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Corne Fourie crashes over by the posts in the 73rd minute.
The Crusaders’ lead is cut to eight points.
For the remaining minutes, Chris Barclay’s eyes are glued to the scoreboard at the far end of Ellis Park.
He is frantically trying to calculate the moment when the title will be won, the moment where there simply won’t be enough left on the clock to leave the Lions time to score twice.
‘I was willing the clock to accelerate, while keeping a wary eye on field position,’ Barclay said. ‘Fortunately our game management was sound.’
The Crusaders played most of the final moments in the ‘safe’ area of the field, at the other end of the ground from where their travelling fan was seated, far from the corner adjacent to Barclay where hooker Malcolm Marx had scored to provide the home side with a glimmer of hope, 16 minutes before the end.
‘As the digits displayed 78:00 minutes, I decided I could finally breathe easily at altitude,’ Barclay said.
The Crusaders’ first title since 2008 was moments away, being confirmed when Richie Mo’unga hoofed a penalty to touch, into a sea of red and white jerseys — and ashen faces.
For the Sydney-based Barclay, who had taken the day off a few weeks earlier to organise a visa on the off chance that the Crusaders might be headed to Johannesburg, fulltime was vindication. Nineteen years on from his attendance at Eden Park, this ‘away’ trip was just as memorable.
Despite the contrasting eras, there were similarities between Auckland and Johannesburg.
‘Deep down, did I really believe we’d win either final?’ Barclay mused.
‘But I went, just in case. More out of hope than expectation.’
A career sportswriter, Barclay was in a position, either working at the game professionally, or attending in a personal capacity, to witness all eight finals that the Crusaders played away from Christchurch between 1996 and 2019.
He missed just one of the 14 finals the Crusaders made in that period.
‘And let’s face it, that fog just kept the [winning] margin down!’
Statistically, playing at home counts for a lot in Super Rugby finals, with the away side winning just six of the combined competition’s 24 deciders.
‘The Brumbies, Waratahs, Hurricanes, Lions and Jaguares were rank outsiders [for their finals in Christchurch] barring an early red card, a refereeing atrocity or a gastro outbreak,’ Barclay joked.
For all of the miles he has covered on the rugby trail, some of Barclay’s fondest memories of the dynasty are still associated with Lancaster Park, most notably from the 1998 semi-final against the Sharks where two tries by Norm Berryman set the Crusaders on their way, before a Daryl
Lilley score stalled off the South African’s gallant comeback.
Like many of the Crusaders’ longest-serving faithful, Barclay’s association with Lancaster Park pre-dated Super Rugby, although he acknowledged his ‘debut’ was inauspicious.
‘In 1977, I was railroaded into making a tactical error,’ he explained.
‘As an eight-year-old, with strong Scottish women in the household out-voting my grandfather, I turned off Ferry Road, down Stevens Street for the first time, wearing the red — of Wales!
‘Plus, a Pontypool rosette. The trousers were navy blue, but there must have been some green and white component in the uniform as well.’
For the one and only time in his life, the young Barclay left Christchurch’s former sporting ‘citadel’ satisfied after a Canterbury defeat, made all the more galling for most of the 42,000-strong crowd due to the fact it was inflicted by a 78th-minute penalty.
This saw the British & Irish Lions home 14–13, ending a run of five straight Canterbury wins against international touring teams.
The province would go on to win the National Provincial Championship for the first time later that year.
‘I remember [Lions captain] Terry Cobner smiling at me before he headed to the after-match function,’ Barclay recalled.
‘Newport wing Gareth Evans [who scored a try for the Lions in the game] was my favourite player.’ Fortunately for Barclay, photographic evidence of his day consorting with the ‘enemy’ has been lost, although he acknowledged that he still had a British Lions badge wrapped in cotton wool as a reminder of his ‘treachery’.
‘Since that shameful afternoon — which is the only time I have been unfazed by a Canterbury defeat — I have paid a heavy price, and rightly so,’ Barclay admitted.
‘Apart from the odd exception, the penance has been worth every cent, rand, pound or Australian dollar.’
First there was what he described as his ‘re-education’ process.
That came during Canterbury’s Ranfurly Shield era between 1982 and 1985, where his grandfather ‘sponsored’ the tickets, the programmes and the merchandise.
