By CHRIS RATTUE
Once they were the innovators. Now they are the old brigade.
The Crusaders were the first side in the Super 12 to employ a distinctive pattern, and they did it so effectively that they have won the last two titles.
They announced that the days when forwards simply won the ball, gave it to backs who worked their instinctive magic, with loose forwards chasing at them in defence and attack, were over.
Individual ability still counted, but only if it fitted into a regimented team pattern. The Crusaders proved to be ruthless in weeding out the players who could not do the drills. Norm Berryman may have been a madcap and influential part of some Crusaders' success, but his lack of an all-round game has seen him relegated to the also-rans. He cannot even make the champions' bench these days.
Now, in tonight's Super 12 final, the Crusaders will represent the old guard in rugby thinking when they take on the Brumbies at Bruce Stadium in Canberra.
The Crusaders, under new All Black coach Wayne Smith, redesigned rugby by taking forwards out of rucks and spreading them in defence across the field.
Their ability to defend relentlessly, with a gang-tackling style which smashed ball runners backwards, won the day in the last two years of the competition.
Others tried to follow suit with various degrees of success. Now, that offensive style of defence has come up against a new breed of rugby animal - the Brumbies.
Now it is the Canberra-based side who are leading the way in rugby thinking. Whereas the Crusaders turned aggressive defence into attack, the Brumbies have turned continual attack through brilliant ball retention into the best form of defence.
Because they have such innovative plays based around Stephen Larkham and Rod Kafer, they can control possession for such long periods that opponents often do not have the ball long enough to mount enough serious attacks.
Larkham's and Kafer's patience and belief in the Brumbies' way of doing things means that even when they appear to be under threat, as they were in the early stages of the semifinal against the Cats, they know their system will prevail.
The only side in Super 12 history who could match their dominance and quality were the early Blues line-up, but Graham Henry's team relied more on having better players than opposing sides rather than a system which crushed the life out of challengers.
It has been an absolute pleasure to watch the Brumbies in action this year. Maybe a small percentage of the complaints about their moves, which some believe rely heavily on obstruction, are justified.
But they have not only turned the game into an art form, but one which is worth watching.
Most, maybe all, of New Zealand will rally behind the Crusaders, whose never-say-die attitude has to draw respect.
This is maybe the most interesting Super 12 final so far. A patriotic us-against-them. One distinctive pattern against another. And the flagship of New Zealand domestic rugby will be trying to prove that there is still some merit in a blood-and-guts attitude to the game when faced with a better prepared opponent.
The worry for the Crusaders is that their defensive prowess has been on the wane this year.
But the two best sides in the competition have risen to the top - and the Crusaders are the only side in the competition who could go to a final in Canberra these days with a reasonable chance of success.
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