Low on confidence, Crusaders next up

If Colin Cooper was in shock last weekend after his team’s battering by the Brumbies, then this time it was simply an overpowering sense of frustration.

How could he the Chiefs coach be surprised again, considering he saw all the same sort of fundamental flaws just seven days prior? This time there was an expected bounce-back factor, at home, against, essentially, what is the ‘worst’ side in Super Rugby.

But it never came, thanks to a team that looks all at sea, right across the park, and was duly punished 30-15 by a welldeserving Sunwolves side. By losing margins, this was not in the exceptional category, like the previous weekend’s 54-17 result in Canberra. However, in the ignominy stakes, it must rank right up there.

The Sunwolves are an improving side, but had still never won an away match.

This is now a Chiefs team low on confidence and with a mountain of work ahead of them. The last time they started a season 0-3 was in 2009, when, ironically, they went on to make the final. Now, just holding the ball in contact and not slipping off tackles can’t even be taken for granted.

‘‘We’re in for a tough week,’’ Cooper said. ‘‘Last week was tough, this is going to be tougher.’’

Only, if you could have chosen any fixture in which to try to crawl out of the mess they find themselves in, the Crusaders in Christchurch would rate as the most unfavourable possible.

That’s what the Chiefs are faced with on Saturday – a trip to face the two-time defending champions, who, while nowhere near their best, still found the way to grind out a 22-12 win over the Reds in Brisbane, to make it 18 victories on the bounce.

Any thoughts of even looking at the Crusaders machine, though, will be well down the list of priorities, Cooper noted.

‘‘We just need to get our game right, and our game has been poor,’’ he said.