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DURBAN - Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has issued a plea for Crusaders counterpart Robbie Deans to remain in Super 14 rugby.
The future of Deans, who has coached the Crusaders to four of their six Super rugby titles, remains unknown. He is yet to extend his contract beyond this year and is weighing up whether to take his skills offshore.
Soon after the Bulls beat the Crusaders 27-12 in yesterday's semifinal in Pretoria, Meyer launched into an unexpected appraisal of Deans' achievements.
"I think Robbie is certainly one of, if not the best coach in world rugby, and he's proven himself over a number of years," Meyer told journalists.
"I went to visit him earlier this year and have learnt a lot from him and his players, especially from a conditioning perspective.
"I've got a helluva lot of respect for Robbie and the mark of his side is how humble they were in defeat, they all came over after the match to say well done and the sign of a championship side is how well they lose."
Meyer, on and off the coach of the Bulls since 2000 having been sacked and reinstated twice, hoped the rivalry he had built up with the former All Blacks fullback could expand.
"I certainly hope he can continue for another two or three seasons because he will be a big loss to the game."
When trying to explain why his team won so well, Meyer suggested complacency may have crept into the Crusaders.
It was their ninth semifinal in 10 seasons while the Bulls' record in the playoffs was dire
"Probably the most difficult thing for them was the fact that they've won this competition a lot and been in a lot of finals," Meyer said.
"We've been in two semis and lost both, so we were very hungry on the night. It's easy if you've won as often as they have to let go a little, especially at Loftus.
"There's no doubt in my mind that if this match had been in Christchurch it would've been really difficult to beat them. But I thought we won this match last week when we put 92 past the Reds to get a home semi."
Crusaders captain Richie McCaw, with whom the word complacency is rarely linked, said the difference between the team was the intensity of the locals, which never relented.
In a tryless encounter, the hosts eked out 27 points from the boot of first five-eighth Derick Hougaard, comprising eight penalties and a dropped goal.
"They put us under some big pressure and forced us to give away penalties," McCaw said.
"They put in some really big hits and it's difficult to get some momentum when you're going backwards like that."
Meyer said Hougaard had lifted his game to another level, so much that his name should be mentioned alongside rugby's best No 10s.
"Derick was superb and over the last few games I think he's been just as good as Dan Carter," Meyer said.
- NZPA
