Crotty keeps captaincy armband
Inside centre Ryan Crotty will continue to captain the Crusaders, despite the presence of All Black skipper Richie McCaw.
Crotty will lead a team that shows four changes and a position switch, for the Round 13 Super Rugby trip to Brisbane and a clash with the Reds on Sunday.
Injury-enforced changes will see flank Jordan Taufua and centre Rey Lee-Lo in the starting XV.
Richie McCaw returns to openside flank, with Matt Todd forced out of contention with a calf strain suffered against the Brumbies last week.
That sees Taufua move into the blindside flank spot and George Whitelock come onto the replacement bench.
Having been named as blindside flank against the Brumbies – after two months out with a fractured thumb – McCaw ended up playing most of the match on the openside because of Todd's departure.
Luke Whitelock retains the No.8 jersey while Kieran Read takes another week to recover from concussion.
Lee-Lo replaces Kieron Fonotia (hamstring), who also left the field early in the Crusaders' 40-20 win over the Brumbies last weekend.
In other changes, Corey Flynn will start at hooker, with Ben Funnell going into the bench, and lock Luke Romano, who came off the bench against the Brumbies after a spell out with a calf injury, returns to the run-on side.
Crusaders: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Ryan Crotty (captain), 11 Nemani Nadolo, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jordan Taufua, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Ben Funnell, 17 Tim Perry, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Jimmy Tupou, 20 George Whitelock, 21 Willi Heinz, 22 Tyler Bleyendaal, 23 Nafi Tuitavake.
Date: Sunday, May 11
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick-off: 16.05 (06.05 GMT; 18.05 NZ time)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia), Damien Mitchelmore (Australia)
TMO: Steve Leszczynski (Australia)
