KEY POINTS:
Coach Robbie Deans has apparently been raising his voice at training this week as the Crusaders prepare for the Super 14 rugby semifinal against the Hurricanes tomorrow.
It is perhaps not too surprising given the Crusaders' performance last week when they succumbed 26-14 to the lowly placed Highlanders in their last match of the regular season.
Deans yesterday made five "performance-related" changes to his starting 15 in an attempt to lift the Crusaders out of their comfort zone.
Prop Wyatt Crockett and blindside flanker Kieran Read come in for Ben Franks and Reuben Thorne, respectively, winger Scott Hamilton returns to the backline where there is a change to the midfield combination, with centre Casey Laulala and Tim Bateman taking over from Caleb Ralph and Stephen Brett.
Brett, winger Sean Maitland, Thorne and Franks have been moved to the bench and Ralph has been dropped from the match-day squad.
Deans has a high regard for the bruising style of play the Hurricanes and said he had selected the strongest combination possible for the match.
Banished from the squad for the past month so he could regain form playing for his Glenmark club team, Hamilton was back in the starting XV because of his greater experience over 19-year-old Maitland, Deans said.
The All Blacks winger has fond memories of a previous semifinal against the Hurricanes when he scored three tries in the Crusaders' 47-7 win in the 2005 championship.
Deans said Hamilton had shown his commitment by "getting involved" and upping his workrate during several matches for his club.
Laulala was always scheduled to return to the starting lineup after coming off the bench against the Highlanders following a knock he sustained against the Queensland Reds the previous week.
Deans said Bateman performed strongly starting at second five-eighths during the seven matches before last weekend, when he came off the bench.
After returning last weekend from an injury-enforced five-week break, Thorne has given way to Read, who is being touted as a likely All Blacks contender.
"We needed to get Reuben started again after his injury and last weekend gave us the opportunity to do that, but Kieran offers us greater match fitness and is the incumbent, which is why he is starting."
He predicted the match would be "intense," so all the players were expected to be involved at some stage.
It will be another milestone for Crusaders and All Blacks stalwart Thorne when he steps off the bench. That will mark his 128th Super game, eclipsing Anton Oliver's record for most appearances for a New Zealand franchise.
Deans said he rated the Hurricanes highly. The other semifinal is between the New South Wales Waratahs and the Sharks in Sydney tomorrow night.
- NZPA
