Relentless Chiefs stun Crusaders in Christchurch

The Chiefs' persistence paid off as they were able to wear the Crusaders down and grind out a late 24-21 win in Super Rugby Pacific at Orangetheory Stadium on Saturday.

SCORECARD | Super Rugby Pacific - Crusaders v Chiefs

It wasn't the usual flowing, running performance we have come to expect from the Crusaders, who were forced to lean heavily on their defence in the face of almost relentless waves of Chiefs' attacks.

The home side made over 200 tackles in the game and were dead on their feet by the end as their resilience finally crumbled to bring their 10-match winning streak in the competition to an end.

The Crusaders began the better of the two sides and could have had a very early try when Braydon Ennor knocked the ball on with the try-line gaping ahead of him.

The hosts did take the lead in the seventh minute through a Richie Mo'unga penalty but it didn't last long as the Chiefs grabbed the first try of the game seven minutes later.

Emoni Narawa broke the line and offloaded to Shaun Stevenson who showed incredible quick feet to beat no less than three defenders and burst over the line. Bryn Gatland converted to make it 3-7.

In typical Crusaders fashion, they hit back in the 20th minute with Mo'unga breaking down the blindside before stabbing a grubber kick through for the onrushing David Havili.

Gatland kicked a penalty while Mo'unga missed the conversion but did knock over a couple of penalties of his own to ensure the home side would lead at the break 14-10.

It seemed like the Crusaders were finally moving out of first gear when they scored early in the second half with Codie Taylor rounding out a gruelling 10-phase attack and Mo'unga adding the extras to make it 21-10.

However, the remainder of the second half was all