All you need to know ahead of the Chiefs v Crusaders Super Rugby Pacific semifinal
Friday, 12 June 2026
In a rematch of last year’s final, the Chiefs and Crusaders face off in the first Super Rugby Pacific semifinal in Hamilton on Friday night.
The match at FMG Stadium Waikato kicks off at 7.05pm. Sky will broadcast the match live, while Stuff will provide live updates.
The Crusaders have won the last three matches between the teams, including a 43-33 win in Hamilton in round three.
WHAT TO EXPECT
In short, another tense and potentially heated clash.
What a tasty way to kickoff the semifinals, with a rematch of last year’s final, and at the same venue where the Crusaders stunned the top-seeded Chiefs in the 2023 decider.
And, for the first time in an age, the Crusaders boast a healthy three-match winning streak against the team that’s had more success than any other team against them.
Of course, as Crusaders head coach Rob Penney was wise to point out this week, the fact the Crusaders swept the regular season matches this year means zilch.
The Chiefs, after all, did so in 2023 and 2025, only to cough up the match that mattered most.
They’re still searching for their first title since 2013 as a result, while the Crusaders are now a couple of wins away from a ninth in 10 years.
Penney has his team humming, too, winners of four straight after spluttering through the first two thirds of the season.
However, all those matches were played in their shiny new indoor stadium, and the Chiefs will know the defending champions aren’t blessed with injured trio Will Jordan, Tamaiti Williams and Scott Barrett.
They’re three gun All Blacks, two of them forwards who have helped the red and blacks turn the screw and bury teams with their set piece in tight playoff matches in recent years.
The Chiefs, for the first time this year, have playmaker Damian McKenzie available to face the Crusaders, too.
They might not get a better chance to get one back over their rivals.
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Much has been made of the Crusaders nabbing former Hamilton Boys’ High School players Noah Hotham and Taha Kemara.
There was also frustration in Chiefs country after the highly touted Oli Mathis signed with the Crusaders last year.
But it goes both ways, of course.
The Chiefs lured Canterbury fullback Isaac Hutchinson, a former St Bede’s pupil, north this year.
“We didn’t want him to go,” Penney said this week, before saying he wasn’t at all surprised by how well he’s been playing for the Chiefs.
Since returning from a serious knee injury sustained in Christchurch club rugby a year ago, Hutchinson has been dynamite for the Chiefs.
Fresh from scoring a peach of a try against the Reds last week, he’ll start at fullback against the team he looked for all money to represent at Super Rugby.
Hutchinson is far from the only player from Crusaders country to be scooped up by the Chiefs.
Arguably their greatest player, Brodie Retallick, is the big one, while Anton Lienert-Brown is another notable Christchurch product to represent them.
Another of this year’s stars, Tasman’s Kyren Taumoefolau, was also schooled (Marlborough Boys’ College) in the Crusaders’ catchment. As were brothers Fita and Hayden Sa, who attended Christ’s College.
Hooker Brodie McAlister (Shirley Boys’ High School) joined the Chiefs last year, after the Crusaders granted him an early release.
TEAMS
Chiefs: Isaac Hutchinson, Liam Coombes-Fabling, Lalakai Foketi, Quinn Tupaea, Kyren Taumoefolau, Damian McKenzie, Cortez Ratima, Simon Parker, Luke Jacobson (capt), Samipeni Finau, Tupou Vaa’i, Josh Lord, Sione Ahio, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ollie Norris. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, Jared Proffit, George Dyer, Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Kaylum Boshier, Xavier Roe, Josh Jacomb, Leroy Carter.
Crusaders: Johnny McNicholl, Chay Fihaki, Braydon Ennor, David Havili (capt), Sevu Reece, Taha Kemara, Noah Hotham, Christian Lio-Willie, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Ethan Blackadder, Jamie Hannah, Antonio Shalfoon, Fletcher Newell, Codie Taylor, Finlay Brewis. Reserves: Manumau Letiu, Jack Sexton, George Bower, Tahlor Cahill, Dom Gardiner, Kyle Preston, Rivez Reihana, Macca Springer.
HEAD TO HEAD
Played 54: Crusaders 32 wins, Chiefs 22 wins
TAB ODDS
Chiefs $1.55 Crusaders $2.40
WHAT THEY SAID
Crusaders prop Fletcher Newell: “I feel like at our new stadium it's quite hard to move packs, the ground is quite hard. I'm actually really looking forward to going up to Hamilton and there being a bit of dew on the ground like we've had at home the last couple of years, it will definitely change the scrum.”
Crusaders halfback Noah Hotham: “I think of State of Origin, to be fair, that type of rivalry.
“It's the big one, it's the head-to-heads, it's the personal battles, it's club vs club, passionate fans vs passionate fans, so they’re the ones you want to play.”
OFFICIALS
Referee: Angus Gardner
Assistants: George Myers, Matt Kellahan
TMO: Graham Cooper