Finals time has arrived early for the Crusaders, New Zealand's only realistic hope of Super 14 rugby silverware this season.
The seven-time champions are treating their 12th round match against the Stormers at Cape Town on Saturday (5am NZT) as a virtual quarterfinal.
An upset 16-24 loss to Western Force in Perth last week means the Crusaders consider they must now win their remaining three games to earn a place in the semifinals for the 12th time in 15 years.
With the competition-leading Bulls next week at Pretoria then the Brumbies in Christchurch, the Crusaders face a challenging run home and have no option other than to discover their best form at the business end of the season.
Assistant coach Daryl Gibson said his side were treating the Stormers match as a potential season breaker.
"In our eyes this is it for our campaign," Gibson said from Cape Town.
"The way we see it is that the winners of this game continue in the competition. It's all set up for one of these teams to progress in this tournament."
The dogfight at the top of the table means any slip ups could cause irreparable harm to any teams' title aspirations.
While the Bulls are seemingly assured of a top four place, the Stormers, Crusaders and Reds are next in the queue five points back locked together on 34, one ahead of the Waratahs, who remain a live threat and are heavily favoured to collect a healthy points haul against the lowly Highlanders in Invercargill tomorrow night.
The Crusaders have once again clearly been New Zealand's top team even though they have also been below their clinical best in fashioning a record of seven wins, two losses and one draw.
The seventh-placed Hurricanes, who play the 10th-placed Chiefs in Wellington on Saturday, are reliant on winning all their remaining games, preferably with a bonus point, as well as other teams falling over -- an unlikely scenario.
The Blues appear out of the running, too, as they prepare to face the Cheetahs at Bloemfontein on Sunday morning, leaving all eyes on Cape Town where Crusaders captain Richie McCaw will become the 11th New Zealander to play 100 Super matches.
McCaw's accomplishment deserves a celebration on its own but that will only occur if the Crusaders can tip over a Stormers side who have impressed all and sundry with their mixture of grit, dash and polish which has proven too much for New Zealand's four other franchises this season.
The Crusaders will certainly have to show drastic improvement on their Perth showing where they uncharacteristically turned over possession 24 times and conceded 16 penalties and free kicks.
Any such largesse will be fed upon by a Stormers side coming off their own loss to the Reds but comforted to be back home.
Ever the pragmatists, the Crusaders will foresake style for substance if required.
"It's horses for courses at the moment. We're approaching each game with a very much 'we've just got to win' attitude," Gibson said.
"We are playing rugby we believe will get us that win. It may not be hugely entertaining at times but we know the predicament we're win. If we win by a point, we'd take that every time."
He is under no illusions about the task confronting them in Cape Town.
"They have probably been the form team over the past few weeks," Gibson said of the Stormers.
"They were a bit unlucky not to have won last week when they had a performance similar to us in that they made a lot of errors and turned over a lot of possession.
"I think both teams will go into the game with similar gameplans - to play territory, hold on to any ball they receive and show more patience and discipline on attack."
McCaw said the key to attaining the result they wanted was for the Crusaders to keep their mistakes to a minimum.
"The key is to give them nothing early in the game and let the pressure build on them to try things they wouldn't normally try. That's when the opportunities come."
The remaining matches this weekend see the Reds travel to Canberra to try and continue their hot run of form; the Bulls finetune for the semifinals against the Sharks while the last-placed Lions host Western Force at Johannesburg, also on Sunday morning.
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