Tony Johnson

It certainly feels that way considering how many finals have been played in Christchurch at the makeshift stadium.

It would be nice to see something on the line at the new one because it's got that buzz around it.

You mentioned a dodgy refereeing decision.

It's about as low on the page as we're going to go today, unfortunately.

We talked about the first 10 minutes for George Bauer scoring.

Let's talk about the last 10 because that's what got me because the Blues had a two-man advantage.

And I think the score at that stage was about 26-20.

So they could have actually taken the lead there.

They couldn't even make it out of their own 22.

Yeah.

And you talk about the Crusaders' attack, that defensive effort, and then to turn it around and score a try, George Bell, that to me was like, uh-oh.

Yeah, well, just to stay on that defence, I mean, that's what won it last year.

After that whole season, 2025, of fantastic attacking, attention-grabbing rugby, final one try, a whole lot of tackles.

But yeah, let's stick on this one because Lester Whanganuki, he's not just becoming the story of each game that he plays, he's kind of becoming the story of the entire competition and the upcoming All Blacks season as well.

Probably his best game in his new position.

And I think it was 16 from 16 tackles as well.

And up against a pretty decent loose forward trio.

Against a forward pack that they spend a lot of the game, those big heavy carries.

And one that rolled over them earlier this season at Eden Park.

So they managed to turn around their deficit and some more.