Failure to grab game by scruff of neck a concern for Crusaders

Crusaders wing David Havili and his teammates were sent packing by a spirited Chiefs' defence as the home side failed to aim up. Photo / Getty Images

After watching the demolition job the Chiefs did on the Crusaders, there was one really disappointing aspect to emerge. I thought the Crusaders would have had a lot more mongrel, particularly considering the circumstances.

Coming off a loss to the Highlanders in front of a full house, in a season that's stuttering along, and against a team that had put 40 points on them earlier in the competition, their attitude should have been bordering on angry. It didn't look that way.

The Crusaders are talking a big game at the moment and it's not coming off.

Yes, there were some issues with their tactical game plan. They kicked away a lot of ball, they were quite lateral with their attack, and they didn't adjust.

Which was a concern, considering the amount of experience they had out there. The Crusaders have established All Blacks who I'm surprised didn't make changes within the game, when it was quite evident to everyone else in the country that what they were doing wasn't working.

You watch the teams that are performing well in this competition and they back themselves.

Within that game the Crusaders had ample opportunity to back themselves, when they had the Chiefs down to 14 men and with a depleted forward pack, yet they persisted at taking shots at goal.

The Crusaders just didn't look like they wanted to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

They lacked confidence and it was really disappointing. They just didn't look like they wanted to make a statement out there and say to the opposition, "we're coming at you".

It's not a negative mindset but you're taking the easy option to kick for goal and take the three.

I certainly knew when I was a player, when we were playing the good sides in Super Rugby or involved in big tests, if the opposition decided to turn down points in the early part of the game and go for the jugular, I immediately thought, "right, we need to respond here defensively, these guys are coming at us".

It's a psychological thing in the game - it's not coachable. All of a sudden, as the opposition, you become on edge defensively because, rather than conceding three and thinking you got away with it, you were looking at conceding five or seven, and your whole mindset changed.

When you flip it to Saturday afternoon's game, both the Waratahs and the Hurricanes were quite prepared to kick for touch, turn down shots and back themselves to go at the opposition. Back their execution, back their set piece and, more importantly, say to the opposition, "we're coming at you". Both sides did that and, while they didn't always get reward out of it, that pressure eventually told.

There were times when they were probably too ambitious and tried to run it out of their 22 too often, and it could be costly for them. But in those scenarios, if you're prepared to back your skill set, you're making a statement.

I was really impressed with the Waratahs. Both they and the Crusaders were coming off home losses - one finalist from last year came out passive, the other finalist came out aggressive and positive. The responses from the two teams were polar opposites.