John Drake: Two best teams contesting final - what more could you want?

Way back in February, Robbie Deans would have looked at his Crusaders squad and wondered if the new guys would front up this year.

Having lost the likes of Justin Marshall, Andrew Mehrtens, Dave Hewitt and Norm Maxwell, Deans could have been excused for thinking it would be hard to keep winning.

To compensate for that loss of experience, Deans decided to put the Crusaders squad through a brutal pre-season training regime.

Experienced players like Reuben Thorne noted they had never been fitter or stronger coming into a season. This has enabled the Crusaders to start the season better than ever and win games in the last 10 minutes when the extra fitness kicked in.

To me, Deans is Crusaders rugby. Nothing flashy, usually one step ahead of the rest, not a lot of ego but a lot of hard work and planning. Seamlessly bringing new players in, replacing others but never altering the mentality and ethos of the group.

Be in no doubt Deans is a great coach and rugby thinker.

Up the road in Hurricanes land, it has been the season to dream for.

Gone is the leaky defence and wobbly scrum. Colin Cooper has been in rugby a long time. I first met him when we roomed together in a North Island under-18 representative team.

I was still at school. Colin had been in the freezing works for a couple of years. He was mature, but shy in a country way.

A few years later we roomed again in an All Black trial. I had just finished university and Colin was still at the works. We were both honoured just to be there, let alone play.

The next time we met, Colin had been appointed the first fulltime coach with the Taranaki union and I was a union sponsor.

Colin had swapped the freezing works gear for a tracksuit but I suspect the lessons learned in that tough work environment would be the base for his rugby dealings.

Cooper was always a quiet guy and some wondered if he would be hard enough to make it as a coach in New Zealand when so many are chasing so few positions.

It didn't seem to worry Deans when the Crusaders picked Cooper as his assistant a few years ago. For the maturity and balance in this Hurricanes team, look no further than Cooper.

Selections have been consistent, discipline has been firm but fair and Cooper has made this group develop a mental toughness which is essential to win any competition.

So two master coaches and statistically the two best teams in the competition.

One team has the experience of going to so many finals their supporters don't seem to bother about turning up to semifinals because they know they'll be back for the final a week later.

The other team are on a roll, almost pinching themselves about their success.

Finals are usually won by doing a few things well and keeping it simple in attack and defence.

At scrum time the Hurricanes have made huge progress and in Neemia Tialata and John Schwalger they have a sound platform. I still think they can be clumsy in some of their scrum tactics and surely referee Jonathan Kaplan won't be so generous two weeks in a row.

The Crusaders are technically very accurate at the scrum and now Greg Somerville is back at tighthead they have again found the power which could destroy the odd casual Hurricanes scrum.

Jason Eaton has been the go-to man at the lineout but will be playing one of the best in Chris Jack, a player who now sometimes coasts, but never in finals.

Both hookers sometimes struggle to find their targets, so lineouts will be competitive.

The battle in the loose will be seriously brutal and ultimately may decide the game, not so much the winning of ball but the slowing down of the oppositions.

A warning to the Hurricanes: if you focus too hard on Richie McCaw and attempt to be too physical you will come second. Cool heads win these kind of games and Kaplan will not tolerate cheap shots and fouls.

The Hurricanes will see Kevin Senio as a target; again Piri Weepu has to play his own game and not get consumed in the one-on-one battle.

Deans will tell his forwards that if they make the platform, then Senio and Dan Carter will guide them around the park and they'll have few worries.

The Hurricanes will look for Ma'a Nonu and Tana Umuga to break the line early on. Unfortunately the days of Aaron Mauger's flaky defence are gone so the Hurricanes may need to look at other channels.

One thing is for sure: to win finals you need to score points and not sit back and wait for opposition mistakes. The Crusaders are experts at finding space and capitalising on errors.

The Hurricanes have a reputation for great attacking but will need 80 minutes of concentrated attack to succeed.

Which team do I think will get up? The Crusaders.

Why? I think they have more world class players in key positions (Somerville, Jack, McCaw, Carter, Mauger, Rico Gear, Leon MacDonald) than the Hurricanes, who can point to Jerry Collins and Umaga. However if the young Hurricanes like Eaton, Weepu and Masoe step up but stay cool it could be a tough night for the master, Robbie Deans, and reward for the quiet achiever, Colin Cooper.