Chiefs relish semi-final underdog status It's not often a team who are defending champions and top qualifiers find themselves outsiders in any sports playoff contest. That's the scenario for 2012 Super Rugby maiden champions the Chiefs in a mouth-watering semi-final collision against fellow-Kiwi powerhouses the Crusaders in Hamilton on Saturday. It suits Chiefs coach Dave Rennie just fine. "I think most of the country is writing us off, which is not a bad thing," he said. We're happy with where we're heading and we've got a pretty happy bunch who are keen to make amends from the last time we played them. A jolting 43-15 loss to the seven-time champion Crusaders in Christchurch three weeks ago casts a shadow over the Waikato Stadium fixture. Since then the Crusaders - spearheaded by their muscular, all-All Blacks pack - have stretched their winning run to five. Last weekend's 38-9 demolition of the Queensland Reds continued some crushing form since the three-week June break and came with the added bonus of returning All Blacks great Richie McCaw's appearance off the bench. Rennie's men had the weekend off and have made mental preparation a focal point over the past fortnight. We know we were caught short in Christchurch, especially from an intensity point of view. So we can change that quickly because we can control that," he said. In the Chiefs' favour is that 46 of 57 Super Rugby playoff games have been won by the home team. Against that, five of those 11 road wins belong to the Crusaders. The visitors have lost five out of eight games away from Christchurch this season and coach Todd Blackadder is very wary of a Chiefs side who are 15 from 17 in Hamilton over the past four seasons. That includes a 20-17 win over the Crusaders in last year's semi-final at Hamilton, a result that still stings. "We went up there last year and came a bad second," Blackadder said. But that was last year and this is a new team with a new focus and with new goals. We've got a lot of momentum and there's a lot more pride in this team. Of the head-to-head clashes, none will be more brutal than that between world class but still young All Blacks locks Sam Whitelock (Crusaders) and Brodie Retallick (Chiefs), who regularly set the tone for their packs. However, the most influential match-up pits in-form All Blacks great Dan Carter (Crusaders) against his heir apparent Aaron Cruden, arguably the most important figure in the Chiefs title run last year and who has regularly shredded defences again this season.