The celebrations at the Crusaders will continue over the next few days before the squad disperses for All Blacks or NPC duties but head coach Scott Robertson wants a more permanent reminder of what his players have achieved in winning seven consecutive Super Rugby championships.
It turns out that getting to seventh heaven wasn’t merely a headline device for the media reporting on the events of the weekend as the Crusaders beat the Chiefs 25-20 at Waikato Stadium in one of the most intense finals in recent memory.
It was, as revealed by Robertson yesterday, the Crusaders’ theme for the season – a goal to aspire to or maybe more accurately ascend to – thought up in conjunction with the franchise’s new Hall of Fame which recognises the greats who have worn red and black since 1996.
Change is coming, clearly, and while Robertson’s reign is over – much to the disappointment of the hundreds who turned up to Christchurch airport yesterday to welcome the team back from Hamilton – one element will be welcome: a new stadium to replace the shabby "temporary" one constructed in 2011.
It’s this new facility, called Te Kaha, now under construction in the city centre that Robertson wants as a focal point in recognition of those legends past including the departing Sam Whitelock and Richie Mo’unga. It is due to be finished in 2026.
“This year, we wanted to go to heaven - seventh heaven,” Robertson said. “And we realised to go to heaven you’ve got to have immortals in your team, and we’ve got a lot - we believe.”
Robertson floated the idea of statues of the greats, including Whitelock, an idea Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge is supportive of.
"Razor [Robertson] has definitely done some lobbying, he wants Te Kaha to be every bit as good as the best stadia in the world and I think it will be,” Mansbridge told RNZ’s Morning Report this morning.
"We've got our own legends Hall of Fame in the Crusaders club, launched this year, but we are talking to Te Kaha about how could we ramp up the surrounds in the precinct when it opens in a couple of years' time," Mansbridge said.
In 2011 a bronze sculpture of former All Black Michael Jones diving across the try line at the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup was unveiled at Eden Park.
Mansbridge told Morning Report a statue of Whitelock reaching for ball in line-out "would be stunning".
Robertson himself would be a candidate to be immortalised in bronze or similar, an idea he laughed about yesterday.
The former Crusaders loose forward helped the franchise win three titles in a row as a player from 1998 and has transformed the franchise via his coaching, selecting and ability to build and inspire a team.
“It’s a strange feeling – it hasn’t really sunk in,” Robertson said of the final. “That’s the first one I’ve won when we’ve been behind. There were some big pressure moments. The boys stood up and did what we prepared for.
“The result probably reflected the season – how tough and hard it was. The injuries were well documented. But that game took grit and that’s what epitomised the season – how tough it was.”
Mo’unga, leaving to play French club rugby after the World Cup, said: “We were put into some pretty difficult circumstances but finals footy is different – we understand that.
“Regardless of the championship and whether we won or not, I think putting on the Crusaders jersey and representing the community… I’m just so proud and so happy.”
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