To make matters worse, Blackadder will be without 10 of his players until Wednesday due to the All Blacks training camp in Christchurch.
"It's going to be a really good challenge for the team this week," Blackadder said. "This needs to be an anomaly, just one of those poor performances you just can't put your finger on. That's our challenge, to show that it was otherwise what we'll take out of tonight is that the rot has set in and we're too good a team for that."
Credit must go to the Sharks for hanging on for one of the most stunning victories of the season. But there will be some harsh questions asked of the Crusaders this week once the squad is finally back together.
The feeling was that the Crusaders were too slow in adapting from a kick-first game plan to an attacking strategy which would have made the most of their numerical advantage, but how a team which included All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw couldn't make that leap almost beggars belief.
"They were hungrier than us, certainly at the breakdown, and that was disappointing," Blackadder said.
"You've got to be mentally up for every game in this competition and we weren't."
The Highlanders showed in their victory over the Hurricanes that they don't have too many issues with their defence. With only four players - Liam Coltman, Aaron Smith, Malakai Fekitoa and Ben Smith - involved with the All Blacks this week their preparations are also likely to be much smoother than the Crusaders'.