There’s nothing that inflames a bit of passion in sports followers as much as those international boundaries that are crossed quite consistently, stoking a fire in the belly of even the most placid of supporters – and Super Rugby is one of the unique elite competitions in the world that offers the chance to show national pride AND sledge off another country in the space of 80 minutes.

With the two semi finals looking to be cracking matches, it was the local derby of the Chiefs v Crusaders match from Hamilton under the watchful eye of Steve Walsh that was always going to be the most interesting…

The Crusaders started off with all guns blazing, much to the disgust of the locals, who had that horrific cowbell thing happening…

The Whitelock clan looked like they were going to take over the world…

… but have you seen those boys?  Mummy Whitelock is the one I feel sorry for.

Richie McCaw found himself to be less popular than gastro in a hospital…

… but I’m sure if Quade “Copper” could, he’d be arresting the offenders.

The atmosphere was intense; some struggled to find the ability to describe it succinctly:

Um. Right.

Despite going into the semi final as favourites and having a strong showing though, the Crusaders missed out of the narrowest of margins, leaving some Saders fans gutted:

Some missed the match and were kicking themselves…

But it was, without doubt, one of the best rugby matches we have had the privilege of watching this year.

How best can we sum it up?

Beautiful.

Here’s to a cracking final on Saturday – best of luck to the Chiefs and Brumbies, you’ve got a lot to live up to after last week.