The Crusaders were at their world-class best, punishing the Queensland Reds 32-12 in Christchurch.
The visitors were constantly on the back foot, with the hosts feeling right at home back in the finals.
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So what did we learn?
The Crusaders are going to be tough to stop at home, delivering a perfect night against the Reds.
They were excellent all across the park, whether it was attack, defence or set-piece.
It took the Reds 70 minutes to find some space and momentum with the game well out of reach.
They’ll fancy their chances against any team at Apollo Projects Stadium.
The Crusaders build their dominance off their all-powerful set-piece, but there are concerns heading into next week.
In the first 20 minutes, every penalty in the game came at scrum time as the hosts’ front row went to work.
However, the injury to Tamaiti Williams will be a concern, who pushed through the pain to score a try before succumbing after 35 minutes. Williams has played big minutes on the other side in the past fortnight with Fletcher Newell, and it seems the added stress may have caught up.
At lineout time, the Crusaders caused havoc to set up the first try when Scott Barrett replicated his 2023 Bledisloe efforts to cause a mistake and score.
In wet conditions like this, set-piece is everything and the Crusaders were world-class.
When you go into finals games in NZ, you need a little bit of luck. The Reds didn’t have it at selection time.
With Harry McLaughlin-Phillips out with a concussion, Les Kiss’ gamble to not name a flyhalf on the bench blew up when Tom Lynagh suffered a similar fate midway through the first half.
It’s starting to become a concerning pattern, with multiple knocks accumulating for the young ten.
Jock Campbell was solid in his absence but tough when the front-foot ball is limited.
Josh Flook took his last chance to impress Joe Schmidt and gave selectors something to think about in the midfield.
His kicking game was solid with a nice early outside-the-foot nudge before breaking the line to set up the first real chance for the Reds.
Flook was defensively solid all game after a successful return last week against the Fijian Drua.
Tate McDermott was also threatening, whilst Harry Wilson's effort was rewarded with a spectacular try assist to Fraser McReight.
Note for any drought affected areas - schedule a game against the Reds because the rain just seems to follow them.
For a team that has had plenty of games in the tough conditions, they never seemed to adapt to the slippery surface until the final minutes.
Several players were slipping and making costly knock-ons as they tried to build an attack.
It’s a shame because the Reds’ attack thrives on fast and clean ball as evident at the end.
