The red and blacks christened One New Zealand Stadium with a 35-20 win over the Waratahs, giving the sold-out crowd of 25,000 plenty to cheer about along the way.
Sure, they were far from perfect on debut under the roof of the magnificent inner-city arena, but the injury-hit defending champions proved too good on the milestone night for the Garden City.
They outscored the Waratahs five tries to two, finally winning a game without injured fullback Will Jordan and kick starting their title defence.
It ensured the Crusaders weren’t swept by Australian opposition for the first time in history, and was a crunch result in terms of their playoff hopes as they bagged a bonus point and moved to 5-5.
Their spluttering form was a big talking point ahead of the game, but it paled in comparison to all the talk regarding the long-awaited opening of their flashy new stadium.
Indeed, anything but a Crusaders victory would have been hard to fathom for the locals, who filled the stadium and surrounding bars to start the Super Round.
Those worried the Waratahs might poop on their party might have been anxious when the Waratahs led for chunks of the first half, and caused the hosts problems with their combative and well-organised defence.
The Crusaders also conceded a soft try to Teddy Wilson to allow the Waratahs to pull to within eight points with 14 minutes to play.
A new era. And a much-needed Crusaders victory.
Source: stuff.co.nz
