Rugby: Playmakers have vital role in Sydney clash

Colin Slade will play a crucial role against the Waratahs. Photo / Getty Images

Settle on a major reason to prefer the Crusaders or Waratahs in their repeat of last year's Super Rugby title duel.

Both sides have bags of test players, some in form, others slow to boil. The Tahs have a tall, efficient lineout, the Crusaders usually grind rivals down with their scrum.

Both have a range of outstanding loose-forwards and crunching Fijian power on the wing.

Home advantage? The Crusaders have shone around the globe while the Tahs are better but not invincible on their home patch.

It's not good enough to pinpoint the Crusaders' resentment about the controversial defeat last year in Sydney as the basis for any favouritism.

Each coaching group will have drawn up game plans on details they have picked up from technical staff and their own intuition.

They'll look at edges they must attack, defence points they think they can bend and how to get men with the x-factor such as Nemani Nadolo or Israel Folau into space.

After they practise those strategies, run through a bunch of imaginary plays and reinforce their principles and resolve at team meetings, it will be a case of dealing with what happens out on the field.

That's where the combination of the directors becomes so crucial - Mitchell Drummond and Colin Slade for the Crusaders up against the Waratah duo of Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley.

Foley, who kept his composure to convert the final penalty which took the Waratahs to their title last year, knows the torrent of pressure the Crusaders will bring.

"For sure, they'll have a chip on their shoulder, it's the one that got away I suppose so that's how they'll be thinking," Foley said.

The Waratahs needed the same attitude and had to match the Crusaders' pride and resentment if they wanted to repeat their win from last year.

Goal-kicking figures this season show the Crusaders pair of Slade (73 per cent) and Daniel Carter (75 per cent) have stronger success rates than Foley who is travelling at 68 per cent although most of his misses are conversions, you suspect, from near touch.

The numbers show the Crusaders like to base much of their play from halfback while the Waratahs prefer for Foley to make the plays.

Drummond and Andy Ellis have reversed roles for this match with Ellis chosen as the closer.

They carry the ball and kick more from set-piece pass than Phipps who has sent a regular stream of passes out to Foley and has kicked only four times on general play while his rivals have combined for nearly 100 kicks.

Foley is the governor, carrying the ball much more than Slade and making more metres although their number of breaks this season are similar.

Slade has been forced into much more defensive work than his rival five-eighth and has been far more reliable in holding his line.

We can look at all those stats but - as long as there is not some refereeing howler - composure, experience, big-game temperament and vision are the incalculable ingredients the directors will bring to the fortunes of their warring rugby sides in Sydney.