‘It was quite embarrassing to be honest’ – Codie Taylor opens up ahead of Super Rugby Pacific final
Crusaders hooker Codie Taylor and head coach Rob Penney.
Although the Crusaders will have home ground advantage when they take on the Chiefs in Saturday’s Super Rugby Pacific final in Christchurch, they are wary of their opponents.
The Crusaders are the most successful team in Super Rugby history after winning 14 titles since the tournament’s inception in 1996, and with their record of winning 31 successive home knockout matches in the competition over the years, they head into this weekend’s clash with the Chiefs as overwhelming favourites.
Anything can happen
Despite that, the Crusaders are not underestimating the men from Hamilton who head into the final in a confident mood after winning both fixtures between these teams during the league phase of Super Rugby Pacific earlier this year.
The Chiefs were in a rampant mood in the first encounter between these sides in Hamilton as they cruised to an emphatic 49-24 victory in Round Two on February 21, before they repeated that feat in Christchurch courtesy of a 35-19 triumph in Round 13 on May 10.
Although those results will be playing on the Crusaders’ minds, All Blacks hooker Codie Taylor believes play-off rugby is totally different matter.
“It’s a final mate, anything can happen,” he told Radio New Zealand. “We’re well aware of the results that have happened this year, similar to a couple of years ago during that round-robin.
“We know they can apply pressure through all facets of their game and they’re bloody good at it. It’s up to us to put them under pressure with our game.”
The Chiefs are playing in their third successive Super Rugby Pacific final but are yet to lift the title as champions and the Crusaders are well aware that they were victorious when these sides met in the 2023 final in Hamilton after the Chiefs came out on top earlier that year.
Crusaders’ embarrassment
Taylor admitted that the Crusaders were hurting after those two defeats to the Chiefs earlier this season, and it led to some introspection in their camp.
“We had to really look at ourselves. It was quite embarrassing to be honest,” he said.
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“They showed us how to turn up the heat, and front up in the collision. We started looking for opportunities and not creating them.
“They just got a roll on. They’re a great team at being able to expose you through that middle part of the 80 minutes.”
One man in the Crusaders camp who will be highly motivated to secure a victory is their head coach, Rob Penney, who took charge of the team last year but struggled in his first season as they failed to reach the play-offs as the team registered a paltry four victories and 10 defeats.
Crusaders assistant James Marshall could not hide his delight for Penney.
“The criticism on him was so harsh last year. It was such small margins that decided a lot of those games,” he said.
“Somehow he’s gone from the worst coach in the world to one of the best and you just see the margins in the game.”
Under Penney’s guidance, the Crusaders have made a remarkable turnaround as they have won 11 matches and lost just thrice in 2025.
“He’s probably not getting the rewards he deserves at the moment, everyone’s been pretty quiet,” added Marshall.
“But he deserves every bit of credit he gets.”
