McCaw: The Crusaders cracked
Crusaders captain Richie McCaw admitted his team could not handle the heat when the Chiefs turned up the pressure on Friday.
The Chiefs booked a place in the Super Rugby Final for only the second time, when they hung on for a narrow 20-17 win over the Crusaders in Hamilton.
And McCaw admitted that the Crusaders had let themselves down by failing to maintain their composure and blamed some crucial mistakes for their loss.
In a cliffhanger semifinal the Chiefs held off a late charge by the seasoned Crusaders, who had a chance to equalise in the 75th minute – but aw Dan Carter's 45-metre penalty dropped under the bar.
"The Chiefs put us under pressure and we made crucial mistakes," McCaw said.
"We never really got our game going which probably comes down to a good Chiefs team – but we were let down by our composure as well.
"You can't win games when you haven't got that [composure]."
He admitted that Chiefs had greater intensity on defence.
"They did [knock us back]," McCaw said, adding: "We probably allowed them to.
"We certainly coughed up the ball a fair bit [in the tackle].
"In the first half we also played a bit [too much] rugby around our own 10-metre line that allowed them to get pressure on us.
"They were certainly up for it and that is semifinal rugby.
"The Chiefs have set the standard all year, there's no doubt about that.
"From our point of view it was disappointing but they probably deserved the win."
"We never really got our game going which probably comes down to a good Chiefs team – but we were let down by our composure as well."
