Chiefs not short on motivation

Crusaders would still be a handy notch on belt

The Chiefs may be down but they are not out and they still have the motivation to try and glean their first Super Rugby Aotearoa win of the season against the Crusaders in Hamilton on Saturday.

The two sides have in recent seasons always provided competitive contests, especially when taking games to Fiji.

Assistant coach David Hill said this time around it was the Chiefs last home game and it would potentially allow first five-eighths Aaron Cruden to play his 100th game for the side.

"There're lots of good reasons to be motivated and excited about playing on Saturday," he said.

Another factor in the side staying focused on the game was to not be distracted by frustrations that they have been twice on the end of wrong calls in the latter stages of games that have later been confirmed by refereeing management.

It was a case of putting those incidents to bed as fast as possible and looking ahead to the next challenge, he said.

Hill acknowledged the contribution Cruden had made to the side. He was regarded by the coaches as the 'coach on the field'.

He had played more than 100 Super Rugby games, for the Hurricanes and Chiefs, he had played 50 Test matches and had been coached by some great coaches around the world.

"He's got a lot of rugby IQ to pass on so he's been brilliant and he's very much making sure that his opinions are valued and respected and very much part of our attack strat [strategy] or anything really.

"He's great, he's open to ideas and different people's opinions and he's a great role model for our younger 10s [first five-eighths] and younger players on how to plan their weeks and how to go about their weeks and how to go out and put a performance on the park," he said.