Bruising Barry no worry for Mauger

Aaron Mauger is not reaching for the body armour ahead of the Crusaders' Super 14 match this weekend, despite a likely clash against midfield cannonball De Wet Barry.

The Stormers second five-eighth appears to have his mug shot imprinted on the referees' yellow cards, with the Springbok finding himself twice falling foul of officialdom this season.

Barry is the only player to be yellow carded in the last five successive seasons of Super rugby and he's accumulated six since 2002, mostly for high or reckless tackles.

His most recent indiscretion in a career littered with 10-minute breaks came against the Blues on April 8 when he was sinbinned for a dangerous tackle in their 32-15 loss.

It attracted the ire of his coach Kobus van der Merwe who slammed his skipper's ill-discipline.

Besides a fine, Merwe went a step further, relegating Barry to the bench for their following match against the Chiefs.

Barry was also sinbinned in the first round for charging head first into a ruck, but Mauger, who's battled Barry over numerous seasons in both Super and international rugby, was unconcerned about a potential tussle against his opposing No 12.

If anything, Barry's penchant for ball-in-all-tackles which frequently sees his shots travelling up high, can be used against him, Mauger said from Cape Town.

"I don't really worry about stuff like that," Mauger said about Barry's reputation.

"We're just trying to work out a way to take him out of the game and sometimes peoples' strengths can be their weaknesses.

"The way they play, it should be a pretty physical match."

Mauger, a front-runner for an All Blacks midfield berth this season, will have his hands full on Sunday morning NZ time at Newlands, with Barry likely to be partnered by either fellow Springboks Jean de Villiers or Marius Joubert.

"They are all pretty seasoned players and they've played a lot of tests as well. Whoever they put out in the midfield, it will be a good combination."

The Crusaders, unbeaten after 10 matches and leading the competition, were jolted of out any complacency with last weekend's shock 23-23 draw against the cellar-dwelling Western Force in Perth.

With the rugby season enveloping 10 months of the year, resting players to preserve them was a popular tactic with Crusaders coach Robbie Deans regularly rotating his squad.

He made seven changes for the match against the Force.

A match which featured numerous dropped passes in a rusty display, but Mauger said rotating players took precedence even if it regularly disrupted the playing 15.

"It's always good to have continuity, but guys need to be looking after themselves so we're firing for the last couple of rounds, and hopefully the semi and final.

"It's important that we look at the big picture and get it right.

"Fortunately we have that position we've been able to rotate the last couple of weeks."

With a semifinals berth assured, they face a taxing run after the Stormers with away matches against the Bulls and the Brumbies as they look to seal a home semifinal.

Newlands, where the Crusaders have hit 50 points in their last two visits, provides the five-time champions with an ideal platform to get back into winning mode, Mauger said.

"We have a couple of tough games to finish with, but the boys are pretty excited about it.

"We've sat down in the last couple of days and reviewed where we're at and some good stuff came out of it."

- NZPA