New Zealand captain Richie McCaw believes that he is not playing to the standard that he wants for the Crusaders.
The 34-year-old was unable to inspire the Canterbury outfit as they lost successive games to the Highlanders and the Chiefs.
However, All Blacks legend McCaw has claimed that maintaining peak form on a weekly basis is difficult.
He told the New Zealand Herald: "Look, I'm probably not playing to the standard, to my peak and it's probably the same for a lot of us in the Crusaders, but when you're going backwards it's hard to have an impact and in the last couple of weeks I certainly haven't had the impact I would have liked.
"If you asked the players and saw how much it hurts our guys and how much effort they put into fix things you wouldn't say that.
"These guys are proud men who don't want to just go through the motions and I'm the same. We want to go out and perform every week. The nature of sport is that it's not easy to do that every week but we are certainly trying. Over 12 months to be at the peak of your game every week is a very tough thing to do and sometimes you just have to realise that."
McCaw has won 137 caps for the All Blacks.
Chris O'Keefe
