'Smoked them': Queensland exposed again in finals as Crusaders march on to Super Rugby Pacific home semi

A trio of former internationals lamented Queensland's inability to adapt to conditions and go to a plan B after the Crusaders easily ended their season with a 32-12 romp in the rain on Friday night.

The Reds have now bowed out in the first round of the Super Rugby finals in four straight years, each time against a Kiwi opponent.

And questions were being asked of their brains trust in chilly Christchurch, where Queensland were led by Wallabies coach-in-waiting Les Kiss and had Test captain Harry Wilson at No.8.

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It must be said that most Super Rugby sides would have struggled to match the Crusaders, who now boast an astonishing 30-0 home record in playoff matches.

But the Reds barely fired a shot and left Australia with just one title hope remaining in the Brumbies, who host the Hurricanes in Canberra on Saturday night. There was nothing particularly special from the Crusaders. They just did the basics better and for longer.

"The balance was questioned, wasn't it, because they (Reds) didn't take penalty goals (throughout the season)," ex-All Blacks captain Justin Marshall said on Stan Sport's coverage.

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"They had an ambition to play. They've got firepower. They've got some exciting players... you've got to find a plan B.

"I just think what they'll learn out of their season this year is 'OK, we know where we're good, but when we have to go to plan B, we've got to be better.'

"Because they got shut down tonight and they had no plan B."

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Wallabies and Queensland legend Tim Horan had similar concerns.

"The challenge for the Queensland Reds is... the way that Les Kiss has coached his team, to play this open expansive game of rugby," Horan said.

"And then you come up against this Crusaders team in wet conditions and they just haven't been able to adapt to these conditions. Because they're so used to playing ball in hand, offloads, and it just hasn't worked tonight."

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The second ranked Crusaders will host a home semi-final next Friday against the highest seeded losing team while the Reds can plan their Mad Monday before turning their attention to a July 2 date with the British and Irish Lions.

Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders forwards in slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures.

Halfback Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, rising No.10 Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds.

"Tonight wasn't the the easiest night to come and play that attacking, quick brand of rugby," Crusaders great Andy Ellis noted.

"The Crusaders were just too physical in every aspect. Scrum, breakdown, defensively, so clinical. It was a real Crusaders playoff performance tonight... they smoked them at the breakdown.

"Their defence didn't relent until about 20 minutes to go, the game was over. And then the set piece, I mean, there were four or five scrum penalties to start the game. Very hard to win playoff footy when a team decides to roll their sleeves up and take you to that dark place."

The result means Australian teams are 0-20 in playoff matches in New Zealand.

"Really disappointed with the result but I'm really proud of this group and the season that we had," Reds captain Tate McDermott said.

"They were all over us at the breakdown and collision area and we just couldn't get into our cycle."

The Reds fought hard and created early chances which often were undone by handling errors close to the try line.

They finally had success in the 70th minute when substitute hooker Josh Nasser scored from a lineout drive.

Then, in the 76th minute, flanker Fraser McReight scored from a sublime kick from his great mate Wilson.

Replacement halfback Kyle Preston finished with an intercept try for the Crusaders in the last minute.

The Reds suffered a major setback when they lost Wallabies pivot Tom Lynagh to a head injury midway through the first half. With Harry McLaughlin-Phillips also unavailable with an HIA, it left fullback Jock Campbell as the chief playmaker.

"The game certainly puts you into a despondent mode, that's for sure, but credit to the Crusaders," Kiss said.

"They punished us, the set piece and the scrum in particular put us under pressure, and we just couldn't adapt quick enough."

Kiss will have one more crack with the Reds next season before replacing Joe Schmidt as Wallabies coach ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

"We have a game that's compelling when we get it going," he said.

"Maybe the conditions tonight, in the set piece, pressure just pushed us off that a little bit and we needed to be a bit more direct at times...

"One of the things we've got to do is be able to just blend that physicality and directness a little bit more. Losing Tommy didn't help.

"When you have a crack, you still do have to be extremely physical. Both go hand in hand."

In the 15th minute, the Crusaders won a breakdown turnover and captain David Havili put the ball out 5m from the Reds line.

Josh Canham won the ball cleanly for the Reds but in transferring it to McReight, Barrett got a hand in the way.

He regained the ball and drove over for the first try of the match.

In the 20th minute, the Crusaders won a penalty close to the Reds 22 when McDermott was ruled to be not supporting his weight at a ruck.

The Crusaders kicked to the corner, Barrett won the lineout and after several thrusts, Williams forced his way over.

The 140kg All Blacks prop limped from the field a few minutes later with a knee injury.

Reihana landed one of two conversions and the Crusaders led 12-0 at halftime.

Reihana left the field temporarily for an HIA before halftime which allowed Wallabies veteran James O'Connor to make an earlier than expected appearance against his former Reds teammates.

Hotham pursued his own kick to score a brilliant try in the 57th minute and Reihana scored after the Crusaders had sorely pressed the Reds defence from lineouts.

"Very disappointing way to end the season," Wilson said.

"I felt like we didn't really get into the game there and couldn't fire a shot until the last 10 minutes... we came into this game really believing. We made the quarter-final again this year and haven't gone further, so it's very disappointing.

"We've had a lot of injuries this year, we still came fifth and had a lot of young players come through, playing some really good footy. And it's on us next year to step up and go a bit deeper." - with AP