Johnny McNicholl hat-trick powers Crusaders to emphatic victory over bumbling Blues
Saturday, 6 June 2026
At One New Zealand Stadium, Christchurch: Crusaders 52 (Sevu Reece try 12min, Johnny McNicholl tries 21 min, 50 min, 63min, David Havili try 29min, Chay Fihaki try 32min, Taha Kemara try 37min, Manumau Letiu try 74min; Kemara 5 con, Rivez Reihana con) Blues 31 (Sam Nock try 2min, Anton Segner try 26min, Xavi Taele try 54min, Payton Spencer try 69min, Caleb Clarke try 77min; Zarn Sullivan 3 con). HT: 33-14
Red card: Malachi Wrampling 18min (Blues)
Death, taxes and the Crusaders winning home playoff fixtures.
The defending champions dished up a 52-31 shellacking of the Blues in their qualifying final in Christchurch on Saturday afternoon.
It powered the red and blacks into next week’s semifinals - they will face the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday night - and improved their home playoff record to 33-0.
The Blues, who had No 8 Malachi Wrampling red carded for a dangerous tackle, have been on the wrong end of two of those in as many years, and have now lost 24 of the last 27 fixtures between the franchises.
More concerning is the fact they’ve bumbled to four straight defeats ahead of next Saturday’s semifinal against the high-flying Hurricanes.
Indeed, like it or not, the good news for Vern Cotter’s troops is their season isn’t over.
They’ll still feature in next week’s semifinals as the ‘Lucky Loser’, after the second-seeded Chiefs did them a favour and beat the Reds in Hamilton on Saturday night.
Regardless, it’s hard to see them going to Wellington and beating the top-seeded Hurricanes.
On the other hand, with fullback Johnny McNicholl running in a hat-trick, the Crusaders have won four straight and are humming along, giving them a ton of momentum as they hunt a ninth title in 10 years.
Captain David Havili continued his sparkling form on a night the Blues opened the scoring inside two minutes, only for Wrampling’s sending off to bite.
His day was over after he rocked Leicester Fainga’anuku with a tackle, almost bending the loose forward in half with a ferocious hit in the 18th minute.
The problem was he didn’t get it right, making direct shoulder-to-head contact deep inside the Blues’ half.
The off-field review didn’t take long. Referee Nic Berry was soon telling Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu the yellow card was being upgraded to a 20-minute red card - much to the delight of the majority of the 25,000 punters.
Locked at 7-7, the Crusaders promptly took advantage of the numerical advantage through McNicholl, who dotted down under the sticks courtesy of a cracking Christian Lio-Willie offload.
However, the Blues appeared galvanised after the strike, rolling up their sleeves and stringing together nearly 30 phases before loose forward Anton Segner, a former member of the Crusaders’ academy, touched down.
It was game on, albeit not for long.
The Crusaders knocked the stuffing out of the Blues with three tries in eight minutes to roar to a 33-14 lead at the break.
Havili, who has flashed career best form in recent weeks, bagged one of them with a powerful surge, although the Blues will look at the replay and rue their weak tackling.
It was a theme of the match - the visitors falling off tackles, 33 in total, against a team oozing with confidence - even with gun fullback Will Jordan and a couple of other big names wiped out for the year.
Havili was at it again shortly after halftime, breaking out from inside his own half and shaking off Tuipulotu and fending off Segner, before putting McNicholl in for his second.
The 35-year-old completed his hat-trick in the 63rd minute, finishing off a slick move as the hosts cruised to a fifth straight win in their new stadium.
Not that they were done just yet.
Reserve hooker Manumau Letiu crashed over on the back of a rolling maul for the Crusaders’ eighth of the night, a dagger which raised the half century.
The Blues bagged a couple of consolation tries, but there should be no doubt they will limp into the semifinals after coughing up almost 200 points their last four matches.