14.51
THE CANTERBURY Crusaders and Waikato Chiefs gained revenge for shock defeats earlier in the Super Rugby Pacific season as the competition’s two highest qualifiers booked home semi-finals on Saturday.
The brutally efficient Crusaders hammered the Fijian Drua 49-8 in their quarter-final in Christchurch to set up an all-New Zealand semi-final against the Auckland Blues next week.
The top-qualifying Chiefs had to work harder in their quarter-final against the Queensland Reds in Hamilton, only pulling clear in the dying minutes to win 29-20 and line up a final-four showdown against either the ACT Brumbies or Wellington Hurricanes.
Both wins had a tinge of retribution about them.
The Chiefs’ only loss of the regular season came four weeks ago against the Reds while the second-ranked Crusaders were stunned by the Drua in Lautoka in round three.
A Crusaders side chasing a seventh-successive title under Scott Robertson ensured there would be no repeat, scoring the first three of their seven tries inside the opening 14 minutes.
It was exactly the start captain Scott Barrett had asked for.
“The Fijian Drua boys got one over us earlier in the season but I think we played our pressure game,” Barrett said.
“We started really well, we didn’t really give them a sniff until late in the first half.”
Hooker Cody Taylor crossed twice against an outclassed Drua, who were making history as the first Pacific-Island-based side to contest a Super Rugby knockout match.
Winger Selestino Ravutaumada scored from an intercept late in the first half but could not match a Crusaders side whose night was only spoiled by more potential injury problems.
Of concern was All Blacks flyhalf Richie Mo’unga limping from the field in the closing stages with a leg complaint.
Earlier, the man who is challenging for Mo’unga’s Test No.10 jersey, Damian McKenzie, was a match-winner with the boot for the Chiefs.
McKenzie landed all his seven shots at goal in a 19-point performance, denying the Reds the chance to become the first Australian side to win a finals match on New Zealand soil.
The eighth-ranked qualifiers threatened an enormous boilover when they went 20-19 ahead entering the final quarter, after winger Suliasi Vunivalu crossed for his second try.
However, the Chiefs held their nerve, reclaiming the lead through McKenzie’s fifth penalty after a try to No.8 Pita Gus Sowakula with four minutes remaining.
Chiefs co-captain Sam Cane said his side were pushed to the limit.
“It was an arm wrestle, we had to grind it out, but I’m proud of the way we kept our composure,” he said.
The Reds scored three tries to two but their flyhalf Tom Lynagh landed just two of his five shots, with McKenzie’s accuracy proving decisive as he lifted his competition-leading season tally of points to 167.
The visitors matched the Chiefs’ vaunted physicality early on and opened up a 10-9 lead late in the first spell through tries to Vunivalu and Harry Wilson.
The match marks the end of a six-year tenure for Reds coach Brad Thorn, with the former All Blacks forward and Australian rugby league international announcing in April he would be standing down.
