NSW coach Ewen McKenzie plans to put on his thinking cap and come up with something different to upset the favoured Crusaders in next Saturday's Super 12 final, but the mind games may have already started.

McKenzie claimed some of the Crusaders' play at the breakdown was close to the edge of the law and suggested they tailored their play to suit the style of whichever referee was appointed to their games.

The day after NSW clinched its maiden Super 12 final appearance with a 23-13 home win over the Bulls, McKenzie nominated the breakdown battle as a key area of Saturday's Christchurch encounter.

"The breakdown will be very important, the selection of the referee will be very interesting," McKenzie said.

"Clearly the Crusaders study the referees closely and they definitely play to the referees and we saw an example last time we played, they ran at the referee in our defensive line and created opportunities.

"I thought they played the breakdowns to the letter of the law, or the edge of the law last week, so they are clearly looking at the referees and playing the game.

"That's all credit to them, we try and do the same thing, but they are doing it better than most at the moment."

While the match looms as a classic confrontation between the tournament's most explosive attack and its meanest defence, the Crusaders have significantly improved in the latter department, conceding just four tries in their last three games.

The high-scoring Crusaders, who thrashed the Hurricanes 47-7 in the other semi-final in Christchurch, have achieved an impressive average winning margin of 24 points this season.

"The challenge is going to (be to) find a game plan that is going to challenge them," McKenzie said.

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