Well it's semi-final time and once again the classy coaching performance of Marco Fuini is shining. This is his 4th S12 semi-final and he'll be looking to get a good win. Bevan is playing stand in coach for the Crusaders this year. His inexperience at this level may be the Crusaders downfall, but one thin is for sure, he'll be out to make it as difficult as possible for the Reds.

Reds Tactics
I'd like to say that we are the favourites going into this game, but Bevan has the ability to win this game even if his coach stats say otherwise.

In this game we're gonna keep the defense watertight, Bevan panics when faced with a strong defense and very often over engineers his moves. He will make errors and we just need to make sure we can capitalise!

Crusaders Tactics
It's a big game, against a big team. marco is a machine when it comes to S12. I'd like to frustrate him, by just turning the score board over with easy points. Take the 3 points when they are available and let's try to get a good lead on him.

I'd like to see some high balls being put in behind his defensive line, I'm not sure he likes that too much.

Commentary
The Crusaders start with a well weighted kick toward the touchline. The Reds forwards are on to it but fail the pickup (FG) allowing the Crusaders pack to gather it off the bounce. The Reds try to bundle them into touch but the opposition forwards are just too skillful. A ruck ensues and Marshall manages to get the ball out and back to his charging lock! The big man cracks on the pace and bundles into the defending Croft. His tackle sticks and the ball fails to come out on the crusaders side (FG).

The Reds play some risky rugby when Latham swoops in and gathers the loose ball. He splits the crusaders defensive with a nice hand-off (Hand-Off) which gets him over his 22m line. He passes back to Sailor who is running a beautiful line (Smooth Pass) and he makes some huge ground before being hunted down by Merhtens.

The Reds attack has outstripped it's support, and the Crusaders pressure forces the error as Latham goes off-side and is pinged (FRR). The Crusaders take a kick for touch, but it only gets them to just outside the opposition 22m line. The line out ball finds Thorne, who is immediately scragged. Marshall gathers and feeds the ball to Merhtens. He mistimes his pass (FP) allowing the Reds time to react. The reaction comes in the form of a high tackle from Hynes, a desperate attempt to slow the attack on the exposed right wing pays off as Marshall fails the gather (FG) and the Reds are forced to take a shot at poles.

Merhtens lines up the kick and fires it in, but it's a shocker and it drops short of the crossbar! That foul play certainly paid off big time for the Reds.

The Reds catch the Crusaders napping with the 22m drop out, firing a huge kick down field (Pressure Kick) way out of reach of the Crusaders defenders. Flatley flies up to the ball, gathers with precision and fires a flat pass to his charging winger who takes them into the Crusaders 22m area!

With Hynes in space an waiting to receive the ball, Marshall does what any good fly half should do and takes him off the ball. The ref spots it (FRR) and plays advantage and it pays off for the Reds as Sailor flips the ball out in the tackle (Flip Pass) to his waiting blindside runner Flatley who darts for the line and dives in at the corner! it goes upstairs but the TMO has no problem awarding it! Flatley slots the extra 2 and the Reds go up 7-0 from a fantastic 22m dropout attack!

The Crusaders restart with a great short KO (K D1) and the opportunity to put on some good pressure! the Reds react well with a great take from Mathison (Cool Catch). He's swamped by the Crusaders forwards but manages to stay in play. The Crusaders pack apply some good pressure in the ruck forcing the Reds to play it on the ground (FRR). They play advantage, but a knock on (FG D6) from from McCaw force them to take a shot at posts. It's a corker from Merhtens and it sails through posts (Pressure Kick) putting the Crusaders on the board.

The Reds restart with a cheeky short kick in center field but the Crusaders manage to scramble some sort of recovery (Break Away) and extract the ball though Marshall, who gets it away to Flatley. He opts against the kick-for-touch, under pressure, and foolishly cuts back in field in an attempt to free Ralph on the left wing, but he manages to drop the ball forward in the pass (FP D6) resulting in a scrum for the Reds in a great attacking position.

