Crusaders centre Ryan Crotty has said that they will head into their Super Rugby semi-final against the Hurricanes with confidence if they can get their preparation right.
The defending champions haven’t lost a game since going down to the Highlanders on March 17. Their only other loss this season came a week before that against Saturday’s semi-final opponents.
With momentum behind them, one would expect the Crusaders to be buoyed by confidence from their recent on-field performances, as well as home ground advantage. However, Crotty has claimed that in reality, their self-belief is made on the training ground.
“I think you take confidence from how you prepare, I think if we plan deep in our preparation and preview them like we have and put the time in during the week, that’s where you can get confidence from, how well prepared you are,” Crotty said, according to RNZ.
“Saturday then rolls around and that’s the easy bit, it’s about doing the hard work Monday to Friday and then the fun stuff on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Crusaders assistant coach Brad Mooar has admitted that the Crusaders will need to improve on their 40-10 quarter-final win over the Sharks, despite the resounding scoreline in that game.
“We realise that we need to be getting better every day and so get better or face the end of the season,” he said.
“A heck of a lot of respect for the Hurricanes, we got things right in a lot of cases against the Sharks, but we know there’s a lot we got out that we need to work on and we need to get better at for the Hurricanes.”