Super Rugby Pacific: Uncertainty over Will Jordan’s fitness tempers Crusaders’ joy at stunning comeback win over Chiefs

Saturday, 23 May 2026

Will Jordan - pictured with Crusaders captain David Havili - came off late against the Chiefs in his first game back after six weeks out with a calf injury.

The Crusaders are sweating on a potential injury to All Blacks star Will Jordan after captain David Havili’s heroics earned them a third straight win at One New Zealand Stadium.

Havili celebrated one of the greatest second half displays in his long career to score the go-ahead final try in a pulsating 36-32 win over the Chiefs before a Friday night full house in Christchurch.

But the joy at securing a six-try victory that cemented the fourth-placed Crusaders’ Super Rugby playoffs place was tempered by a possible recurrence of Jordan’s calf strain.

Jordan - playing his first game in six weeks since hurting his right calf in early April - came off in the final quarter.

At first it looked like a tactical move - the Crusaders had talked pre-game about managing the champion fullback’s minutes - but coach Rob Penney admitted it was “yet to be determined to be fair ” if Jordan had tweaked the calf again.

“There was potentially a little thing in there going on there again, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Jordan was spotted after the match sporting a compression sleeve on his leg. It remains to be seen if he will be fit - or even risked - for the Crusaders’ final round-robin game against the Hurricanes at Te Kaha next Friday or if two-try substitute Johnny McNicholl will return at fullback.

Chiefs coach Jonno Gibbes also indicated that Damian McKenzie - who missed the Christchurch trip with concussion - might not be ready to return for their final game against the Blues in Hamilton next weekend.

The Crusaders are now just two points behind the Blues and could clinch a home qualifying final if they beat the Hurricanes and the Chiefs beat the Aucklanders.

David Havili scores under the posts in Xavier Roe’s tackle to clinch a win for the Crusaders over the Chiefs.

Penney was also waiting for an update on winger Chay Fihaki who had a mouthguard-triggered head injury assessment in his first game back for month, and was not allowed to return to the pitch.

In the meantime, it was hail Havili time for both coaches in Christchurch.

The Crusaders skipper - fresh from a bye week break in Fiji - was everywhere in the second half and fitting dotted down five minutes from fulltime as the Crusaders silenced the Chiefs fans’ cow bells.

The skipper had earlier sent a soaring punt downfield for a 50:22 lineout - more like a 70:22 - in Te Kaha’s thin air.

“Was it a 50:22 or a 22:22? It was a monster, wasn’t it”, ” quipped Chiefs coach Jono Gibbes who was stunned at Havili carving off a kick in his own danger zone.

Penney was equally effusive.

“The leadership of Davey in a couple of crucial moments was outstanding,’’ he said, adding the 50:22 ”was a beauty, wasn’t it, at a crucial time“.

Taha Kemara (R) of the Crusaders celebrates David Havili’s match winning try.

“And he held up one of their attackers earlier on who had breached and single-handedly got him off the deck and that was crucial as well. Then to dot down under the bar, that was a wonderful occasion for our skip.”

There were still some nervous moments before the Crusaders’ closed out the game.

Penney conceded the decision to let Taha Kemara take a long-range penalty attempt in the dying seconds was “probably about option 10, to be fair”. It seemed to most of the 25,000 fans at Te Kaha to be a safer bet to kick for the line and run down time.

“We weren’t massive advocates of that [in the coaching box],’’ Penney laughed of the kick before saying the onfield decision makers ”got caught up in the moment“.

The other moment that got Penney’s pulse racing was the call to let Manamaua Letiu - fresh off the bench - throw to the lineout after the 50:22 when Codie Taylor was still on the field.

“Again that wasn’t mean to happen,’’ he said, then explained ”there was a lot going on“ with HIAs, messaging and medics on the pitch, and in the end ”it didn’t prove crucial“ because Josh Jacomb fumbled the ball with the Chiefs set for a big overlap.

Josh Jacomb lines up a shot at goal for the Chiefs. His coach Jonno Gibbes had no issue with the call to let Jacomb kick a penalty rather than attempt lineout maul try in the second half.

That gave the Crusaders the chance to set up a scrum and use Leicester Fainga’anuku to deliver a brilliant ball for Havili to score under the posts.

Penney said the victory was “really satisfying’’ against a great Chiefs side.

“You could argue they didn’t have a lot to play given that they were already confirmed in the quarters, but after two minutes we knew they were here to play and they played really well.”

“Just so pleased with the composure we showed … the young blokes [forward reserves Letiu, Jack Sexton, Seb Calder and debutant lock Liam Jack] didn’t get too rattled and threw themselves into it. Overall, rapt with the outcome.”

Gibbes described the defeat as “pretty gutting” after the Chiefs took “a good team like that to the very edge’’, but then “left the door open”.

He said the 50:22 and then the knock-on after getting the let-off at the lineout proved crucial moments.

But Gibbes had no problem with the Chiefs’ deciding to take three points from a penalty rather than go for a kick to touch and set up a potential lineout try to get an eight-point lead over the Crusaders with 14 minutes to play.

“We were comfortable wih that. Toops [lock Tupou Vaa’i] was making the decision at that stage,and it was our feeling as well.”