Western Force coach John Mitchell says the Crusaders are still the benchmark of the Super 14 competition despite the loss of master coach Robbie Deans and star flyhalf Dan Carter.

Deans led the Crusaders to an astonishing five Super 14 titles during his nine-year reign while Carter, who has gone on a sabbatical with French side Perpignan, is the third most prolific point-scorer in Super rugby.

But Mitchell said the Crusaders, who face up to the Force in a pre-season clash at Members Equity Stadium on Friday night, would still be the team to beat in '09 under new coach Todd Blackadder, who captained the side to three titles during his playing days.

"They are a great talent but their ethos has always been about their teamwork ahead of individual and I don't see that changing under Todd Blackadder's campaign," Mitchell said.

"If you look at all their staff they are all former Crusaders, so the culture rolls on.

"I think there's been a recipe from success and I don't think they'll go too far away from that.

"It will still be around the basis of getting momentum through their fundamentals.

"They'll still look to have a very aggressive defensive line.

"I think they've always been the benchmark in their kicking game in the competition and I don't see those factors being any different.

"They've found a fantastic flyhalf in (Colin) Slade.

"He played well in the Air New Zealand Cup (provincial competition) so they seem to produce flyhalves - there seems to be a factory down there."

The Crusaders will enter the clash without All Blacks Richie McCaw, Kieran Read, Corey Flynn, Ben Franks, Brad Thorn and Ross Filipo, while the Force will go in minus Wallabies Nathan Sharpe, Ryan Cross, Matt Giteau and James O'Connor.

Meanwhile, the Force have had an off-field blow of a different kind - a stolen laptop containing vital footage and analysis software.

The Force released a statement on Thursday pleading for the public's help to locate the laptop, which was stolen from the vehicle of a member of team management on Wednesday night.

"The laptop that was stolen is of great use to the Western Force as it is the main laptop used for the analysis of our performance," the unnamed staff member said in a statement.

"It has some very rugby specific software loaded on it which would be useless to anybody else who had possession of it but is crucial to us.

"It contains a lot of historical video footage that would require a lot of man hours to replace."

Western Force: Dane Haylett-Petty, Haig Sare, Junior Pelesasa, Josh Tatupu, Drew Mitchell, Scott Daruda, Josh Valentine, Tamaita Horua, David Pocock (capt), Matt Hodgson, Tom Hockings, David Pusey, AJ Whalley, Tai McIsaac, Pek Cowan. Res: Luke Holmes, Kieran Longbottom, Richard Stanford, Richard Brown, Chris O'Young, Nick Cummins, Cameron Shepherd, Gareth Hardy, Troy Takiari, Justin Turner, Filipe Manu, Ben Whittaker, Brent Murphy.

Crusaders: Leon MacDonald, Jared Payne, Adam Whitelock, Ryan Crott, Kade Poki, Colin Slade, Steve Alfeld, Nasi Manu, George Whitelock, Ash Parker, Isaac Ross, James Broadhurst, Peter Borlase, Daniel Perrin, Owen Franks. Res: Wyatt Crockett, Jason Macdonald, Bronson Murray, Michael Paterson, Jonathan Poff, Thomas Waldrom, Andy Ellis, Hamish Gard, Tim Bateman, Casey Laulala.

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