The Crusaders have leapfrogged the Blues into 5th place on the Super Rugby table following last night's 23-3 victory in Christchurch.
The Blues started strongly, but the Crusaders held on to build pressure of their own in the first half with centre Ryan Crotty charging down a kick to score a try for the hosts.
The Crusaders nearly scored again with half time approaching but the Blues lock Calum Retallick deliberately knocked on the crucial pass and was rewarded with a yellow card.
A man down at the start of the second period the Blues leaked a try after the restart when Owen Franks spearheaded a line out drive across the visitors line.
CRUSADERS 23 (Ryan Crotty, Owen Franks tries Tom Taylor 2 cons 3 pens)
BLUES 3 (Chris Noakes pen)
