As I sat shellshocked in the stands at AMI Stadium on Friday night, surrounded by ecstatic Crusaders fans, I asked myself a few questions, including: "How do I even begin to write this report?"
As a Highlanders fan, that game was not easy to watch and as a Highlanders fan living amongst the enemy, I would cop so much slack from my friends and family.
"How was I going to survive the week?" was another, and of course the one question that would have puzzled the Highlanders boys, "How did that happen?"
After thinking about it for I while, the answer became fairly obvious, but we have to back up about three weeks to really understand it.
The Crusaders' trip to Melbourne should have resulted in an easy win for the red and blacks; the Rebels, however, had other plans as they sank the Cantabrians' hopes with a massive upset win by 28-19.
After the match was an interview with Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder, normally a cool, calm and collected character, who looked absolutely livid, and looked as if he was about to have a few very strong words to his boys.
A week later was a different story entirely, the Crusaders delivering a 59-12 win over the Blues in which they appeared to be a different side from the one who faced the Rebels, and after a week off to refuel the engines, they did it again to their southern rivals. Whatever Blackadder said to fire up his boys, it worked.
The game did not start as the one-sided affair it ended up as - after the Crusaders took an early 10-0 lead, they lost try scorer George Whitelock to the bin and this is where the Highlanders pounced, responding through the boot of Chris Noakes and a great try to Tamati Ellison, taking the
lead by 13-10, they were still in.
This lead was short lived though. Shortly after Whitelock returned from the bin, James Haskell was sent to the sideline for 10 minutes. The roles were reversed and the floodgates opened, the Crusaders dominant in every area, running in another three tries before the break to secure the bonus point and a 32-13 lead.
The Crusaders' dominance continued in the second half, Richie McCaw scoring a try before leading his side to score a further two five pointers.
Hosea Gear responded with an impressive intercept try but it was too late. The Crusaders proved too classy and too powerful for their southern rivals, taking an impressive 51-18 victory.
Now I understand how I have been stripped of my bragging rights, now we have a month break from Super Rugby to make way for the All Blacks' three-test series against Ireland, featuring six Highlanders (Ben Smith, Hosea Gear, Tamati Ellison, Aaron Smith, Adam Thomson and Andrew Hore) in Steve Hansen's first team as head coach.
The only question that remains now is how we continue. If the example Todd Blackadder set is anything to go by, I think a good talking to in the
changing sheds is all we need to get back on track, something we all know Jamie Joseph is capable of.