GAME OF THE WEEK CHIEFS v CRUSADERS

CHIEFS v CRUSADERS

Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Head-to-Head: Played 18, Crusaders 13, Chiefs 5
In Hamilton: Played 7, Crusaders 5, Chiefs 2
Last match: Round 3, March 9, 2012: Chiefs beat Crusaders 24-19 at McLean Park, Napier

WE’VE SAID it once and we’ll say it again for the sake of repetition: batten down the hatches, because this is likely to be Super Rugby warfare at its most brutal extreme.

The Crusaders’ dressing room wouldn’t have been the place to be for women and children after the boys in red and black conspired to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against the Hurricanes last week.

Indeed, you’d go a long way to find a better example of a team with such an overwhelming set-piece superiority ultimately losing a match.

The Chiefs, on the other hand, weren’t entirely convincing in their hard-fought win against the Highlanders, though they did get the job done. Aaron Cruden still looked a little banged up from the Achilles problem he suffered in the Hamilton test, while Sonny Bill Williams was perhaps guilty of being too easily goaded by a couple of bruisers from the ’Landers pack.

The Crusaders have welcomed back Dan Carter, Israel Dagg and Kieran Read from the casualty ward.

The visitors certainly won’t have everything their own way in the set-pieces this time round.

In fact, the Chiefs taught them a lesson in power-scrummaging when the sides met earlier this season at McLean Park.

That was a ‘home’ game for the Crusaders, because the new AMI Stadium wasn’t yet ready, but the result ended up going the way of the ‘away’ team, which featured several members of the local Hawke’s Bay ITM Cup side.

Our prediction: Crusaders 1-12