Croft picks up at the back of the scrum and sucks in McCaw on the blind side. Heenan picks up and charges on off the no.8's good work. He charges into the Crusaders fly half and set's it up for his support players, but his hard work is undone when, Roe fails the gather (FG) allowing the Crusaders to reorganize their defense.

Marshall wastes no time securing and gets the ball out to his forwards as he darts forward in support. the big men crash their way out of their own 22m area, but Marshall makes a fatal error and allows the Reds back into the attack (FG). The Ref spots an infringement and blows in favour of the Reds (Penalty) who slot the extra 3 points with ease.

The Crusaders restart with kick into the Reds 22m and they chase it down hard...but the Reds gather and run it over the 22m with the help of their hooker. The Crusaders defense closes him down. The Reds recycle and Flatley puts it into touch just over the Crusaders 10m line. The line out finds Thorn who devastates the Reds defenders with a Crash Tackle and manages to release the ball in the process! (Crash Tackle & Flip Pass). The Flip pass finds the flanker who runs the gap and smashes into Valentine. The support flows in and Marshall delivers the ball to the charging forwards who slam into the shell shocked Flatley. The pressure takes it toll on the Reds (Break Down) giving the Crusaders room out wide.

The Reds scramble their defense and try to squeeze the Crusaders of their advantage (Counter Attack). It seems to work as the Crusader knock on (FG) and destroy a fantastic piece of rugby! The Reds break from the scrum with the no.8 and send the ball to the backs, but a mistimed pass (FP) from Pelesasa allows the defense to react.

Pelesasa gets taken but some good work (Hard Training) from the Reds frees up the ball via Valentine (Safe Hands) who dispatches it to the flying winger who absolutely slaughters Blair with a massive hand off (Hand Off) before cracking on the pace (2 x Break Aways) and diving over the line. The make sure of their conversion (Pressure Play) and the score climbs to 17-3 as the half time whistle sounds.

The Reds restart with a kick up field. The Crusaders allow the scrum half to fall back and gather (Safe Hands) but his attempt to link with the winger fails (FP) and puts his team under huge pressure! The Reds pressure is swift, but the feisty scrum half manages to shrug 3 tackles (Crash Tackle) before slamming to ground! The Crusaders scramble for possession just inside their 22m area. The ball emerges and is worked down the line before a bad pass (FP) finds the no.8 caught out for obstruction! The Reds slot the easy 3 points and really begin to stretch their lead 20-3.

The Crusaders opt for the short restart, nudging the ball just over the 10m line. The forwards pile in, but the big Heenan makes a huge impact bring all the defenders to deck (Cool Catch, Crash Tackle). His work is quickly undone by the fullback who secures but fails to get the ball wide (FP). The Crusaders pack hit the ruck forcing the error from Valentine (FG).

The sniff of possession spurs the Crusaders on, and they steal it at the ruck through some good scrum half play (Hard Training, Safe Hands). Marshall slips the ball to Jack who finds the tackle of Valentine (Injury - 9). Blair gathers and feeds Mauger over his shoulder for the crash ball into Roe. He collapses to the ground just short of the Reds 22m line. It's carnage with Reds defenders scattered all over the field (Break Down), their chests heaving as they battle to get to their feet! Blair uses the lapse in defense to get get Merhtens in on the action with a perfectly timed pass. Merhtens breaks through the gap and into space within the 22m area...

The Reds resort to some bad tackling to bring the rampant fly half to ground, but the ref spots it and plays advantage. The Crusaders recycle with Blair again putting his centers into space (Smooth Pass). Carter is brought down 10m short of the line. And once again the slick hands of the fullback pop the ball up to the speeding winger who angles through the defenders and over the line just to the right of the uprights. Merhtens slots the extra 2 and the Crusaders are back in the game.

