1 Mentality
The Crusaders tend to start slowly and you can't start much slower than a bye and five-tries-to-nil thrashing at the hands of your greatest rivals the Blues. Criticised for lacking a ruthless edge in that loss in Auckland and the last-gasp intercept debacle against the Hurricanes in Wellington, the Crusaders have since thrashed the Bulls and Kings at home and edged the Stormers away. The latest victory was against the odds - without the injured Kieran Read, Israel Dagg and Dan Carter (paternity leave), they lost Owen Franks and Johnny McNicholl in the first half but overcame an 0-11 deficit to win 19-14. They defended their line for the last three minutes or so. The mentality is most definitely back.
2 Game plan
The much-promised up-tempo style fell flat against the Blues - mainly because their forwards weren't up to it. It flickered into life in the six-try win over the Bulls in Christchurch and seven-try demolition of the Kings a week later before pragmatism took over in Cape Town and they played a territorial game based on set piece pressure. They harried and hassled Springboks lock Andries Bekker in the lineout - forcing the Stormers into losing seven throws. Bekker, talked up beforehand as one of the best players in the world, was made to look silly by Sam Whitelock.
3 Forward march