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Christchurch - Former Crusaders captain Richie McCaw has warned his old side not to repeat the mistakes made against the Sharks in Saturday's Super Rugby semi-final against the Hurricanes.
The defending champions came out of the blocks flying against the Durban-based side in their quarter-final clash in Christchurch. However, the Sharks enjoyed a decent spell in the second quarter of the game.
Ultimately, the Crusaders proved too strong, claiming a 40-10 victory to book a semi-final date with Chris Boyd's Hurricanes. Nevertheless, McCaw has warned that they cannot afford to give the Hurricanes the same breathing space they gave the Sharks.
"It's the little mistakes and the back-to-back penalties that are allowing momentum to go against you," McCaw told New Zealand's 1 News, having revealed that he has given his thoughts on the Sharks game to Crusaders coach Scott Robertson.
"It can just be one or two things like that and you can go from being on the front foot to all of a sudden, with the guys the Hurricanes have got, being under pressure and it can cost you seven points.
"You saw that against the Sharks; the first 20 minutes was all Crusaders and then a couple of mistakes and it was back to an arm wrestle for a while.
"If they can keep those (mistakes) to a minimum, they've definitely got the skill, and with how they're doing things, they'll be good enough as well."
Should the Crusaders see off the Hurricanes, they will face either the Lions or the Waratahs in a home final.
The defending champions came out of the blocks flying against the Durban-based side in their quarter-final clash in Christchurch. However, the Sharks enjoyed a decent spell in the second quarter of the game.
Ultimately, the Crusaders proved too strong, claiming a 40-10 victory to book a semi-final date with Chris Boyd's Hurricanes. Nevertheless, McCaw has warned that they cannot afford to give the Hurricanes the same breathing space they gave the Sharks.
"It's the little mistakes and the back-to-back penalties that are allowing momentum to go against you," McCaw told New Zealand's 1 News, having revealed that he has given his thoughts on the Sharks game to Crusaders coach Scott Robertson.
"It can just be one or two things like that and you can go from being on the front foot to all of a sudden, with the guys the Hurricanes have got, being under pressure and it can cost you seven points.
"You saw that against the Sharks; the first 20 minutes was all Crusaders and then a couple of mistakes and it was back to an arm wrestle for a while.
"If they can keep those (mistakes) to a minimum, they've definitely got the skill, and with how they're doing things, they'll be good enough as well."
Should the Crusaders see off the Hurricanes, they will face either the Lions or the Waratahs in a home final.
