Rugby: McCaw hopes grit will break tired Sharks

Sharks v Crusaders
Durban, 3am tomorrow

Richie McCaw reckons he'll hit the ground running in Durban as his Crusaders lean on a hunch the Sharks might be starting to puff ahead of their high-powered Super 14 match.

All Blacks skipper McCaw makes his return tomorrow morning (NZ time), six weeks after damaging a knee ligament in a match against the Highlanders.

He hopes to slot seamlessly into a defending champion team who are unbeaten through their last four matches.

Scratchy as some of those performances have been, McCaw has been impressed by their gutsy defensive displays which have them in eighth place but just eight points behind the competition-leading Sharks.

"The last three could have gone either way and we've managed to hold on and get the wins we require," McCaw said.

"Our defence has conceded very few tries ... that shows the character of the team, what the guys do when you don't have the ball."

The influential flanker was quietly confident of seeing out 80 minutes but was wary of a tunnel-vision approach to his own game.

"The key if you've had a layoff is that you don't go out there and try to do everything," he said. "You end up running around and you don't actually do what you should do."

The only question mark hangs over bracketed halfback Andy Ellis, who has trained well this week and is showing good signs of recovering from a rib injury.

Crusaders assistant coach Mark Hammett wondered if the Sharks, who were stunned 31-6 by the last-placed Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend, might be starting to feel the pinch.

Tomorrow is their 10th consecutive match, with a bye finally arriving next week.

"We know ourselves from the past that once a bye comes around, you can be limping into it," said Hammett. "Perhaps there is a bit of fatigue."

Hammett noted how the Cheetahs closed the Sharks down by attacking their lineouts and said the Crusaders' bye had given them a chance to do extra analysis on the South Africans.

He was confident his back three of Leon MacDonald, Jared Payne and Colin Slade could handle the expected barrage of long kicking.

The Crusaders have beaten the Sharks 10 times in their last 12 meetings but lost 27-26 in the most recent visit to Durban two years ago.

SHARKS v CRUSADERS

Sharks

Stefan Terblanche
Odwa Ndungane
Adrian Jacobs
Riaan Swanepoel
JP Pietersen
Francois Steyn
Rory Kockott
Ryan Kankowski
Keegan Daniel
Jacques Botes
Johann Muller (c)
Steven Sykes
Jannie du Plessis
B. du Plessis
Deon Carstens

Reserves: John Smit, Tendai Mtawarira, Albert van den Berg, Jean Deysel, Charl McLeod, Monty Dumond, Waylon Murray Luzuko Vulindlu

Crusaders

Leon MacDonald
Jared Payne
Tim Bateman
Ryan Crotty
Colin Slade
Stephen Brett
Andy Ellis
Thomas Waldrom
Richie McCaw (c)
Kieran Read
Isaac Ross
Brad Thorn
Bronson Murray
Jason MacDonald
Wyatt Crockett

Reserves: Daniel Perrin, Owen Franks, Ross Filipo, Michael Paterson, Kahn Fotuali'i, Adam Whitelock, Kade Poki

- NZPA