McCaw: We'll learn from Canberra | Canterbury Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Canterbury

The Crusaders' loss in Canberra might be just the kick in the pants they need as the 2007 contest nears its climax.

The Super 14 champions meet the Chiefs at Jade on Friday night in a match with no ifs or buts for either team. The Crusaders need a win for a home semi, and the Chiefs have to win to make the playoffs.

Intensity has gone up with teams chasing play-off spots, says skipper Richie McCaw. Perhaps in hindsight they got reminded of that by the Brumbies, he said.

"We weren't far off but we probably weren't quite there. So this week and if we get a chance the following weeks we've got to make sure we're not off the pace a fraction."

The lessons for Friday are plain enough. The Crusaders allowed the Brumbies to dictate the lineouts and struggled to get quality ball there which had a snowball effect. They also struggled to get clean ball at the breakdown ? "there's various reasons. It goes right back to not winning quality set-piece ball. There're not hard things to rectify."

The Chiefs had big forwards who could get them across the gain line and if they did that they gave their quick players out wide the opportunity, said McCaw.

"And I think they've shown that with a bit of space they've got the ability to create tries ? and pretty good tries.

"They put the Force away a couple of weeks ago and they scored some pretty good tries against the Waratahs, too."

The six day turnaround after an overseas match is not ideal, but McCaw does not expect it to be a problem.

They didn't leave first thing in the morning, giving a chance for some recovery, and were not overdoing contact work.

Meanwhile McCaw thought his card in Canberra was probably fair, although he hadn't seen footage of it.

"It was disappointing that I put the team under pressure... but it might have been seven points as well!"