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Michael Jordan had The Last Dance, Scott Robertson had The Last Breakdance as he signed off from the Crusaders with an extraordinary seventh consecutive Super Rugby title on Saturday night.
Known as ‘Razor,’ Robertson will replace Ian Foster as All Blacks coach next season and bring a fresh and unique energy not ever seen before in that usually staid role.
“I am a deadset freestyler,” Robertson told Sky Sport after joining star playmaker Richie Mo’unga for a boogie on the Hamilton turf.
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“When I get there, I just make it up. It’s really hard, but if they start chanting, I’ll dance.”
Mo’unga booted the last five points of the Super Rugby Pacific final after hooker Codie Taylor scored his second try in the 25-20 win over the minor premier Chiefs.
Robertson will be replaced by former Waratahs coach Rob Penney next season.
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Penney won just seven of 29 games at the helm of NSW before being sacked in 2021.
But former Wallaby Morgan Turinui expected the red and black machine to roll on.
“The Crusaders are going to keep going,” Turinui said on Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven.
“(Todd) Blackadder set it up well, Razor has taken it to another level, it’s set up to continue. It’s not an end of an era yet because the players just keep coming through the Canterbury system. Wayne Smith, Robbie Deans, all the way through to Scott Robertson.
“What an amazing footballing environment that is.”
The Chiefs had looked like capping a record breaking season when they snatched the lead after halftime with a try by new All Blacks winger Emoni Narawa, and extended the lead to five points with a penalty from playmaker Damian McKenzie.
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But the Crusaders finally broke the resilient Chiefs defence with Taylor’s second try.
“We said at the start of the year – to get to heaven we’d have to go through hell and we did that earlier in the season and really finished it off tonight,” Taylor said.
He was referring to the many injuries the Crusaders had to overcome to win the title.
Stevenson skins the Crusaders
The Chiefs were pacesetters throughout the tournament, winning a club record 13 of 14 matches in the regular season and 15 from 16 coming into a home final.
They scored the first try of the match through fullback Shaun Stevenson in the 25th minute.
But Taylor’s first try in the 28th minute and another by Mo’unga in the 36th gave the Crusaders their 15-10 lead at the break.
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The Chiefs rallied superbly in the second half and shut down the Crusaders for long periods.
Narawa scored his try in the 43rd minute, winning back the lead for the Chiefs at 17-15, and then had another disallowed in the 56th.
McKenzie dashed to claim an overthrown Crusaders lineout and linked with Narawa, who scored.
But referee Ben O’Keeffe and TMO Brendon Pickerill correctly ruled that McKenzie had encroached inside 10 metres for the lineout and therefore was offside.
Chiefs co-captain Brad Weber said he was “gutted” by the loss.
“But I think a championship is definitely within these guys. It didn’t happen tonight but it certainly will happen.”
The Chiefs were attempting to win their third Super Rugby title and their first since 2013 under Dave Rennie.
“I don’t know how we got away with that,” Crusaders captain Scott Barrett said.
“The Chiefs were the form team all season. We knew it was going to be a heck of a job and it turned out to be that tonight.”
The Chiefs battled throughout against three yellow cards, two in the first half and another to co-captain Sam Cane in the second.
“It hurts to come up short right at the end there,” Cane said.
“A lot of credit absolutely must go to the Crusaders tonight. They’ve been the best for a number of years now and managed to show that again.”
Robertson took charge of the Crusaders in 2017, after they had gone eight years without a title.
They now have won a trophy in every season since he became coach.
He also won four titles for the Crusaders as a player.
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“I should be emotional but I’m not,” Robertson said.
“This is a special group. I think there were five guys on the field who were there in 2017.
“The coaching staff has reinvented itself over the years and there have been some key players, one’s Richie and one’s Sam (Whitelock).
“I’m just really proud.”
Lock Whitelock was man of the match in his 178th and last Crusaders outing before he heads to France.
He was in doubt before the match because of a nagging Achilles injury but played the full 80 minutes.
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