Flankers could be decisive for Crusaders and Stormers

By WYNNE GRAY

The duel between flankers Richie McCaw and Schalk Burger could be enough to swing the result of tonight's opening semifinal in Christchurch.

Neither the Crusaders nor the visiting Stormers have been in persuasive form in the latter stages of the series as they have clawed their way to the playoffs.

The Stormers have to deal with travel fatigue and memories of their missed chance against a Crusaders side reduced to 14 men a fortnight ago.

The home side have to overcome a limp production last week and the loss of test lock Chris Jack.

This is not a game for experimentation, dreamy methods or inflated ambition. It is all about getting a result, taking penalty kicks, reducing errors and sustaining pressure. There is no tomorrow for the loser.

Expect both teams to try to grind through the opening stages, to kick for position in this sudden-death semi - a game which should veer more towards test-match intensity than some of the entertaining froth of round-robin matches.

That suits the Crusaders' style. They are a patterned side; they prefer to be methodical and place a lot of faith in their systems rather than any indiscriminate approach.

Breaching the advantage line and work at the breakdown tonight will take on even more importance than they do in most matches. Enter McCaw and Burger.

McCaw is in the top echelon of openside flankers with George Smith, Phil Waugh and Joe van Niekerk, but Burger is catching them fast.

In the Stormers' favour is the support he gets from Hendrik Gerber and the improving Adri Badenhorst, while McCaw may not get the same backing from Reuben Thorne and Sam Broomhall.

Gerber describes the key to McCaw's success as his speed.

"If you are up with the ball all the time you can steal a lot of possession. And the opposite is true too, obviously," Gerber said.

"There is something else he does extremely well. When he executes a tackle he gets up slowly on the wrong side of the point of breakdown. If we don't clear properly, he slows down our possession terribly."

Some of the potential Crusaders' fragility disappeared yesterday when halfback Justin Marshall declared himself fit to join the repaired Aaron Mauger after a private fitness test on his damaged hip muscle.

Marshall's experience should settle some of last week's stutters and shut down the defensive alleys round the fringes.

Whether he will also be able to attack the Stormers with any conviction must be uncertain.

In making his decision, coach Robbie Deans was confident Marshall would not compromise team hopes with personal ambition.

Nor did Deans think his side were suffering any hangover from the physical battering they took last week from the Hurricanes.

"We possibly may have been guilty of looking at this game and then thinking about self-preservation," he suggested.

The Stormers have a solid tight five to reinforce their loose forwards: set-piece solidity which will ask even more questions of the Crusaders' reduced height and lineout choices without Jack.

The visitors will try to emulate the sting of the Hurricanes' pack, a tactic which put enormous pressure last week on an under-powered Crusaders' backline.

There is also a belief that implosion is not far away from the Stormers' backline, with Gaffie du Toit directing his troops.

He is gifted, but too often wayward and a prime target for the Crusaders' marauders.

If the Stormers are not handily placed going into the final quarter, their minds will return to their inability to defeat the 14-man Crusaders a fortnight ago, while their bodies will feel all the exhaustion of their travel itinerary.

* Crusaders vs Stormers, Christchurch, tonight 7.35

WATCH FOR

* Test-match intensity rather than round-robin extravagance.

* Patterned play and plenty of kicking for position.

* The travel factor weighing on the Stormers in the final quarter.


* Visit nzherald.co.nz throughout the weekend for Super 12 updates.