Super Rugby: Hurricanes look to eliminate errors to match up against Crusaders

In the Hurricanes five losses during the Super Rugby season, the constant factors were high turnover and penalty counts.

In their 11 wins this season, the Hurricanes averaged about 14 turnovers and nine penalties conceded. However, in their five losses, both number spiked – to 16 and 11 respectively.

Heading into a semifinal against the Crusaders in Christchurch this weekend, captain Brad Shields told Radio Sport's D'Arcy Waldegrave his side knew anything but their best wouldn't cut it.

"As you saw against the Sharks, one missed tackle led to a try, or every time they missed a beat, the Crusaders scored a try," Shields said. "We've got to make sure we nail that, and that's just prep during the week and making sure that you're confident in your ability.

"In the games that we've lost, our turnover rate has been very high and our penalty count has been very high. If we can control those two areas of the game, then we can play our sort of football."

The Hurricanes booked their spot in the semifinals of the competition with a 32-31 win over the Chiefs last weekend. The side had struggled with their form in the final weeks of the regular season, losing three of their final four games.

While their spot in the post-season was already locked up during that span, the side weren't executing to the best of their ability and their results reflected that. In the final five weeks of the season, the Hurricanes failed to score more than 15 points three times; losing all three matches.

And while that was behind them now, Shields said the side were focused to deliver the best possible product at AMI Stadium on Saturday night.

"Sometimes in playoffs footy you've only got a couple of opportunities and if you can nail them, maybe that's all it's going to take.

"At the end of the day, if you don't play well and don't do your own things well, you've got no chance."