"Crusaders boss Todd Blackadder believes Saturday's big win over the Kings will have majorly helped his side for their tour to South Africa.
Blackadder's squad will face the Sharks in Durban and then the Lions in Johannesburg over the next two weeks.
Despite the heavy 57-24 win over the Kings, the Crusaders were well tested by the visitors' driving maul in Christchurch, with Blackadder expecting more of the same when the Crusaders head to South Africa.
Key names such as Kieran Read, hooker Codie Taylor and scrum-half Andy Ellis are all tipped to start in Durban with Blackadder having rotated his squad ahead of their Round 4 triumph."Quite often you go to South Africa and you are playing that style against the very best teams, they will be just more efficient and better at it," Blackadder told Stuff.
"It's a really good prelude to the next two weeks.
"They will be kick-fests. They will kick to the corner and drive the hell out of you."
Personally I think the Crusaders are up to it in the games they have to play in Durban and Johannesburg. They are likely to lose both games if Blackadder is not aware of the change in the games after the appointment of new assistant coaches by the Sharks and the fact that the Chiefs got beaten by the Lions playing a more open game than they did before.
Although the Crusaders Tight 5 is lauded in NZ as the best of the local Tight 5's - they are going to suffer badly against both the teams they are going to meet in SA and they are not going to get easy usable balls to play with.
Incidentally the Kings are the weakest side in Super Rugby and letting them in to score three tries is not a good advertisement for their defensive game.
