Rugby: McCaw frustrated by Crusaders' flat patch

Captain Richie McCaw has prompted comparisons between the Crusaders and the Blues with his summary of his team's performance. Photo / Getty Images.

"Frustrated", "annoyed", "too many mistakes" but determined to trust one another despite all of the above. The Crusaders are beginning to sound like the Blues as they prepare for the match against their old rivals in Christchurch on Saturday night.

Although the Crusaders are some distance from the Blues on the Super Rugby table - fifth as opposed to 14th - the seven-time champions haven't looked like adding to their titles in the past couple of weeks.

Their form hasn't quite been Blues-like, but it did reach its low-point in the defeat to the Rebels in Melbourne last weekend. The Blues also lost to the Rebels but they had already been counted out of the Super Rugby equation by then. For the Crusaders it was a real blow both to their reputation and chances of hosting a play-off match, as the Chiefs the next day won a bonus point in a loss to the Reds which stretched their lead in the New Zealand conference to eight points.

Captain Richie McCaw has prompted comparisons between the Crusaders and the Blues with his summary of his team's performance. An added challenge for him this week is the fact that he is starting at No8 due to Kieran Read's pelvis injury and Luke Whitelock's head knock. McCaw's counterpart at the Blues, Luke Braid, is also an openside expert starting at the back of the scrum.

"There's been some pretty straight talking but you have to keep trusting and believing in the guys you've got," said McCaw. "Often the difference in getting it right and not isn't major. It can seem like it but if you break it right down it comes down to making good decisions and cutting out a few mistakes ... like, last week there were two one after the other - two tries - and bang we were chasing the game rather than being in control of it."

That could have come straight from the mouth of Blues' coach Pat Lam, which begs the question, what is going on at the Crusaders? Excellent victories over the Stormers and the Hurricanes were followed by a scratchy away win over the Waratahs, an even uglier win at home against the Reds, and then that loss to the Rebels.

"It's not one thing," said McCaw. "Against the Reds we didn't really get our set piece right which didn't give us the opportunity to get going, whereas last week we actually got our set piece right but didn't get the rest of it right. That's the frustrating part. If there's one thing you could fix it, but each week what you focus on you get right but you forget about the other thing, so it's been a bit annoying.

"We're still at the point in the season where we're still in the hunt, this weekend and the one after, they're critical, whether you stay in the game or you start chasing things."

Luke Braid was left out of the All Blacks training squad to prepare for the Ireland tests, in favour of Sam Cane, but McCaw was full of praise for the 23-year-old who has excelled in spite of the captaincy burden and being part of a struggling team.

"I've actually been quite impressed with the way Luke Braid has been playing this year. He's quite a physical character and he gets stuck in. A bit like me really [at No8], he won't change the way he plays, it's just a case of fitting in. I thought they [Braid brothers] worked pretty well together last week so we'll be expecting the same.

"Last week they got a win. Sometimes that's all you need - to get the confidence back and start working on things rather than focusing on that [victory]. They've certainly got some ability. They've got a pretty good scrum and if they get some space they've got Ma'a Nonu and Co and they're good players."

A quadriceps injury to Tom Taylor has forced Todd Blackadder's hand in selecting Dan Carter at first-five, one of seven changes, but the move had been hinted at following the Rebels loss. Ryan Crotty, hampered by a hamstring injury earlier in the season, gets a rare start at second-five and Blackadder will be looking to him to provide some penetration after an anemic performance from the backs last weekend.