Piling in quite late to this.
You guys are are a bit sensitive to @Jaguares4real . He may be over=egging slightly, but that Jags side can go home feeling like they gave that a real crack. Some magic back play, the lines in midfield were amazing; they found space against a really good Crusaders defence. Looked creative and hard working, they have a bright future.
It was a cracking game of rugby, not expansive, but really tasty to watch. As always, fine margins; the scoreline most certainly did not reflect the intensity or evenness of the game. All the one eyed cantabs crowing about 'look at the scoreboard' are not showing an ounce of respect to a good opponent. By that logic, 2007 France and 2017 Lions were the better side, and deserved everything they got.
While another title is impressive, the Canterbury machine may be creaking at the edges a bit. Losing the Mitre 10 final last year to a bunch of colts, losing away to the Tahs, drawing at home against that Saffer side, and then looking vulnerable through the playoffs ... best tight five in the comp by a mile, but outside that it's been looking a bit more average. Well done and all that, but there's some future bits that are worth watching
Will be interesting to see how they cope with losing Franks, Whitelock, Todd up front next season. That's a hell of a lot of talent to replace in short order... will keep Razor busy I'm sure.