The Crusaders being the talk of the competition is nothing new.
But it’s been an age since they were the talk of Super Rugby Pacific for the reasons they’re currently making headlines.
Yes, losers of their first three games of the season, there has even been internet memes taking the mickey out of their awful start to their campaign the past week.
You just know fans of the other franchises, fed up with the red and blacks’ utter dominance the past seven years, are going to bleed this well dry.
Only breaking their duck will hush the haters.
Not even in 1996 did the Crusaders lose four straight games en route to bagging the wooden spoon.
Lose to the Hurricanes in Christchurch tonight and it will be a first for the proud franchise, winners of seven titles in as many years, and a record 14 (including two Super Rugby Aotearoa crowns).
And it’s not any old Hurricanes team coming to town, it’s the undefeated and table-topping Canes, fresh from beating the Blues in the capital.
And they will smell blood in the water, given the hosts’ injury ward is overflowing with broken players, including half a dozen All Blacks.
But, as Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw pointed out, it would be madness to write-off the Crusaders, particularly when they are playing at home for the first time this season.
Indeed, a week after they got cooked in the Lautoka heat, they will be in their element with an expected temperature of 8 degrees Celsius come kickoff.
Crusaders host the Hurricanes at 6.05 tonight