A ‘million’ games on, the memories of that time endure.
Barclay was near the sideline when All Blacks prop John Ashworth fly-kicked the ball into touch to end the first defence, a draw with Counties, thanks to a late Robbie Deans’ penalty goal.
He remembers Canterbury captain Don Hayes powering past Wellington’s ‘traffic conductor-cum-All Blacks fullback’ Allan Hewson to score in 1983;
Auckland whizz-kid John Kirwan stepping into touch with the tryline open in front of a packed embankment crowd a week later; Craig Green flattening Lindsay Harris in the same game; Dale Atkins later flattening the luckless Harris in the same corner.
Barclay also recalls punching the brick wall of Sacred Heart College, after Canterbury resurrected themselves from 0–24 to 23–28 losers in 1985s ‘Match of the Century’ — the end of the shield ‘era’ and the biggest disappointment of his ‘life’ at that point.
‘Unbeknown to me, that gallant defeat heralded a painful and prolonged decline for Canterbury, despite winning the inaugural South Pacific Championship [the forerunner to Super Rugby] in 1986,’ he said.
The situation became so dire that even a devout “Cantab” had no qualms about embarking on an OE in 1990, shortly after yet another loss to Auckland.
‘It was that grim back then that I pledged to sink a handle at G Block for each point Canterbury scored.
‘We lost 36–12, and I later toppled over a hedgerow into the polytech grounds!’
In the pre-internet age, it was ‘a blessing’ not to be able to watch Canterbury’s slump in fortune live-streamed from afar.
Instead, phone calls to his St Albans-based family were strategically, and Barclay admitted foolishly, placed to coincide with games against Auckland.
The bizarre ‘no-scrums’ Ranfurly Shield defeat at Eden Park in 1990 was explained down the line by his mother while he stood in a phone box in Essex.
A year later, a home game against an encouragingly understrength Auckland team ‘was worth’ a collect call home to his nana from Athens, only to be ‘ruined’ by news of a 42–14 thumping.
In 1994, a backpacking romance and historic elections in South Africa prompted Barclay to return to New Zealand from Cape Town, though Christchurch has rarely been his base for a significant length of time.
It was then on to Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, and two work postings to Sydney.
While attendance at games in Christchurch, outside of finals, have been a rarity, Barclay was in the city in 1998 when the Crusaders qualified for a maiden final, away to the Blues. The trip was taken without hesitation, just trepidation, given the Crusaders were the underdogs, and the wretched recent history of Canterbury-based teams playing Auckland.
‘The punt paid off,’ Barclay said, ‘thanks to Mehrts’ nudge bobbing up for James Kerr instead of [Blues defenders] Adrian Cashmore or Junior Tonu’u.
‘Does it get any better than winning at Eden Park, defying security by taking the field and hearing Toddy’s region-encompassing speech at close quarters?’
It is a debate Crusaders fans can indulge in like no others: which Super Rugby final victory was the most significant?
Better ‘qualified’ than most to offer an opinion, Eden Park is still number one in Barclay’s estimation, just ahead of Johannesburg.
‘The “Party at Tony Brown’s Place” [1999 against the Highlanders] also rates highly, purely for the atmosphere,’ Barclay said.
‘It was the last final I experienced from a terrace, the perfect viewpoint as “Fats” [Crusaders winger Afato So’oalo] chipped, chased and outpaced Jeff Wilson and Brian Lima to score.’
Barclay had been in Brisbane the week before, when the Crusaders upset the top-qualifying Queensland Reds in the semi-finals.
Twelve months later, he was back in Australia, on a frigid night in the nation’s capital where the Crusaders were again rank outsiders but completed the first of their two ‘three-peaks’ of titles. While there were only small pockets of Crusaders’ fans among the capacity crowd at Canberra
Stadium, Barclay was in the middle of them, and they made themselves heard!
The wins in Australia were moments to savour, but for the Crusaders’ most devout travelling fan, winning in South Africa always meant more, especially at Pretoria when the Bulls were at their peak. ‘In those days, there was nowhere better to watch the Crusaders on the road than against the “Blou Bulle” at Loftus,’ he said.
‘It just didn’t mean as much in Australia, or elsewhere in New Zealand. South Africa, when Super Rugby still drew a volatile crowd, was as good as it got.
