Formidable home record could be challenged at new Te Kaha indoor stadium, Crusaders tipped to still be tough to beat

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

A former All Black says a shift to an indoor stadium can take away some home advantage, but the Crusaders will find a way to remain “elite’’ at One New Zealand Te Kaha Stadium.

The Crusaders - set to open Super Round at Te Kaha on Friday - have a formidable record outdoors in Christchurch - with a 84% winning percentage at Lancaster Park and Apollo Projects Stadium.

They lost just nine games at Lancaster Park from 1996 to 2010 - an incredible achievement as those were Super Rugby’s golden years when the South African teams were still involved and the three Australian clubs were invariably strong.

The Crusaders have never lost in 31 playoffs games on Ōtautahi whenua and have won eight of their record 15 Super Rugby finals at home.

It’s a record which would be the envy of any professional sports franchise anywhere in the world, but can it be sustained?

Wind and rain-free indoor stadiums have, traditionally, become leveller playing grounds and it can be tougher for the home teams to play away at outside grounds.

An American academic study in 2014 analysed winning percentages and home records by NFL teams over the previous five seasons. Study authors Masaru Teramoto and Chad L Cross found teams with “domed home stadiums’’ won significantly fewer games away from home than did teams with outdoor home venues.

The Highlanders have had a 56% winning percentage since shifting to Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium - New Zealand’s first roofed rugby venue - in 2012. They have had just one unbeaten year there - seven victories in 2018.

They have won more games than they have lost at the Glasshouse in just one of the last six seasons through to 2025.

Wales have won 57.5% of their Six Nations matches at Principality Stadium - the magnificent retractable roof arena in downtown Cardiff - since they moved there in 2000 when New Zealand’s Sir Graham Henry was their coach.

Henry told The Press it was “a brilliant experience’’ for Wales to move from home games away at London’s Wembley Stadium to a ”fantastic stadium to play at“ in Cardiff.

He thinks the Crusaders’ move to Te Kaha’ is “a brilliant story of resilience and hard work’’ and imagines it will be ”hugely motivational“ for the Crusaders and Canterbury players, particularly those ”born and bred in Christchurch, to play there.

“Especially with the history of the earthquakes and Lancaster Park.”

Ex-All Black Lima Sopoaga is a perfect person to muse about the move from outdoors to indoors.

He debuted for the Highlanders in their last season at Carisbrook in 2011, spent seven seasons at Forsyth Barr and will be at Te Kaha for Super Round as a Sky Sport rugby analyst.

Sopoaga said the Highlanders’ venue switch was “lush’’.

“Don’t get me wrong, Carisbrook was so iconic, but those cold winter nights, 7.30, and you’re playing in the middle of June, were horrible.

“Going indoors, knowing you had a dry deck, no wind, no rain, that’s such a joy.”

Sopoaga thinks the Crusaders and their fans “will absolutely love it’’ at Te Kaha. “The fan experience is so much better, even if it’s pissing down with rain, fans still want to go to the game because they know they’re going to be dry, indoors and going to get good seats and feel on top of the players running around.”

But the 16-cap All Black agreed an indoor stadium can take some home advantage away.

“Teams come to your stadium knowing it’s going to be dry, there’s not going to be wind, that your’e going to be able to play fast, expansive rugby and that probably plays into [the hands of] teams like the Hurricanes and the Chiefs.

He said that when teams met the Crusaders “in the middle of June, finals time, rain and hail coming down at Apollo’’ they just knew “that forward pack is going to roll their sleeves up and get to work.

“That was probably an advantage, and now it’s been nullified.”

But partisan support in a noisy enclosed cauldron can help with home advantage, Sopoaga reckons.

“We had the Zoo,’’ he said of of the end-of-pitch zone at Forsyth Barr Stadium populated by Highlanders-crazy students.

“If the Crusaders can have some stand area where the fans are absolutely charging and fizzing, it can be quite a powerful tool”.

If Sopoaga had his way “all rugby should be played indoors”.

“Chuck a roof on the Cake Tin [in Wellington] for sure. Get rid of Eden Park and build a new stadium that maybe has a retractable roof.”

He is convinced Christchurch rugby punters are in for a treat with “much better, more exciting games. For a fan, that’s probably the most important thing, right?

But even if there are more losses than at Lancaster Park or Apollo, Sopoaga is certain one thing will never change.

“The Crusaders are the Crusaders, they’ll still be elite whether they’re outdoors or indoors.”