Sharks have a limited menu
The Sharks are a team with limited tactics, but that does not make them easy to counter.
This is the view of Crusaders assistant coach Tabai Matson, speaking ahead of the Super Rugby semifinal showdown with the Sharks in Christchurch on Saturday.
It required some serious introspection from the Crusaders after a shock 25-30 loss to a 13-man Sharks team back in May.
It allowed them to recover from a mid-season slump and rise to the top of the very competitive New Zealand conference – finishing second on the global standings behind a very impressive Waratahs team.
"We were probably under par in a couple of our areas," Matson told a media scrum, as the Crusaders stepped up preparations for Saturday's encounter.
"They scored three tries from our errors," he said, adding that for them it is about being "very clinical" in the semifinal, calling that defeat a critical point in the season.
"We dropped back into the masses [after that loss] and fought back to where we are now [in the semifinal]."
Asked about Sharks coach Jake White, who is taking a team into the play-offs for he second year in succession (it was the Brumbies last year), Matson described the former World Cup-winning Springbok coach as a "world class and highly successful coach".
"He knows the game very well," the Crusaders assistant said, adding that White's teams play to their strengths and are "very clinical" with what they do.
"They have only a few things on the menu and they cook it very well.
"We will expect the same as teams he has prepared before. It will be very, very similar."
As they have done all season, the Sharks proved that a sound kicking game coupled with relentless physicality at the set piece is a winning formula in last week's preliminary qualifier against the Highlanders in Durban.
"It's going to come down to that arm wrestle for sure," Matson said.
"They've shown all year that they've got a world class forward pack and we were sadly below par here the last time we played them.
"It's going to be a massive challenge. We expect a really ferocious contact area. Their set pieces are strong, they are loaded with Springboks in the front row.
"We have to be ready for their A-game, but if we make them play their B-game it's going to make your day a lot easier," Matson said.
"However, doing that is a lot more difficult than what you put on paper in a plan."
Matson said this week they key to training is to get the players mentally fresh"", because not only has it been a long campaign, but a lot of the players also came through the June Tests.
The Crusaders, who have been in the semifinals for the past 12 years, but having last won the title in 2008, are not looking past this weekend's mat cg.
"This is the most critical game of the year for us,"he said, adding: "We are in a really good position.
"We finished top of the [New Zealand] conference and we are really confident about the way we play our rugby here at home, as well as having everybody fit and available."
