True champions perform in the Final
All Black captain Richie McCaw may not have intended it to be a put-down directed at the Sharks, but it will be a remark that will hit hard and hurt badly.
McCaw, speaking ahead of the Super Rugby Final encounter with the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday, said this is when 'true champions' stand up.
Admitting that he still gets nervous, despite having played in a World Cup Final already, McCaw spoke about how important it was for the seven-time champions to put the disappointment of the near misses of the past five years behind them.
Having won the last of their seven titles in 2008, the Crusaders finished as runners up in 2011 when they could not play a single game at home because of the devastating Christchurch earthquakes – while they were losing semifinalists in the other years.
They recorded a comprehensive 38-6 win over the Sharks last week to advance to their 11th Final.
The Sharks, in stark contrast, have never been able to kick on after making the play-offs – finishing runners-up four times, losing semifinalists four times and lost one other time in the preliminary knock-out stages.
That is why McCaw's remarks will be so painful for the Sharks to hear, given they have once again been handed the unwanted moniker as 'champion chokers'.
He made it clear the Crusaders are desperate to end a five-year run without a title.
McCaw said the class of 2014 were different from recent ones, which made it to the semifinals then hadn't performed.
"If you just look back over the last couple of years [since 2011], we haven't actually given ourselves a chance to make the Final,"the Crusaders stalwart told a media briefing at the team's training base in Christchurch.
"At least this year we've given ourselves a chance and now the big job is to perform when it really counts.
"You can do whatever you like during the season, but if you don't perform when it most counts, you are just like the rest of the teams.
"That's what champion teams do, and that's what we're really keen to do.
"We have had some disappointments over the last few years, so it would be nice to change that."
He dismissed the notion that there was panic in the Crusaders camp after a bad start to the season.
"[People] outside the team may have [panicked], but we realised we just needed to get a bit of confidence, get over the hump of not getting there in a couple of games."
He said success is winning.
"We are going there [Sydney on Saturday] to win.
"That is what this team is all about and we are keen to play well and do that."
McCaw said the job of preparing for big matches still leaves him with nervous flutters.
Despite being the most-capped All Black ever, appearing in three World Cup tournaments and making 129 appearances for the Crusaders, the 33-year-old loose forward still finds himself burning off nervous energy before crucial matches such as Saturday's Super Rugby Final against the Waratahs.
"Yeah, definitely,"he told a media scrum, when asked if he still gets nervous.
"It is a good sort of nerves, though,'' McCaw said.
''These are the moments that you want to be involved in and games you want to play in. You go through all the hard work for three, four or five months to give yourselves a shot at this game.
"From a personal point of view, you want to go out [and] play well for the team to give yourself a chance."
