View photosKEY POINTS:
When the Crusaders hosted the Bulls in March, it was the last game before the returning All Blacks were available.
The defending champions won impressively, 32-10. Then the Gang of Six - Leon MacDonald, Aaron Mauger, Daniel Carter, Richie McCaw, Reuben Thorne and Chris Jack - returned.
The
steamroller regathered momentum after an up-and-down few weeks to march into the playoffs.
But the last two games, losses to the Brumbies and the Chiefs, the latter at the Christchurch citadel which has been impenetrable for three years, have raised questions.
Have the champs lost their mojo? If so, this is not a good time to have it happen, as they prepare for a fierce reception at the intimidating Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Sunday.
The Crusaders are the only New Zealand team to have won in the Republic this season, beating the Cheetahs at Bloemfontein.
The Chiefs had a 22-all draw with the same outfit - but the Blues, Hurricanes and Highlanders all lost both their games over there.
So what's up in Crusaderville? According to hooker Corey Flynn, they've been off the boil in the last two matches, from which they took a solitary bonus point - and that only through McCaw's on-the-hooter try against the Chiefs last week.
One more point from those games and they'd have been hosting a semifinal this weekend.
Part of the problem comes from the quality of work the Brumbies and Chiefs achieved; part of it was the Crusaders' own game. "It's probably a combination. We've come off a couple of games where the forwards gave average performances," Flynn said. "The other two packs took it to us, particularly the Chiefs."
What most disappointed the former All Black hooker was that the Crusaders knew what the Chiefs wanted to do, have big loose forwards Sione Lauaki and Liam Messam running at them, creating defensive difficulties.
"We felt we let them do that and we were disappointed because we'd talked about it, but we didn't really front up."
Some of the zap was missing from the forwards' offensive game, too. Certainly the thrilling breakout try against the Chiefs - although being engineered by a back, first five-eighth Stephen Brett - was a forward operation.
The last three pairs of hands, who carried the ball over 55m, were flanker McCaw, No 8 Mose Tuiali'i and, finally, lock Ross Filipo.
Then there's the lineouts. They lost a bunch against the Brumbies and the Chiefs made them work for successes as well.
It's interesting that talk of lineout malfunctions has quietened in recent weeks. Perhaps it's a case of no New Zealand team having a consistently high-quality set piece; too many instances of good one week, average the next.
Forwards talk of the difficulty of regularly achieving good ball off their own throw-in in the modern game. There are four components which must be in sync: the thrower, the jumper and the two support players. If one slips up, things can go pear-shaped in a hurry.
"There's a lot less pressure when you're defending at a lineout," Flynn said. "We've had 13 games, so the Bulls have 13 videos of us doing the same calls week in, week out. They can get pretty skilled up."Flynn reckons the key, like so many things in life, lies in the preparation."You trust your caller to make the right calls and I have to put it in the right spot."
The Bulls are well-armed in this department, with Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha rated the best pair in the game. Both are formidable jumpers, the athletic Matfield especially offering a real threat on opposing throw-ins.Flynn, now in his sixth Super campaign and playing his 64th match for the Crusaders on Sunday, points to a depth in locking quality throughout the competition.
"Sure Matfield and Botha are world class."But we've found most teams this season have had world class players in the lineouts as well. It's the same old story, make sure of what you're doing and hopefully go from there."
