Chris Rattue: Finals thoughts with Sums, Mum and my pet dog Harry

This week, we bring you an exclusive extract from Robbie Deans' upcoming book The Robbie Deans Diaries: How I Played My Heart Out for the Red and Blacks and How Proud I Was To Become the Coach and Help Bring the Young Guys Through.

The book is due for publication in either 2056 or in the year the Crusaders have racked up 50 titles, whichever comes second.

Coach Deans insisted on a "slight delay" in the release date so nothing could be used against Crusaders teams before they had established a firm foothold in the Super competition. But his latest entries have been leaked ...

SATURDAY 9.15pm:

Whew. We won. Beat the Bulls. Always thought they were rubbish.

SATURDAY 9.30pm:

Reporters insist on asking me about our victory over the Bulls but I don't want to dwell on it. It's remarkable, really, how the media goes over and over things all the time. What the heck are they trying to do? I call it the tall poppy syndrome. They're just trying to drag us down by making the players overconfident before the final. I told the players to forget all about the Bulls game, especially the score. The knack is to take positives out of the game but to also use the negatives to draw a line in the sand about how important it is to build collective understanding. I can't emphasise that enough.

Remember your best tackle, I said, but pretend you lost. It might pay to forget you even played the game if you are suffering over-positive recall comprehension. The whole brand is at stake here.

"Does that mean we can go out on the drink this week because we've missed out on the final?" Greg Somerville asked.

That's Sums. It also sums up the intensity of humour within this group of guys.

But Caleb Ralph grabbed my meaning and brought us back to earth.

"What game coach?" said Cals, although considering the amount of game time he's getting these days it's a question he might have asked anyway.

SUNDAY 7am:

I identified complacency as the major problem very early on. I think I was five years old at the time, the first time I got the oval ball in my hand. All these years later, I can say that it's okay winning all those Super 12 titles and making the Super 14 final, but it's not really enough. What is enough? Well diary, I just don't know. Making sure you don't stand still and focusing on intensity is all I'm worried about. I started to tell the guys that the Hurricanes have a massive advantage because they only won their semi by two points, whereas we ... well I couldn't go there because it would have reminded the guys that we won.

MONDAY 10am:

It's my haircut day which presents all sorts of challenges. It's the sort of time when you can be caught off guard and let something slip. People are always trying to dig away. How are you going to deal with Ma'a Nonu? What's the game plan? Still, it's good of Mum to put the time aside.

MONDAY 2pm:

Time to start working on my Crusaders website column A Word From Robbie. I've never understood that title. The first one I did, I did just that. I sent through one word. Complacency. Anyway, I'm in the swing of it now, although it does test your mental and physical enthusiasm, especially as you aren't allowed a rest week.

The pressure builds. I'm not sure if the Blues' coach has to do one of these things every week but even if he does, he always has two less columns to do every season. Hee, hee. Reuben came up with that one. He really is the joker in this team. Won't use it on the website, though. Wouldn't want to give that hippy Nucifora any ammunition next year. Anyway, back to this week's column. How about this?

"Thanks to all the Crusaders fans who keep supporting us and I hope you can all be there on Saturday night when we face an epic battle against the magnificent Hurricanes, who have no weaknesses. I haven't named the team yet but don't read anything into the selections because they've got nothing to do with us playing the Hurricanes in the final. A lot of interesting things should happen in the match, and we're all looking forward to it. It reminds me of a time I went to Wellington as a kid and took my pet dog Harry. To think, all these years later, the Wellington team is called the Hurricanes. Quite a coincidence.

It's important that we take a step up in this game, and also move forward. But I don't expect the Hurricanes to take a backward step. They have width and intelligence. By the final whistle, the guys will feel like they've played a game against the Hurricanes.

We will train all week and take a bus to the game. I never mention individual players, but Reuben Thorne. It will be great to see you all there."

I'll keep working on it. Sounds a bit cocky.

TUESDAY 10am:

Keep telling the press that semifinals aren't an indication of anything. It's getting very difficult to keep the guys away from remembering they won the semifinal so I've banned them from watching any TV apart from the Canterbury Tourist Channel you get in the hotels. It's damn good viewing anyway.

TUESDAY 2.30pm:

Sums rang up to say he was really looking forward to the game. He's come out of his shell this year, since Hews left. Still figuring out whether to mention the phone call in my column. Don't want to get the Hurricanes all fired up, but it would be a nice reward for Sums. Tricky decision.

TUESDAY 3pm:

The truth is, I do have one major problem, and I suspected I might ever since Caleb's little comment after the Bulls' game. He's down about not getting in the run-on XV these days. He's had such a promising start to his Crusaders career, I'd hate to see him ruin it all now.

TUESDAY 4pm:

Must stress to the fans that we will be concentrating on our accuracy of execution and am toying with putting that in the column. But don't want to give Jerry Collins any wrong ideas. Another tough call. The website people reckon the column isn't quite long enough. Might throw in a bit of stuff about what I eat on the Wednesday before a big match. Don't know if I've got across how grateful we are to our fans. How about this? "We can't afford not to have scored more points than the Hurricanes at fulltime, because this is the Super 14 final." Lovely.

TUESDAY 6pm:

Might start working on the annual team picnic. It's always a great occasion. The guys really look forward to it and there's always a lot of discussion about which part of Hagley Park we should hold it in. Could make an interesting story for the media on Saturday night, not that they ever seem interested in these things.

NOTE: Any resemblance to actual Robbie Deans events is not coincidental.