Draw does Canes few favours

He’ll be a big loss, Chris Boyd. Not just from a rugby perspective.

Media performers rarely come as patient or dry as the outgoing Hurricanes head coach.

Take Thursday as an example. The Hurricanes are just back from an insipid loss and scrappy win in South Africa and Argentina repectively. Their reward was a long flight home and a clash with the Crusaders.

And yet Boyd was asked if this was a game that couldn’t have come at a better time.

‘‘I think if you could design the competition yourself, you wouldn’t come back from so much travel to play the current champions,’’ Boyd said straight-faced.

‘‘The Kiwi conference is a great conference; they’re all great sides, none better than the Crusaders, so it’s a big challenge for us and we’re looking forward to it.’’

That’s the overall message from the Hurricanes this week.

Truth is they’re on a hiding to nothing. Players typically come back from long trips unable to sleep and with impaired motor skills. That might not be a big deal for teams whose method revolves around a mixture of scrummaging and booting the snot out of the ball, but the Hurricanes are rather more expansive.

‘‘I don’t think we’ll button back how much we’ll play,’’ said Boyd. ‘‘We’ve just got to be more accurate with what we do.’’

To some degree that must be exactly what the Crusaders want to hear. They’re past masters at punishing their opposition’s mistakes.

That’s not news to Boyd, but doesn’t alter the Hurricanes’ plans.

‘‘We often talk about risk and reward and I don’t think we dial that back in any way.’’