The NSW Waratahs have arrived in enemy territory unfazed by their dreadful record in Christchurch ahead of Saturday night's Super 14 final with the Crusaders.

The Waratahs have won just once in eight visits to AMI Stadium and their long run of outs includes a 34-7 pasting just eight weeks ago, a 35-25 loss in the 2005 final and a 96-19 humiliation in 2002.

Yet coach Ewen McKenzie and captain Phil Waugh remain defiant enough to believe they will enter the blockbuster final with a 50-50 chance of springing a boilover.

"Obviously everyone's got opinions but, if we look at it: they've lost two games, we've lost three. I don't feel like we're going into this game as an inferior team," McKenzie said.

"We obviously completely respect the Crusaders' history and what they've done and the fact they've led from the front the whole season.

"But they have lost a couple of games and they've had a couple of games where they've come from behind so that suggests if you can get it right on the night, you're a chance.

"So we'll go into the game thinking we're a chance.

"We've battled away all season through different sorts of adversity and then (semi) finals and things like that and we've only lost three games and we're here.

"So I would suggest the mental mindset of the players is a pretty good one. This team's got a fair bit of resolve."

Waugh said NSW's poor track record in Christchurch "means very little come Saturday night".

"So we're not too intimidated by that record," he said.

The champion flanker pointed out the Waratahs were fielding a vastly different team to the one which leaked four tries in the last half hour in the round-six encounter with the Crusaders.

Among the changes are the in-form centre combination of Rob Horne and Tom Carter, halfback discovery Luke Burgess and an entirely new front row.

Waugh said the new-look Waratahs had grown in confidence and experience with every win since the last disappointing trip to Christchurch.

"The young backline we've got, the more they play together, the better they seem to get," he said.

"The young guys are throwing caution to the wind and getting out and having a good crack at whatever they believe is the right option on the field.

"So it's refreshing to see that and shows there's a reasonable enough belief in the team."

Star winger Lote Tuqiri, one of the eight survivors from the 2005 final defeat, said the 2008 model Waratahs were far better equipped to handle the classy Crusaders this time around.

"There's a lot better feeling, a positive feeling going into this weekend's game," Tuqiri said.

"In 2005, we were probably one-dimensional and probably didn't play the way we wanted to play.

"We went over playing a style of game that probably catered to them more than it did to us and we worried about them more than we worried about what we do well, and I guess things have changed since then.

"The players that we do have are really confident in their own ability and hopefully we can show that on Saturday night.

"We're definitely the underdogs. They finished way above everyone else, the Crusaders, but we know they're breakable.

"We've certainly got a few things in line and hopefully that can come to fruition and we can play some good footy and we come up away with the Super 14 trophy."

Having brought 24 players across the Tasman, McKenzie will name his final 22-man squad on Thursday, with only back-rower David Lyons (hamstring) said to be in doubt.

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