‘You might take your life into your hands taking public transportation to the ground, but once inside it was generally convivial once you’d established [with the South African fans] that you were actually from New Zealand and, even better, a tourist.’
Mingling with the locals generally meant barely paying for a Castle, the local beer, after the game, especially if the Crusaders had lost.
‘The mutual respect is as obvious between the fans as it is between the players, whatever the outcome,’ Barclay said.
‘Ja [yes], there are naughty words in Afrikaans directed your way, though I was asking for it after Mehrts nailed a late droppie to put the Crusaders up 31–29 [at Loftus Versfeld in 2003]!
‘It was the perfect excuse to emulate the little legend from four years earlier by giving those in close proximity the middle finger(s).’
This cued a shower of peanuts, abuse and a Coca-Cola bottle dispatched in his direction, though only one act of retribution cut deep: Louis Koen’s winning dropped goal after the siren, as the Bulls snuck home 32–31.
Fortunately, the post-match ‘debrief’ in the Sin Bin Café, immediately outside the ground entry, soaked up the disappointment.
‘What a set-up for the fan!
A public bar linked to a superb outdoor area with braai [BBQ] areas, a pool, and a stage, plus a bottle shop where the beers were piled into a wheelbarrow. ‘Lekker [Afrikaans for good],’ Barclay said.
‘At some point that night, I vowed to keep coming back until we won. It took two more trips!’
On those assignments of the Super 12 decade, the Stormers in Cape Town were coupled with the Bulls on the Crusaders’ itinerary, with the atmosphere at the foot of Table Mountain a stark contrast to touring life on the high veld.
The capital of the Western Cape is more cosmopolitan than either Johannesburg or Pretoria.
A Crusaders fan is also never alone, thanks to a boisterous sector of the Coloured community who have been supporting visiting New Zealand teams ever since winger Bryan Williams, of Samoan heritage, caught the eye on the All Blacks tour of 1976.
‘Newlands is another impressive rugby citadel — they all are in South Africa with the exception of Bloemfontein — but on the coast, there isn’t the sense you were on the wrong side in the Boer War,’ Barclay joked.
‘Ditto Durban, where Kingsmead [the area where the Sharks’ home ground, King’s Park, is located] is predominantly English-speaking, or at least bilingual.
‘It’s relaxed. Where else you can go for a dip in the Indian Ocean an hour before kick-off?’
Barclay has seen the Crusaders win twice in the ‘Shark tank’, the first, a tough three-point win in 2009, which was followed rather surprisingly seven days later by an unexpected loss to the Cheetahs at his least favourite South African venue. Six years later, he was back in Durban as the Crusaders won by 42 points.
‘My perfect record watching the [Crusaders play the] Sharks extends to Twickenham where, with the necessary air points and leave, I long-hauled to London for the Christchurch earthquake memorial service at Westminster Abbey and the fundraising match that afternoon,’ Barclay explained.
Four months later, his media pass got him into Suncorp Stadium, for what he described as the ultimate low, from his experience watching the Crusaders overseas.
‘That final will always gnaw away, it’s my “1995 World Cup final” moment of Super Rugby,’ Barclay said.
‘Sure, Eden Park in 2003 [where the Crusaders lost 21–17] and the Brumbies first half blitzkrieg in 2004 wasn’t ideal, but the 2011 decider will always grate the most.
‘Not because of a refereeing injustice — like Craig Joubert in 2014 — nor the fact that you should never lose a significant game when Quade Cooper is the opposing first five-eighth.
‘No, 2011 will linger because of what had happened in Christchurch and how the team, despite the absence of home games, went agonisingly close to overcoming all that adversity, including a short turnaround from the semi-final in Cape Town.’
‘Sean Maitland dropped the ball cold, killing a break. Brad Thorn ignored a three-on-one overlap. That box kick to Digby Ioane for his try. Will Genia’s long range match-winner!’
Still, composure was at least maintained in the press box.
‘Congratulations, I told a fellow wire agency man [who was a very parochial Queenslander]. Make the most of it; it’s not happening again.’
Barclay issued the same ‘warning’ to colleagues at ANZ Stadium after another box kick set the scene for the Waratahs’ dubious last-minute penalty, three years later.
‘That defeat didn’t hurt as much, but you had to feel for Toddy [Blackadder],’ Barclay said.
