Crusaders’ sword awaits

Ken Borland

They have won just four of their 13 matches at Loftus Versfeld, but it is very hard to see the Crusaders losing against the Bulls when they meet in their Super Rugby match in Pretoria today.

The Crusaders may not have won at Loftus since their 54-19 triumph in 2008, the year they claimed their seventh and last Super Rugby title, but this year’s nine-match unbeaten run has many believing their eighth crown is just around the corner.

It is the sort of winning streak that has been seen just twice before in this competition, when the Crusaders themselves won all 13 of their matches in 2002 and by the Blues in 1997 when they won their last 12 games to win the second season of the southern hemisphere tournament.

That the Bulls will be under barrage from a potent attacking side full of confidence is shown by the stat that the Crusaders have scored 51 tries this season and the home side just 19.

For all their talk of ball-in-hand rugby, the Bulls just don’t have the fluidity or the skills of the Crusaders, so how do they go about lowering the colours of a team that is playing magnificent rugby?

Captain Adriaan Strauss (above) suggested that trying to make the match an arm-wrestle like the dire win over the Cheetahs could be their best option.

“We have to improve on the Cheetahs performance, but they’re a side that has at times played some great rugby, scored great tries, and we knew we had to grind it out. It wasn’t great, but it was a good win. The plan stays the same against the Crusaders, but we have to execute better.

“We’re still making a lot of silly mistakes, the details like how we transfer the ball from the lineout aren’t there,” he said.