Here's a novel approach from the Crusaders. They're embracing their favouritism this week, cuddling up to the expectation that they should go out there on their home track on Saturday night and clean the clocks of the downtrodden Highlanders.

Normally a team that runs a million miles from any suggestions that they take some sort of an edge into any match, the Crusaders this week are turning usual practice on its head and screaming from the rooftops something we all know: "We should beat these Highlanders."

Could it be that the finals are just around the corner?

That desperate times call for desperate measures? Well, not so much desperate as worryingly comfortable. Sitting up there alone at the top of the table on 52 points, daylight between them and that distant chasing horde of would-be challengers, you might think the Crusaders would be in their comfort zone as the round-robin draws to a close.

They can't be caught for top spot, which means they ain't going anywhere from now till it all comes to an end. And they've got the 12th-placed Highlanders this week.

But they've just received a shakeup by the comments of assistant coach Mark Hammett when he tells RugbyHeaven that the best thing about having the Highlanders this week is that every man and his dog expects the Crusaders to kick some butt.

"We're expected to win it and so there's pressure there and that is great," says the former All Black hooker, warming to the theme. "Any team that wants to go on, if you can't play with pressure then you'll battle. For us that's excellent.

"Yes, we are favourites; yes, we should win. Now it's about how we go about doing it against a team that will want to finish their season on a high. And they've come close on a lot of occasions."

Psychological ploy or not, it probably doesn't matter. It simply isn't in the makeup of the Crusaders to take anyone lightly, or anything easy.

"You couldn't have said it better," grins Hammett, a contender alongside Todd Blackadder and others for the job as Robbie Deans' successor at the Crusaders next year. "It's not our way. We haven't created success over the years through just picking and choosing. You've got to perform well.

"The other thing is if you start choosing in this competition, a five percent difference in attitude can be a difference of 20 or 30 points on you. That's a reality."

Hammett continues. He talks about there being no excuse for letting up. About it coming down to individual standards, and accountability. They're all attributes ingrained into this six-time champion outfit.

Besides last week was a timely reminder that this team, looking to farewell Super rugby's greatest coach in the ultimate fashion, doesn't just have to turn up to win.

With a handful of their top guns on the bench the Crusaders trailed by 13 with not much more than a quarter of an hour left and had to come home with a wet sail to run down the Reds 27-21.

On the surface it was a scratchy old effort, reliant on some timely efforts from Dan Carter, Ali Williams and co off the pine late in the piece. But Hammett was far from alamrmed from an effort that could have been construed as a wakeup call. Could have.

The thing is Hammett looked closely at the performance. And he reckons it was a lot better than it might have appeared. Two things held the Crusaders back, he reckoned. Too many 50-50 passes, and not enough depth behind players who had breached the advantage line.

"We started looking for plums a wee bit," he surmised. "But the game wasn't all that bad. When I looked at it on the plane I came away thinking 'geez, we did a hell of a lot of good stuff and created a lot'. We were a real nuisance."

Hammett maintained the method was largely solid and he reckons his men weren't far off running up a big score. So this week is more about fine-tuning than making drastic adjustments.

"It's not about throwing 50-50s, it's about supporting in depth rather than just looking for the carry. The other thing is on D we're probably just a wee bit scratchy. We weren't urgent around closing in for that offload. Those are the three areas of key importance."

Given that finals football is njust a week off, expect a dress-rehearsal type effort on Saturday night from the Crusaders. In other words, expect pretty damn close to a full-strength lineup, with Dan Carter back in the pivot, and the other big names returned to full duty. Reuben Thorne is fit again, too, though unlikely to force his way into the starting XV.

Speaking of Carter, how did the coaches view his nice little try-scoring cameo?

"He was good," added Hammett. But good, with an asterisk. "Dan came on at a good time. We were very active, quite intense, and we started holding on to the ball and then we got rewards out of it."

The Crusaders won't name their lineup to meet the Highlanders till Thursday, but expect Carter to be back in the No 10 jersey as the Crusaders make what they know is an important step towards a remarkable seventh Super rugby title that's now theirs for the taking.