The Crusaders, formerly known as the Canterbury Crusaders, is a rugby union club based in Christchurch, New Zealand; the club plays its home matches at the city's Apollo Projects Stadium, and its traditional home colours are red and black. The team currently competes in Super Rugby Pacific.
📜 Crusaders History
The Crusaders franchise was established in 1996, ahead of the inaugural Super 12 season, which began later that year. Originally, the club represented the Buller, Canterbury, Marlborough, Mid-Canterbury, Nelson Bays, South Canterbury, and West Coast rugby unions, however it now represents Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman, and West Coast.
The Crusaders won the Super 12 title for the first time in 1998, defeating the Blues in the final in Auckland. The team then went on to defend the trophy in the 1999 and 2000 seasons, becoming the first club to win the competition on 3 occasions, and the only team to date to win it 3 times or more in-a-row.
A fourth Super Rugby title followed in 2002, before a loss in the 2003 and 2004 finals, to the Blues and Brumbies respectively. The championship returned to Christchurch in 2005, was retained in 2006, and then reclaimed in 2008, following the Bulls' win in 2007.
It would be almost 10 years before the Crusaders won the Super Rugby title again, with the Crusaders defeating the Lions in the 2017 grand final in Johannesburg. This long-awaited win would however usher-in a period of dominance for the South Island side, with wins in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023 following, in addition to regional titles in 2020 and 2021. To date, the Crusaders franchise is the most successful in Super Rugby Pacific history.
