Photos: Super 14 finalKEY POINTS:
The Crusaders' famous attention to detail set them apart in last night's Super 14 final win in Christchurch say a New South Wales Waratahs side set to face their own year of rebuilding.
Like the Crusaders, the Waratahs are losing their coach while two key Wallabies - lock Daniel Vickerman and Rocky Elsom - have indicated they will play overseas next season.
Captain Phil Waugh hoped the transition in replacing unwanted coach Ewen McKenzie would be seamless and believed last night's gutsy 12-20 loss showed there was a player foundation to build on.
"There's a fair few young guys who will learn a lot from this experience," Waugh said.
"We lose a lot of experience in the forward pack, I guess it's about recruitment now and choosing the right guys to come in and replace your Vickermans and Elsoms."
McKenzie was told not to reapply by the NSW rugby board midway through the season but remained diplomatic about it last night, happy to guide his team to second place from second-last in 2007.
While disappointed to lose, McKenzie noted the Crusaders fielded a more experienced and finals-hardened team than his own.
"The try count was two tries to one (to the Waratahs), I think we had a go and we're happy about that," he said.
"I'm comfortable that the guys had a crack. I don't think we got to the big stage and didn't do what we're supposed to do.
"We gave a good account of ourselves in that company and on foreign soil but just didn't do it good enough to beat a side who led the competition the whole way.
"In the end little bits of detail cost you. That's pressure in big matches, we came up a little bit short."
A key moment came with nearly half an hour remaining when potential matchwinner Kurtley Beale hobbled off with an ankle injury with his team trailing by just two points.
First five-eighth Beale had played every minute of the season until then, leaving the Waratahs having to adjust their patterns.
Deans, who will start coaching a number of Waratahs players next week when he begins his tenure as Australian mentor, was impressed by what he saw.
"They played good finals rugby. They attacked and put the ball in the air and looked to play the odds and profited," he said.
"They also defended well but that weight of pressure and territory and volume of work just took its toll in the long run."
- NZPA