The Reds put the kick off right up against the touch line making it difficult for the Crusaders to defend. They gather from the ruck, but Marshall battles to get the ball wide. He's hit 'ball and all' and Mauger is forced to move in and gather, but he too battles to get the ball wide under the huge pressure from the Reds defenders. Again the Reds move in fast and hit hard forcing the Crusaders to scramble back in defense. Marshall cracks on some extra space to fall back and gather (Break Away) and does well to get a long ball out to Blair (Skip Pass) who's waiting center field 10m out from his tryline. Blair puts it to boot, finding some space behind the Reds with a huge relieving kick (Pressure Kick).

Latham Gathers the ball just over his 10m line and moves it to the left with the aid of some of his forwards. Croft carries it over the half way line unopposed, but is soon dragged down by the advancing Crusaders defensive line. Support from Sharpe is swift and he gets the ball to the waiting fullback who nudges the ball along way into the Crusaders territory, but the wind catches it and it falls short of the Crusaders 22m line.

Relieved the Crusaders gather in the form of Blair, who makes some ground up to the 10m line before off loading a good flat pass to Jack. He finds a gap and scuttles over the half line with support players in hot pursuit. The Reds scrabble their defense, but quick ball from Marshall puts Merhtens into space and over the Reds 22m line before he is hit by a suspicious tackle from Heenan - the ref waves play on. Valentine makes the crucial gather and dispatches the ball across the field to Latham as the rest of the Reds continue to retreat. The fullback is hit just inside his 22m area, before he can do anything with the ball.

The ball is secured and worked back across the field and given to the winger in midfield, he charges forward and is brought down on his 10m line. Hardman picks up and gallops over the ruck and into space making a good 10m before being hit on the halfway line and setting up the ruck. The pressure mounts and the Crusaders begin to lack options (Pressure Play).

Valentine works the ball from the ruck (Safe Hands) and feeds Hynes. He cuts back inside and heads for the traffic around the ruck where he is tackled by Carter. Marshall is pulled into the ruck and the Reds get a good platform to launch their next phase (Injury - 9). The ball is recycled and again the Reds attack the fringes. This time it's Sailor who runs the rights angle to blast through the defense and over the Crusaders 10m line.

With the pressure of the attack Jack hits Sailor with a dangerous tackle, but surprisingly the ref let's it play and Blair secures the ball from the writhing body of the winger. Blair braces himself as the advancing Reds hit him in numbers! Blair does brilliantly and flips the ball to the waiting flyhalf (Flip Pass) who breaks to left wing with his forwards in support. Hesitation (FP) from the fly half allows the Reds defenders to wrap him up and force the ruck - with Marshall injured the Crusaders battle to hold onto possession and put there hands into the ruck (FRR).

The Reds make full use of the advantage with Hynes brushing off the final defender and blasting a good 50m to score under the posts (Hand-off, Break Away), Flatley slots the extra 2 points (Massive Kick) with ease and the Reds move to 27-10 lead.

The Crusaders make some drastic changes at the kick off with all 7 subs rushing on to the field. Merhtens opts for a deep kick, but he toes it (Miskick) and it drops short of it's target. Humpries makes the catch (Cool Catch) and demolishes 2 Crusaders defenders (Crash Tackle) and gets the ball to his Fly half as he hits the deck. Flatley dispatches the winger who attacks the defense on the left wing. Croft gathers under pressure and charges the ball up to the half way line. His team mates support, while the Crusaders defense lies in complete disarray (Break Down, Pressure Play).

The Crusaders resort to some dangerous play, but this time the ref spots it (FRR). The Reds take a look at the clock and kick it into touch, giving them an impressive victory and a ticket to the S12 final.

Full time Score: RED 27 - CRU 10

Game Overview
From the start of the game the Crusaders where looking good. They played good structured rugby and got the ball into positions where they should have scored. I think the difference in this game was the Reds defense. It was simply outstanding! They spoilt a good few trys and forced the Crusaders to kick at posts. With the Crusaders failing to get hard earned points on the board the game quickly swung into the Reds favour, and quite frankly that's where it stayed.