McCaw fired up for Sharks showdown

richiemccaw

The two teams squared off in round 14 of the tournament in Christchurch two months ago - the New Zealanders falling to a 30-25 home defeat.

McCaw - who returns from a two-week lay-off with a rib injury - is confident the team have learnt the lessons from that game and is confident of turning over the South Africans in the crucial last-four encounter at the AMI Stadium.

"I think we learnt some good lessons from that first game but we have got to realise that was two months ago and we are in 'finals' [knockout] rugby so things will have changed a wee bit," he said.

"I think one positive of getting tipped over last time is there is certainly a bit of steel there which you would expect in a semi, but it probably adds an extra little bit, certainly from my point of view it does."

Captain Kieran Read is hoping the Crusaders' varied attack will prove crucial in their challenge for an eighth title and first since 2008.

"We are happy to hopefully play an up-tempo game where we can really use our skills and our backs skills out wide," he commented. 

"But we are more than happy to mix it up and we will need to especially early on against the Sharks, we have to match them up front because that is where it all starts."

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