The Crusaders had Will Jordan.
You know how this ends.
Poorly for the home side.
The Crusaders posted a 43-10 win in front of nearly 17,000 fans at Forsyth Barr Stadium tonight.
Jordan dotted down twice in the opening quarter and the Crusaders had too much strike power across the park.
The Highlanders blew several opportunities and were guilty of being too predictable on attack.
The Crusaders lost first five Taha Kemara in the opening five minutes. He had to be assisted from the field and could not bear weight on his left ankle.
He had sliced through a gap at the back of a lineout moments before.
The Highlanders scrambled out of trouble but were back defending their line again shortly after.
Jordan ghosted through a gap and used his pace to carry him 30m to the line to score the opening points.
He bagged a second a few minutes later. The Crusaders won a turnover and spun out to Macca Springer who set off for the corner.
The defence closed in on him, but he got the ball inside to Jordan and he ran in for another.
The Highlanders needed a spark and Jonah Lowe provided it.
He galloped away and it looked like a try would be scored.
The Crusaders shut it down but Codie Taylor got himself 10 minutes in the bin for a cynical foul.
It should have been a route back for the Highlanders but the 14-man visitors swung back on to attack.
He dived over seconds later to score. That was a dagger and the Highlanders trailed 21-0 with 10 minutes remaining in the half.
The red wave was restricted to defence for the last quarter of the first spell.
The Highlanders battered away and should have scored from a cross-field kick to Veveni Lasaqa, but he could not hold on to it.
Highlanders tighthead Saula Ma’u burst into a gap when he collected a nice offload from Folau Fakatava early in the second half.
It looked like the big bull might have the gas to get to the line but the Crusaders conjured another escape hatch.
Eventually, they ran out of tricks and Lowe dived over in the corner. The Highlanders finally had some points to show for a lot of endeavour.
That joy was wiped out when Corey Kellow scored in the opposite corner at the other end of the field moments later.
Chay Fihaki made an impact shortly after he got on. He skipped through a tackle and ran in under the posts.
That was soft.
It took the Highlanders 72 minutes but they finally cracked the pinata with a decent blow.
Lasaqa finished off a really nice team try in the corner.
There was some slick passing and good support play. The game is easy when the basics are right.
Josh Whaanga got on for his debut with about 10 minutes to go, while lock Fabian Holland failed to return to the field following an HIA assessment in the first half.
The scores
Crusaders 43 (Will Jordan 2, Codie Taylor 2, Corey Kellow, Chay Fihaki tries; Rivez Reihana 5 con, pen)
Highlanders 10 (Jonah Lowe, Veveni Lasaqa tries)
Halftime: 21-0.