‘So close to two titles, then he watches from afar as Razor comes in and busts a move like clockwork.’
Barclay made it to Johannesburg for Robertson’s first ‘move’ thanks to an understanding staffer at the South African High Commission in Canberra.
He had jumped on the train down to the Australian capital as soon as the Lions beat the Sharks in the quarter-finals, arranging his entry for South Africa, ‘safe’ in the knowledge the Hurricanes wouldn’t win a semi at Ellis Park (they did lead 22–3 at one point before being overrun by their hosts).
Flights and accommodation had been locked in when his visa-stamped passport was returned to Sydney, thankfully arriving in time for his departure, three days before the game.
He can remember the surroundings when he departed his accommodation for the ground.
‘There were Lions fans everywhere and they were confident as I took an Uber from the security of Sandton [an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg, popular with tourists and visiting sports teams] with a mate, Anton Botha, a friendship I’d forged in Bloem eight years earlier.
‘Anton insisted on wearing an All Blacks polo shirt in a foolhardy display of solidarity. Luckily, he was big enough and scary enough to carry it off. ‘
As we made our way down the clogged side streets to Ellis Park, I felt the sense of calm usually associated with the walk up Lincoln Road [to Addington] on game day [because he always expected the Crusaders to win when they were playing at home].
‘I was feeling quite serene [in this instance] because I was pessimistic. I had rationalised that four specific things had to happen if the Crusaders were to justify my trip.’
In the beer tent, he outlined his theory to a group of Lions fans who could not believe he had come all that way — ‘to get beat!’.
‘He was a South African but couldn’t stand Transvaal [the Lions]!
‘We need to take our chances, slow the game down as much as possible, be far enough in front with 20 minutes to go and [the mercurial Lions first five-eighth] Elton Jantjies has to have a shocker,’ Barclay explained to his new acquaintances.
Incredibly, after the opening 20 minutes, the ‘plan’ was falling into place.
‘[Lions flanker] Kwagga Smith being sent off just before halftime was an added bonus,’ Barclay said. ‘At the break, I went for a smuggish stroll to the concourse, daring to dream with a potent “Klippies and Coke”.
‘Then Reado scored, pretty much straight after the resumption, and we were holding the Lions at bay resolutely until the final quarter.
‘The tension was reaching the unbearable stage but Ben Funnell, of all people, put a hit on a try-bound Harold Vorster.’
Game over, title wait over.
The Lions fans were magnanimous.
‘Which was a relief in a cauldron of 62,000, which included the smallest percentage of away fans I’ve ever not seen!’
Barclay gifted his sword pin to one brave soul who had backed the visitors, Brendon, a teenager in a Crusaders jersey from Johannesburg’s outskirts.
His only regret?
‘Leaving the stands before Razor did his dance, and the guys got their tankards. Ah well, it was not as if we hadn’t seen that before or won’t see it again.’
While most patrons usually depart the rundown neighbourhood that surrounds the Ellis Park precinct as soon as possible after games, Barclay disregarded his own advice and ended up at braai at a nearby cricket club.
‘From there, we made it back to the stadium around 10 pm, I pulled a clump of tryline grass as a memento then headed up the tunnel and stairs into the Crusaders dressing room, which was surprisingly still unlocked,’ Barclay said.
After scouting the home dressing room as well, he returned to Sandton, spying Jaco Peyper, who had refereed the final earlier in the day, in the hotel bar.
‘He was chatty and had no qualms about having had to send off Smith,’ Barclay recalled.
Awaiting the plane at OR Tambo airport the next day, still feeling ‘battered’ from the ‘exertions’ of game day, Barclay was on hand as the Crusaders arrived, to a ripple of applause, heading for the aircraft with the trophy resting firmly in the hands of its designated guardian, prop Oli Jager.
The Crusaders returned to Johannesburg a year later, meeting the Lions again, on April Fool’s day, though the experience was almost unrecognisable, when compared to the final.
The regular-season game drew only 15,002 spectators, and that seemed a generous assessment in such a cavernous venue.
‘The meagre crowd was no surprise,’ Barclay said.
‘It was indicative of the dwindling interest in the [international] Super Rugby concept, which was withering well before COVID-19 administered the last rites to the 2020 season.
- Crusade On! Celebrating 25 years of the Crusaders is available from bookstores this weekend.
