We’re up against the Blues at AMI Stadium on Saturday night and this match is always eagerly anticipated by our players and supporters alike.

The Crusaders have had a fascinating rivalry with the Blues. For many years the Auckland NPC team dominated domestic rugby in New Zealand. I remember playing in a Canterbury team in which only one player had experienced beating Auckland at that level and that was Richard Loe who had done it with Waikato.

I also remember assembling with the All Blacks in Melbourne once when Zinzan Brooke jokingly told Justin Marshall and I that the Crusaders would never beat the Blues. We duly did in 1998 at Eden Park to win our first Super rugby title. I learned a valuable lesson to never say anything silly like that to anyone!

But the rivalry is one that is built on respect. The Blues play a fantastic brand of rugby. They have power and talent and their backs have always been really dangerous.

They’ve had some great characters in their teams. Guys like Eroni Clarke, the great Michael Jones and Robin Brooke and Sean Fitzpatrick – both fierce competitors. And of course Jonah Lomu.

Looking back on our match against the Sharks at AMI Stadium last weekend which we won 35-6, I’m really proud of our response and the players started that through their defence.

We always strive to make all our supporters in the crowd feel part of our team and we went a long way to improving relationships after our loss the previous week against the Reds in Brisbane.

Last week our focus was on defence and the breakdown – we’re we had to get a bit more clever after struggling the previous week.

Defence is all about attitude. I don’t like singling out individuals but Ben Franks’ contribution in that first half was immense. He made five massive hits in the first 10 minutes and even as he was going off with an injured knee he made two more big tackles.

Thomas Waldrom, another player unavailable to us for this weekend, had a strained Achilles but still made the ground to get the pass away to Joe Wheeler for his run which led to Quentin MacDonald’s try.

Efforts like these show the character of the team.

A lot of people have asked me about referees and their new interpretations at the breakdown and I believe they’re starting to get it right.

There still has to be a challenge for possession at the breakdown and while we didn’t really see that in Brisbane against the Reds, we certainly did with Chris Pollock last week against the Sharks.

We’ve seen some fantastic rugby already and this competition is only going to get better.

I feel really proud to be in this position where I get to walk out on to such a fantastic stadium.

I was at the cricket match between New Zealand and Australia on Sunday and it was absolutely outstanding. What a fantastic facility. I’ve been to stadiums all around New Zealand and I think ours has the best atmosphere.

Please ensure you don’t leave it too late to buy a ticket for our match against the Blues. There will be a big crowd there and it would be best to buy your tickets this week or get to the ground early on Saturday and buy one.

Thanks for your support – it’s never taken for granted.

Todd Blackadder
Crusaders head coach