:The Canterbury Crusaders ruthlessly brushed aside the Auckland Blues 52-15 on Friday to reach a 17th Super Rugby final and extend their unbeaten record in playoffs at their Christchurch home to 30 matches over 25 years.The Super Rugby Pacific champions will face the winners of Saturday's second semi-final between the Waikato Chiefs and ACT Brumbies in next week's final, where they will be bidding for a 14th title in total and seventh in a row.
Winger Leicester Fainga'anuku scored two tries with centre Braydon Ennor, fullback Will Jordan, hooker Codie Taylor and replacement back Fergus Burke all also crossing, while flyhalf Richie Mo'unga chipped in with 22 points from the kicking tee."We knew we had to start really well and I thought we did that," said Crusaders skipper Scott Barrett. "From there we really just shut their game down and repeated efforts on (defence).
I guess that's what's going to be required next week as well."The Blues were completely outclassed in the rematch of last year's final at Eden Park and were only able to manage a try and a penalty from flyhalf Beauden Barrett until Caleb Clarke crossed for a consolation score after the hooter.The Crusaders flew out of the blocks with their makeshift pack muscling up to dominate the breakdown while the more recognisable backline kicked deep and ruthlessly converted their early opportunities.
A 50-22 from winger Dallas McLeod gave them field position from which Ennor glided over the line in the third minute and Fainga'anuku crossed nine minutes later after Jordan had drifted across the defence before releasing the winger.The shellshocked Blues had made a string of early errors and were 18-0 down before they finally put a single cohesive attack together,