Rugby: The greatest Crusade rumbles on

The maestros laugh off their exhausting travel roster. Photo / Getty Images

Win a game, jump in a plane, travel halfway around the world, and win another game, jump in another plane ...

Just another ho-hum week in the life of a Crusader, then.

Yesterday's 29-10 drubbing of the Stormers told you everything you need to know about the 2011 version of Super rugby's most dominant franchise.

Backed by a dominant scrum, some Sean Maitland and Sonny Bill Williams magic and a quality kicking display by Dan Carter, the Crusaders looked every bit like a juggernaut.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was the one that showed the Crusaders made just five turnovers. They gave the Stormers virtually nothing.

"We were outclassed by a better team in all facets of play today," was second five-eighths Jean de Villiers succinct and entirely accurate summation.

Even losing the influential Andy Ellis to a leg knock early did nothing to faze them, with Kahn Fotuali'i stepping in and making the most of the front-foot ball he was handed.

The Crusaders have made a mockery of accepted conventions, laughing off an exhausting travel schedule as an excuse for the feeble-minded.

"You get a choice, don't you?" said captain Richie McCaw. "You [can] use it as an excuse and everyone will probably pat you on the back and say, 'Oh well, that's fair enough.'

"We made a decision when all the carnage happened at home that we would stand up for the people at home and for what the Crusaders mean.

"We have given ourselves a chance now."

The Crusaders are en route to Brisbane where they will meet the Quade Cooper-inspired Reds in a final at Suncorp Stadium between the tournament's best two teams.

You don't need to look further back than May 29 for a real-life preview. That had finals football writ large over it, a fact that was almost lost in the ballyhoo over referee Stuart Dickinson's last-minute intervention.

The Crusaders will undoubtedly brush aside talk of revenge. They will give equal short shrift to those theories that the travel factor will eventually take its toll.

"There's no doubt that the first couple of days after travelling you don't feel too good, but what you've got to remember is that by Saturday you'll be ready to go," McCaw said. "If we have that attitude, then you don't get down. You tick off what you have to do at training, even if it's not at 100 per cent, so you can perform on Saturday."

If the scrum is as pivotal a battleground on Saturday as it was yesterday, then the Crusaders should be sitting pretty.

Before taking the field for his 100th Super rugby match, hooker Corey Flynn talked about how this front row had been two years in the making. It was now as good or better as any he had played in, including the days when he was being propped up by All Black stalwarts Greg Somerville and Dave Hewett.

Coach Todd Blackadder described the set-piece work as "unbelievably awesome" and when his Reds counterpart views the tape he will probably leap to the same conclusion.

Reds coach Ewen McKenzie, a front rower of repute himself, will recognise that his side's chances will increase exponentially the more they can take the scrum out of the game.

McKenzie has an array of attacking talent in his backs, but the Crusaders are not lacking here either.

Sean Maitland was missing when the sides last met in Brisbane and his form in the fortnight since he's returned showed what they were missing. His opportunist intercept try was crucial, as was his wing partner's cover tackle on Jaque Fourie.

Sonny Bill Williams played probably his least effective match of the season at Suncorp Stadium but against the Stormers showed how lethal his skills are, popping the perfect offload to a hard-charging Robbie Fruean for the game's second try.

The stage is now set for the seventh transtasman final and the first since the Crusaders beat the Waratahs in 2008. New Zealand teams - or more accurately the Blues and Crusaders - lead those matches 5-1. A sixth win on Saturday would be the sweetest of all.