Rugby Super 14: Business as usual for Crusaders

CHRISTCHURCH - It is business as usual in Christchurch this week as the Crusaders prepare for the Super 14 final.
While Saturday's match against the New South Wales Waratahs at AMI Stadium will be the swansong for coach Robbie Deans and veteran players Reuben Thorne and Caleb Ralph, no one in the Crusaders camp is focusing on that, least of all Deans.
Next week, Deans crosses the Tasman to take charge of the Australia team. But this week he is plotting the Australians' downfall as the Crusaders go in search of their seventh title, and fifth in Deans' reign which began in 2000.
Captain Richie McCaw has insisted there has been no talk about the need to send the highly-respected coach off in style.
"Obviously after the game you think about those things. We have got other guys going this year as well. But that is secondary and Robbie himself drives that," McCaw told The Press newspaper. "We have got to go out and play a final.
"We shouldn't need any extra motivation. That's the way we are going to approach it and that's the way we have got to.
"It's business as usual. I guess the outside influences are talking about it, but we just have to leave that to them and focus on what we do."
The Crusaders are used to appearances in the final, having been involved in nine since the competition began in 1996.
The Waratahs on the other hand will be playing in just their second after losing the 2005 showpiece 35-25 to the Crusaders.
Their last trip to Christchurch in March this year also ended in defeat but Waratahs hooker Adam Freier was buoyant they could reverse the trend on Saturday.
"There's definitely the confidence and belief now, and it's not just token in saying that," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"We will go over there and play rugby against them. Don't be conservative. Don't be concerned about what they're doing.
"We're just going to worry about what we can do and do it well."