Rugby: Blackadder's men show steel before their longest crusade

Todd Blackadder believes his players have been playing sudden-death football for weeks. Photo / Getty Images

Rugby coaches need to be unflappable. Todd Blackadder has the right aura, though his emotions were put through the wringer before his Crusaders qualified to defend their Super 14 crown.

He winced through a slogfest with the Blues which was only decided in the Crusaders' favour when Leon MacDonald's dropped goal lurched lazily between the Eden Park uprights.

That was only part one of the finals formula.

Part two was the calculation which showed the Crusaders shading the Waratahs by four in the points differential columns. There was still more.

Blackadder and his team returned to their Auckland hotel but sleep was fitful for the coach. He woke after a few hours, switched on the television coverage and took his emotions on another roller coaster trip as the Sharks hosted the Bulls.

A Sharks bonus-point victory would have pushed the Crusaders out of the playoffs.

"I nearly had another heart attack," Blackadder admitted. "It is a great competition when it comes down to the wire but I thought with 20 minutes to go with the Sharks having three tries, that we were in trouble, that it was all or nothing."

His fears were soothed when the Bulls extended their lead beyond a converted try. Blackadder was able to relax and join the rest of his squad for some relieved banter at breakfast.

The respite was brief. Calls were made to confirm lock Brad Thorn, utility back Colin Slade and prop Ben Franks were fit and would join the group for Sunday's knockout semifinal against the Bulls in Pretoria.

The Crusaders then flew to Christchurch, had several hours to get home and pack their gear before returning for a transtasman flight and overnight stay in Sydney as the first leg of their long-haul journey to South Africa.

It has been an exhausting schedule for the Crusaders, who returned from the republic only a fortnight ago. But Blackadder reckoned all the obstacles had stiffened his side's determination. "We have played a lot of what's seemed like semifinals rugby in the last five weeks," he said.

"It has narrowed our focus, our priorities and what we need to do. It gave us an opportunity to get into the top four and this is what it is all about."

It has already been a remarkable debut Super season for Blackadder, his assistants Mark Hammett and Daryl Gibson and a squad decimated by departures then injuries.

Front-rowers Corey Flynn, Greg Somerville and Campbell Johnstone were gone from last year's pack. Ali Williams, Reuben Thorne and Mose Tuiali'i had also departed.

Wizard five-eighths Daniel Carter was away on his French club deal while Caleb Ralph and Scott Hamilton had also scarpered. It was a huge chunk of lost experience.

Captain Richie McCaw sat out a lengthy spell with a damaged knee then backline linchpin Casey Laulala was gone for the season.

Qualifying for the playoffs seemed a remote prospect. But the Crusaders are schooled in the unrelenting demands of sporting fellowship, of working extra hard to make their own luck and never ever conceding a match.

Those fundamental rugby doctrines bellowed even louder at Eden Park as the Crusaders reclaimed victory from the smell of defeat.

They are a step closer to playing for a 10th Super title.

Seven times that search has been triumphant and only twice, in successive 2003 and 2004 seasons, was skipper Reuben Thorne forced to deliver a loser's speech.

It is an extraordinary record in professional rugby's limited lifespan.