After 18 years of heartbreak and frustration, the Blues have finally broken their Super Rugby drought against the Crusaders at Christchurch, surviving a spirited comeback to emerge 27-23 victors.
With six consecutive wins under their belts this season, the northern raiders headed to the Garden City with perhaps their best shot at toppling the competition powerhouses in years and appeared to be in the boxseat just after halftime, ahead 17-10, with their rivals down to 13 men.
With midfielder David Havili already serving a yellow card for playing the ball from the ground, the Crusaders lost skipper Scott Barrett to a red, after he caught Blues prop Alex Hodgman with a late, no-arms shoulder to the head.
From the ensuing penalty, hooker Kurt Eklund continued his impressive tryscoring run for the Blues, propelling them out to 24-10, with the Crusaders seemingly at their mercy.
To their credit, the reigning Super Rugby Aotearoa champions hung tough, with winger Sevu Rece scoring a try soon after Havili returned to the action and then another soon after rookie Dom Gardner replaced Barrett, as the Crusaders were restored to their full contingent.
Crucially, Richie Mo'unga left his conversion of Reece's second try wide right, missing the opportunity to close within a penalty kick of victory.
With 10 minutes remaining, the Blues lead was down to four points and memories of their season-opening capitulation to the Hurricanes, when they lost an 18-point advantage and conceded the matchwinning try to Ardie Savea on fulltime, came flooding back.
But over the weeks since that horror show, the Aucklanders have developed real resilience, no better demonstrated that their 25-0 win over the Chiefs last week, when they were also reduced to 13 men, but tackled themselves to a standstill to complete the whitewash.
The Crusaders' big chance to steal the result came when they charged down Beauden Barrett's attempted clearance from behind his own goal-line and forced an attacking five-metre scrum. After a couple of phases, they released the ball right, where Gardner dashed towards the corner flag, but was smashed into touch by Reiko Ioane and Blues captain Dalton Papalii.
As the fulltime siren sounded, the Crusaders were still on attack, but spilled the ball at a ruck and Barrett found touch to secure the win. Among those celebrating the hardest were Blues coach Leon MacDonald and veteran lock Luke Romano, both former Crusaders stalwarts forced to leave to further their careers.
While both teams scored three tries apiece, the outcome probably came down to the Blues' determination to make the most of every scoring opportunity afforded them, kicking for goal, rather than the corner.
The Crusaders were at their best, when fullback Will Jordan fielded long kick and counterattacked from his own half.
"For me, it was quite emotional out there those last 10 minutes," Papalii told Sky Sport. "The boys just dug deep and I couldn't have asked any more from my lads, coming down here and doing the job,
"All week, we said it was finals footy and the Crusaders have had that platform for so many years, so to finally come down here and do the job is truly special.
"Credit to the Crusaders, we knew they would come out hissing the second half and even when they were a man down, they were unreal."
Victory puts the Blues on top of the combined Super Rugby Pacific table, ahead of the Brumbies on points difference, with a game in hand and the trans-Tasman crossovers scheduled to begin next week.
The Blues hosting newcomers Fijian Drua, while the Crusaders visit Melbourne Rebels on Sunday.
Blues 27 (Christie, Eklund & Papalii tries, Perofeta penalty & 2 conversions, Barrett conversion & penalty) Crusaders 23 (Jordan & Reece 2 tries, Mo'unga conversion & 2 penalties)
