McCaw hails defensive effort
May 31 2008
Crusaders captain Richie McCaw praised his side's defensive display following their canny 20-12 victory over the Waratahs in Saturday's Super 14 final in Christchurch.
The Australians arrived in town with the hope that this would be their year after being denied by the Crusaders in the final of 2005, and they duly exploded out of the traps to build a 12-3 lead via a brace of tries from Lachlan Turner.
But aggressive defence from the serial champions turned the tide in the second half, with a host of turn-overs handing fly-half Daniel Carter the platform on which to build an win.
"Our defence was outstanding," said McCaw.
"You've got to dig deep when you're down and we did. We wouldn't be defeated.
"Although we were behind, we felt we were on top at half-time. We knew if we could keep our composure at the start of the second half, the points would come.
"[Our defence] was letting us down towards the end of the round-robin stage. so last week [in the semi-final] we took a step up and tonight the hits that were going in were just outstanding."
McCaw said the Crusaders never panicked despite being down at the break.
"We felt like we were on top - we played a lot of the rugby," he said.
"We knew that if we could keep our composure at the start of the second half the points would come, and we kept our composure and got what we needed."
Departing Crusaders coach Robbie Deans said he was "proud" of his side's effort as they hit back after trailing early on.
They also had to fight back after a second half sin-binning to Brad Thorn that cost them an otherwise legitimate try to Wyatt Crockett, as well as his presence for ten long minutes.
"It was ironic that Brad was the ill-disciplined one - I thought it must have been Ali [Williams] and they'd got the number wrong. and got caught for it," joked Deans.
"The defence was remarkable. They earned it, they deserved it and they got it.
"I'm just stoked for the blokes. I don't do it, they do. It's just great to be part of it."