Rugby: Crusaders to get special treatment

The maestros laugh off their exhausting travel roster. Photo / Getty Images

Crusaders players named in the All Blacks' Tri-Nations squad can expect to be treated with kid gloves after an arduous Super 15 season that has seen them clock up over 100,000km on a nomadic journey to the final in Brisbane on Saturday.

Without a home following the damage to AMI Stadium in February's devastating earthquake, they contest their 10th Super rugby final against the Reds and will learn the next day which of them have made the All Blacks squad to contest the Tri-Nations and a match against Fiji on July 22.

The testing season will be taken into account by the All Blacks selectors when the squad is named, with assistant coach Steve Hansen indicating they were willing to manage player workloads to get the best out of them.

"We will have to, there's no doubt about that.

"There's been a huge effort gone into this campaign, their crusade, and they're at the final hurdle this Saturday.

"Invariably what happens after something like that, combined with the emotional toll that they've gone through and all the travel, is that there'll be a big sigh and a tired period will come in.

"Each of the individuals - and the Blues aren't much worse off either, there's a lot of players there that have played a lot of rugby - we'll look at and try and map out a programme that allows them to freshen up both physically and mentally and be able to peak at the right time," he said.

England No 8 Nick Easter had questioned whether southern hemisphere players would be tired after their exertions in the Super 15 and the Tri-Nations.

"In the southern hemisphere their Super 15 season is longer than usual and has gone on an extra month, then they have the Tri-Nations.

"They might be a little over-cooked," he said.

But Hansen said the players were being closely managed to avoid them burning out ahead of the World Cup.

"There's no doubt that we need to make sure that we individualise each person's programme and do what's right for those individuals - it has been a long season," he said.

- NZPA