Crusaders machine back in perfect order

Crusaders 33 Brumbies 3

Someone really does need to check whether the Crusaders players have blood and bones rather than wires and levers.

The competition favourites disassembled the unfortunate Brumbies' so ruthlessly that this 30-point loss, allied to the Sharks' good win over the Force in Durban, was enough to tip the Brumbies out of the playoffs and into the dark realms of also-rans.

Everyone else in this competition is showing signs that the pressure is beginning to tell. Players who previously looked a million dollars are starting to drop passes inexplicably or indulge in the slightly daft.

Pressure can do that to players. But not the Crusaders. They remain strangely immune from nerves. They just keep producing relentlessly clinical football that has blown away two aspiring playoff contenders in consecutive weeks.

The Bulls were ripped apart last week. On Friday it was the Brumbies' turn to feel the force of a side whose senior players are standing up and shouting 'follow me'.

It was close enough in the first half and even as the game trudged into the final quarter, the Brumbies could still see red coat-tails. But the floodgates opened and Corey Flynn, Campbell Johnstone and Tanerau Latimer were able to get over the chalk and put an end to the Brumbies' season.

Brumbies coach Laurie Fisher conceded his side only had itself to blame for missing the playoffs for the second season running.

"I don't think we could reasonably expect a side that has won one game all season [the Force] to keep the Sharks to within that (nine-point) margin. We should have done more ourselves," Fisher lamented.

He added that while it would be easy to blame the Crusaders' last try for the Brumbies' premature exit, realistically the damage was done last week when his team suffered their first home defeat of the season, going down 26-28 to the out-of-contention Highlanders.

"Really, that was a game we'd expect to win and to front up without the required enthusiasm was very disappointing," he said. "Last night we were just a bit outgunned but last week was the major disappointment. Losing that was more costly."

However, any thoughts of grabbing back those lost points would have ended the moment Dan Carter began to play like a rugby messiah, with his booming left leg sending the ball into far-flung corners.

And with Richie McCaw over his flat period, it's a given the Crusaders will get their quota of turnover ball that they have become so adept at turning into seven points.

The suspicion they are robots becomes even more intense when you see the muted reactions to their own achievements. There was barely a raised pulse in the Crusaders camp a day after hammering the Brumbies.

There was no sense of celebration at securing a home semifinal which will tie up the home final, too, if they win this Saturday. It was all very low key, which is the Crusaders' way. Coach Robbie Deans obviously has an enormous book of cliches that he and the rest of the squad have adopted as their bible.

As he did when he said yesterday morning: "It's a fresh start next Saturday. We are pleased with what we have done but it's a new race from here.We are at the stage now where anything can happen and we know there can only be one winner.

With the Sharks sitting in fourth place late last night, Deans was predicting they would still be there this morning after the Bulls had played the Stormers. Not, however, that he had a preference.

"It doesn't matter to us. It's looking more likely to be the Sharks. We don't have a preference. We will make the most of the weekend and see how everyone is when they present on Monday.

The best news of all for Deans - and this almost produced some emotion - was that he was expecting all 28 players to be available for selection. That might partly be good fortune but there is an element of top management to be appreciated there, too.

While the Crusaders have not embraced rotation the way the All Blacks have, they have been quite subtle in the way they have rested some senior players over the last few weeks.

That policy has delivered Flynn, Chris Jack, Carter, McCaw and Leon MacDonald into the business end with their form coming close to the top of the curve.

It has also energised fringe players who are now gasping to get another shot at proving themselves.

Johnny Leo'o, in particular, may have done enough to win a place in the back row over the next few weeks, while Ross Filipo will no doubt blast into action after being forced to spend a fair bit of time on the bench in recent weeks.

Everything appears to be falling into place again. It is almost impossible to believe that McCaw will not be holding the trophy aloft.

Crusaders 33 (C. Flynn, C. Johnstone, T. Latimer, tries; D. Carter 4 pens, 3 cons).

Brumbies 3 (S. Mortlock pen).