Wynne Gray: Defeat shows Crusaders vulnerable

Dan Carter of the Crusaders. Photo / Getty Images

You'd fancy the Crusaders to beat the Highlanders tonight - but you wouldn't shout about your forecast, not after the way they limped out of the sheds in the opening round.

There wasn't much to enthuse about the way the Crusaders began this campaign and backing them to make amends in Dunedin requires a significant leap of trust.

Make up a pros-and-cons register for this game and there is more to commend the Crusaders. They have the pedigree, they have the players, they have the experience but the trouble is you would have come to a similar conclusion before they stumbled through their start against the Rebels.

Who knows what scuppered their performance and left everyone with quizzical looks after that beginning. As an advertisement for pre-season preparation it was several billboards short of an exhibition.

Maybe there was some misguided perception that the reappearance of a fit Daniel Carter would direct the side to victory or the opening appearance of Richie McCaw with other test forwards would slip a W into the results column.

Think again; a refrain which should have circled the training fields and discussion groups this week. That got a little extra emphasis with three All Blacks dropped to the reserves for tonight's game.

It's a match-up where the Highlanders bristle with interest in their backline but do not have the same quality through their pack as their rivals. Six All Black forwards against none delivers that sort of assessment before they take the field.

Then we know other factors come into play and those are the elements which add the trimmings to matches and create the sort of upset the Rebels produced. They are the intangibles; courage, willpower, desire and resolve which are the domain of each individual.

They know whether they could have made one more tackle, hit one more ruck, pushed harder in the scrum, backed up on attack.

When Kieran Read, Sam Whitelock, Nemani Nadolo and Andy Ellis return there will be greater thrust and variety through the side but the Crusaders cannot wait for that influence. They have to trim and sharpen their game now with the Chiefs up next weekend in Hamilton.

The designated Crusaders general tonight is Colin Slade, the five-eighths whose positional aspirations were hindered for so long by Carter that he transferred to the Highlanders. He gained ground and All Black selection but also suffered a range of injuries.

He returned to the Crusaders as a much more complete footballer and added to his five-eighths resume when Carter went on leave last year.

Slade's ability to specialise in a range of roles has pushed him higher in the national rankings and his strong direction among a resurgent Crusaders side tonight will make him an automatic pick against the Chiefs.