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A late burst from the Hurricanes brought some respectability to the scoreline, but the Crusaders were full value for their 42-32 win in Queenstown on Saturday.
Crusaders head coach Scott Robertson signalled his intent for his side's first match of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season by naming a powerhouse team that included no less than nine All Blacks - and it showed in the end.
The Hurricanes also named a strong side for the match against the 10-time Super Rugby champions but despite a tight first half, they ultimately found themselves thoroughly outplayed, with the scoreline not telling the full story after the Hurricanes scored 14 points in the final five minutes to salvage some lost pride.
Jordie Barrett opened the scoring for the Hurricanes with a penalty in the seventh minute but, unsurprisingly, it was the Crusaders that would cross the whitewash first.
In typical Crusaders fashion, they answered back less than 60 seconds later. Fergus Burke was dragged down just short of the line but the forwards manage to recycle the ball and shift play to the right flank where Leicester Fainga'anuku was able to bash over for his first try of the match. Burke converted to make it 7-3.
The powerful winger grabbed his second try seven minutes later after a superb switch of play by Bryn Hall left the Hurricanes defenders flat-footed and made space for Will Jordan to burst through. The fullback drew in the tackle of Barrett before offloading to Fainga'anuku, who went over in the left corner. The conversion attempt was no good.
After the try, there was a spell of intense end-to-end action as the Hurricanes looked for a way back into the game while the Crusaders were hoping to finish them off. Solid defence came to the fore which resulted in a ping-pong kicking duel, though Barrett was able to add another three points for the Hurricanes.
Neither side was able to gain much meaningful ground until the 28th minute when the Hurricanes gained possession from a missed clearance kicked. Peter Umaga-Jensen sliced his way through the defence before drawing in two more tacklers and offloading to Love, who powered through the final man to get over the line. Barrett converted to bring the score to 12-13, putting the Hurricanes ahead.
The Hurricanes thought they had extended their lead just before halftime when Asafo Aumua got over the line but the TMO overruled the decision on the field to award the try because of a double movement. Instead, the Crusaders led after Burke knocked over a penalty to make it 15-13.
Burke extended the lead with another penalty after the break and it was all the Crusaders in the opening part of the second half as Fainga'anuku completed his hattrick in the 51st minute. A conversion and another penalty from Burke and all of a sudden the Hurricanes were staring down the barrel at 28-13 down.
To make matters worse, they had another try disallowed in the 63rd minute when Julian Savea was adjudged to have knocked the ball on with the barest scrape of his finger on the ball, followed by a penalty try to the Crusaders just two minutes later after the Hurricanes were blown up for illegally impeding the driving maul.
To their credit, the Hurricanes pushed for a way back into the game and pulled five points back in the 69th minute through a Bailyn Sullivan debut try. However, the new open and expansive style they were adopting just left too many holes for the Crusaders to exploit and Shilo Klein was able to barge over for a try in his first rugby game to restore the Crusaders' lead at 42-18 with the conversion from Simon Hickey.
The Highlanders restored a bit of respectability to the scoreboard with two late tries from Barrett and Jackson Garden-Bachop in the 75th and 77th minutes respectively (both converted) but it was too little too late for the side that showed a lot of promise but ultimately failed to deliver.
Scorers
Crusaders
Tries: Leicester Fainga'anuku (3), Penalty try, Shilo Klein
Conversions: Fergus Burke (2), Simon Hickey
Penalties: Fergus Burke (3)
Yellow cards: Oli Jager, Fergus Burke
Hurricanes
Tries: Ruben Love, Bailyn Sullivan, Jordie Barrett, Jackson Garden-Bachop
Conversions: Jordie Barrett (3)
Penalties: Jordie Barrett (2)
Yellow cards: Brayden Iose
