KEY POINTS:
The best gauge of Robbie Deans' utterly remarkable stewardship of Canterbury rugby will come next year when his Crusaders fall into the hands of the luckless sod who takes over from the super coach.
Here we are, two games out from the fortnight of furious plane travel that
passes for a finals series, and this average Crusaders squad is so far ahead of the Super 14 field that Deans could take one of those Dan Carter sabbaticals knowing his team is in the semis with home advantage assured.
Deans has cleared off into a masterclass of his own. There is such a phenomenal amount of daylight between the dry Cantabrian and the horde of coaches who have needlessly nicked the best car space at other franchises that you could plonk a couple of solar panels in there and power a small city or even the NZRU headquarters.
The Chiefs may have humiliated the Crusaders on petrol-head weekend in Hamilton but it is the six-times champs who have raced away from the pile-up and are headed for a ninth grand final appearance in 13 seasons.
The red and blacks are into winning the war even if they lose a few battles, whereas the Chiefs still have that excitable look which brings a few famous victories but even more famous defeats. The Crusaders' credo certainly didn't seem to have rubbed off on Ian Foster's mob at Subiaco Oval in Western Australia where they were tripped up by a late Force penalty to gifted little Matt Giteau.
One late incident in the match stands out - with the Chiefs on course for victory their No 8 Sione Lauaki set off upfield with the body position of the Statue of Liberty while hanging on to the ball with the sort of force that binds Italian Governments to power. Apart from slapping a stamp on the ball, there wasn't much more Lauaki could have done to deliver it to John Mitchell's outfit, especially as the support troops appeared to be sightseeing in Fremantle.
You can rest assured that, in the same situation, the Crusaders would have buried the ball, probably in Greg Somerville's armpit. Had anyone tried to remove it from said canyon, Brad Thorn and Richie McCaw would have intervened and hauled any invader away. Meanwhile, Ali Williams and Corey Flynn would have chucked in their nightclub acts in favour of doing Somerville impressions. Kieran Read would have been Kieran Read.
Deans has imbued successive batches of players in hard-headed ways and an instinct to do the right thing at the right time.
The Crusaders might sing Reuben Thorne songs but that's only because it is absolutely naff to go around singing about your coach. The Reuben Thorne song - if that is not too strong a word for a chant that is to melody and lyrics what the Trabant was to luxury motoring - is an ode to a way of doing things learned from the dogged coach.
You get a lot of anecdotal evidence about what makes Deans tick via the missionary work of Canterbury fanatics around the country.
A bloke around here reckons that Deans can be seen late into the night at the Crusaders training ground, poring over his work in an Old World hut that makes the Eden Park toilets look like a palace. This folklore image of a man beavering away in a rough room which is a two-bar heater short of two-star accommodation says it all.
The Crusaders are uninterested in fancy trappings - their rugby is boiled down to basics from which the luxuries may flow on a good day. Had Deans hung in there for a couple more titles then who knows, his hut could have qualified for curtains.
Man for man, the 2008 Crusaders aren't much, or any better, than other Super 14 squads. They even lack the overall class of previous Crusaders line ups - Kade Poki, Sean Maitland and Tim Bateman aren't household names in their own streets and until recently George Whitelock was assumed to be a new brand of chutney.
The contending Sharks were dismissed more than beaten at Deans-Hadlee Park on Friday night, a typical Crusaders affair in which they made a narrow escape appear routine.
The next Crusaders coach will not be a luckless sod, of course, because he will inherit players steeped in winning ways. But he will be on a hiding to nothing following Deans. If he succeeds, the critics will say that Robbie handed him a winner anyway.
In the likely event of a drop-off, the new coach will shoulder major blame.
There is often a crumbly period in sport after a famous leader leaves, an era of readjustment during which the careers of a budding coach or two (or an indefinite number in the case of the Blues) are sacrificed before things are righted. Going by Crusaders legend, the new boss will be expected to work extremely long hours in a dingy office. He'll be able to brighten the room up with postcards from the French Riviera sent by Dan Carter, which isn't cheery news either.
HIGH
The New Zealand Warriors boosted their erratic season with a hard-fought if modest win in the wet over the mistake-ridden Canberra Raiders.
An accomplished Crusaders' display has them set to contend for another trophy as they continue to fly the flag for New Zealand rugby.
LOW
Further acrimony in the English Premier League with Manchester United's Nani sent off for a headbutt. It is a brilliant competition but some of the behaviour isn't too flash.
