Despite languishing at the bottom of the Super Rugby Pacific table after nine rounds, the Crusaders believe they can still challenge for another title.
The Christchurch-based team looks like a pale shadow of the team that won Super Rugby titles at will for many years and became the tournament's most successful club.
fell to the bottom of the table
On Saturday, the Perth-based Crusaders replaced Western Force at the bottom of the table after a 37-15 home victory over the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions.
The result means the Crusaders have lost seven of eight games in this year's competition, and their first defeat against the Force in 11 years.
Rob Penney's side lost their first five games of the season against the Chiefs, Waratahs, Fiji Drua, Hurricanes and Blues, but bounced back by defeating the Chiefs in the return match in Christchurch.
This victory gave Crusaders supporters hope, but it turned out to be a false dawn as they subsequently suffered defeats to the Waratahs and Force in Sydney.
The perennial champions have just seven points in the standings, six behind Moana Pacifica in eighth place, the final playoff spot.
“To be honest, I'm not interested in the ladder. If we start winning games, we'll put ourselves in a good position,” Crusaders stand-in captain Tom Christie told AFP.
Wallabies halfback leads Western Force to first win against Crusaders in 11 years
“Yes, it's unique. Probably no team has done it from here. But I still have complete faith in the team and believe that if we do it right, we can be a dangerous team.”
“We need to get it right more often.”
The Crusaders were boosted by the return of several All Blacks injured in the clash with the Force, but struggled to penetrate their opponents' defense.
The champion made too many unforced errors that the force exploited, resulting in only his second win of the season.
“This hurts. We made a lot of mistakes, but as we all know, mistakes can get any team out of the game,” Christie said.
Special praise to Seb Reese
The openside flanker praised All Black flyer Seb Rees. He scored his 53rd try in Super Rugby, making him the Crusaders' top try scorer ahead of former winger Caleb Ralph.
“Seb's rugby talent is that he is the best in the country, no other way to describe it, and potentially the best in the competition,” Christie added.
“He's showing it every week. The rest of us just have to get to his level.”
read more: Seb Reece becomes Crusaders' all-time top try scorer