Two late penalties from Tom Taylor earned the Crusaders a narrow Super 15 victory over the Reds in Christchurch, avenging defeat in last year's Super Rugby final which was one of a run of three successive losses to the same opponents.
The Crusaders made the most of poor discipline by their opponents in the closing minutes as the Reds conceded two penalties which Taylor kicked.
Those kicks turned the game around for the Crusaders who had trailed for much of the second half against a Reds side who scored the only try of the match through James Hanson.
Taylor was successful with five of his six attempts during a match which saw the lead change hands several times.
Taylor's fourth penalty in the 72nd minute reclaimed the lead for the home side and then he kicked his fifth four minutes later to seal the win.
But Taylor's kicking apart the Crusaders put in a poor performance which was littered with errors and they were fortunate to claim a win which moved them into second place in the New Zealand conference, seven points behind the Chiefs.
The scrums were the only area in which the Crusaders were dominant except for a 10-minute spell in the second half when All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett was sin-binned for a shoulder charge on Wallabies scrum-half Will Genia.
The Reds claimed the only try of the match as early as the first minute after charging down a Crusaders clearing kick straight after the kick-off.
Reds hooker Hanson handled twice in the movement that led to the try as the visitors drove to the Crusaders' goal line after the charge down, recycling possession before driving Hanson over on a poorly defended blindside.
New Zealand-born centre Mike Harris missed the conversion of Hanson's try and also a 33rd-minute penalty, with Taylor kicking penalties in the seventh and 20th minutes to claim a 6-5 lead which the home side held until the break.
Harris landed his first goal of the match three minutes into the second half but Taylor replied only three minutes later.
Harris kicked another penalty in the 61st minute, awarded for the incident which saw Crockett shown a yellow card, to make it 11-9 before Taylor settled the game with his late accuracy.
The last 10 minutes of the game saw several penalties awarded and Taylor made the most of his opportunities to make it 38 successful kicks from 45 this season.
A bonus point for the Reds left them nine adrift of the Brumbies in the Australian conference.
