Rested Crusaders ready for the business end

05 June 2011 - 12:14 By Reuters
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The Canterbury Crusaders, who rested this weekend while their rivals faltered, are determined to secure a top-two finish to the regular season as they bid for an eighth Super Rugby title.

With four points awarded for a bye, the Crusaders were able to put their feet up and still close to within two points of the Auckland Blues when the New Zealand conference leaders were shocked by the Waikato Chiefs on Saturday.

The seven-times champion Crusaders, coming off a draining last-kick defeat at the hands of overall standings leaders the Queensland Reds, were thankful of the rest before their crunch clash with the Blues in Timaru next weekend.

“The bye has come at a critical time for us, we needed to freshen up a bit,” Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder told New Zealand’s Sunday Mail.

“We’re in good heart and good shape and in two weeks’ time we’ll almost be back at full strength.

“So I’m really pleased with where we’re at because we’re going to get better and better at the business end of the season.”

The Reds also lost on Saturday leaving South Africa’s Stormers the only team in the top three to come away with a win this weekend.

Despite their defeat to the Brumbies, the Reds remain top of the standings with two rounds remaining on 58 points, a point ahead of the Cape Town-based Stormers with the Blues third for New Zealand on 55.

The top two will go straight through to the semi-finals with home advantage while the third-ranked team goes into the opening round of playoffs with the teams who finish fourth to sixth, currently the Crusaders, Sharks and Bulls.

With Blackadder desperate to avoid the travel and extra game-time involved in that first round, his target is to overhaul the Blues as the New Zealand representative in the top three and then make sure they finish above one other team.

“The top two teams will get a break, have a breather and have time to get over their injuries and regroup,” he added.

“By finishing in the bottom half, you could be off to Australia or going back to South Africa, and it’s going to be a tough competition to win on the road — although it can be done.”

The Crusaders face the Wellington Hurricanes in their final match of the regular season — a first meeting between the teams this season after their Feb. 26 match was cancelled in the wake of the deadly Christchurch earthquake.

Having lost to the Blues in their season opener, Blackadder knows it is a big task even with inspirational skipper Richie McCaw, points machine Dan Carter and bruising inside centre Sonny Bill Williams at the heart of his team.

“The outcome of the Blues game will help in finding out who the conference winner is,” he said. “But in saying that we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, because we have two big games in the last two weeks.

“The Hurricanes are a good side. You can’t take any team lightly — the Blues and Hurricanes games are both going to be massive.”

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