The Crusaders' wake-up call

Leon MacDonald says the champions will have to step up in Pretoria. Mark Nolan / Getty Images

Hiccup or significant stumble? It's garnered more air time than any other Super 14 topic in the last week. What's up in Crusaderville?

A fortnight ago the Christchurch machine was purring along, with a played nine, won nine record and sitting cosily at the top of the table.

The only issue which seemed likely to furrow the brows at the most successful franchise in Super rugby history was whether to plump for a Friday or Saturday night semifinal at Jade Stadium this month as they moved a step closer to a sixth title in 11 years.

Suddenly the goalposts have shifted - with an intriguing subplot centred around the world's leading openside flanker thrown in for good measure.

There was a wobble on April 21 in Perth when the Crusaders became the first team to fail to beat newcomers the Force. Indeed, the Force were dead stiff not to win a game, which ended dramatically 23-all.

The Crusaders were well below their best, the Force played spiritedly and, despite protestations, there looked an element of over-confidence about the defending champions. Then they rocked up to Cape Town and got tipped over by a fired-up Stormers side, 28-17. The Stormers are a capable team, even though this has not been a season for them to savour.

But the cumulative effect, combined with Richie McCaw missing tomorrow morning's match against the Bulls in Pretoria, raises a giant questionmark over red and black heads.

McCaw left the Force game in the second half with a cut face and sat out the Stormers loss. Coach Robbie Deans insists there's nothing sinister. McCaw has a well-documented battle with head injuries, watching tomorrow from the stands.

But given the events of the last fortnight, those who see shadows in broad daylight are having a field day. In his weekly column on the Crusaders website, Deans said the decision was taken to rest McCaw "properly".

"When you lose, everything you do is wrong," he added. Where the rumour-mongers are giving extra credence to their theories on McCaw is that the Bulls are not the sort of team you'd consciously take lightly, especially at Pretoria.

They are clearly the best South African franchise and are on the cusp of the top four. They'll be playing before what Leon Macdonald calls the most passionate crowd he's played in front of, at Loftus Versfeld.

If the Crusaders lose - and they got belted in Pretoria last year - they'll still be in the semifinals if they beat the Brumbies in Christchurch in their final round-robin game. But, importantly, they might then not be hosting a semifinal.

So what do the players make of the late fluctuations from what had become the norm? "It's obviously gone against what we were planning," MacDonald quipped. "We always knew this was going to be an especially tough game - now it's got much more riding on it."

His view is simply that the Crusaders have dropped their standards in the last two games. Nothing more or less. "We didn't quite turn up with that intensity we brought at the start of the year," he added.

In 2002, the Crusaders did what seemed near impossible. They won every round robin game, then the semifinal and beat the Brumbies in the final. Played 13, won 13. Rugby perfection. They had seemed on track for a repeat in many eyes.

But not MacDonald's. "Once we won so many in a row, guys started thinking about that record. It's probably pretty unrealistic to go through unbeaten. It's such a tough competition and there's so many factors. Being defending champions, everyone's keen to knock you over.

"I never expected us to go through unbeaten, and I'd prefer we had any hiccups earlier in the season and now be building up to the semifinals. But it hasn't worked that way."

MacDonald has been in superb form this year. Mils Muliaina was assumed to be the No 1 choice for All Black fullback at the start of the Super 14. Not so now - and that's no reflection on the versatile Chiefs man, who most likely will start at centre.

But 28-year-old MacDonald, a powerful runner and quality allround footballer, has been in sizzling touch.

He believes in terms of putting together a string of strong performances, he's never done it better than he has in the last couple of months.

But back to the business at hand ... "We're still a good team; we just haven't performed like it in the last two weeks. But if we get our act together and our minds on the job, there's no reason why we can't get up and play football we were playing three or four weeks ago."

He talked of events in the last couple of weeks not necessarily being a bad thing.

"It's a good wakeup call, and timely I suppose. We've still got a chance to sort our game out. I'd much prefer it happening now than in two weeks' time in the semifinals, so it might be a blessing in disguise."

And a win tomorrow will also remove a fair bit of air from the doom-and-gloom brigade's sails.