Deans avoiding the physical route
May 27 2008
Crusaders coach Robbie Deans will give his squad a break from the more physical aspects of training this week, preferring instead to steel their minds for the intensity of their Super 14 Final against the Waratahs.
After their masterful 33-22 defeat of the Hurricanes at AMI Stadium on Saturday, the surprisingly fresh looking Crusaders had a light workout at their Rugby Park headquarters on Monday morning.
Apart from hooker Corey Flynn, who exited Saturday's match early with a broken forearm, Deans has a full squad to choose from for what he expects will be a torrid encounter.
Flynn saw any prospect of a recall to the All Blacks this Sunday disappear in the tackle that broke the radius bone in his forearm and is expected to be out of rugby for three months after surgery to insert a steel rod in his arm.
Deans said everyone other than Flynn came through a bruising encounter without too many scrapes or niggles.
Recovery was the keyword in preparation for the final.
"We obviously pull back (in training) at this time of year," Deans told NZPA.
"There's not much point in pushing too hard with our conditioning in the gym or even out on the pitch.
"It's a matter of recovering fully and entering the game in the right frame of mind, because the mind is the key at this point."
Deans said the Crusaders' "techniques and understandings" should be well ingrained in the players by now.
"If they're not we're chasing the game, so there's no point in flogging that area," he said.
"It's more a matter of keeping the emphasis going from here."
The Crusaders brains trust would closely study video of the Waratahs' 28-13 drubbing of the Sharks in Sydney.
"They've really added some confidence and fluidity to their attack," said Deans.
"They've always been sticky, defensively."
He said the Waratahs appeared to be peaking at the right time.
"The Sharks were peaking at the right time of the year and (the Waratahs) made them look pretty second-rate, to be fair," said Deans.
"Attack and defence - everything is going to be important this weekend."
Deans said the "best two teams" had made the final "and it's going to be an epic".
But while Deans is plotting ways to make the Waratahs squeal and squirm in Saturday's Final, next week the new Wallabies coach will be pondering how to gel some of those same players ahead of the Test against Ireland on June 14.
But if there is a myriad of emotions zipping through Deans' mind as he counts down his final hours as the Crusaders' coach, he has been masking it well.
"It's no different than any other campaign. I have been at this point 12 times, not always in the final," said Deans.
"That obviously has the realities with it, that our blokes don't enjoy. But there's no certainty for anyone. That's the same for management as the players."