Richie McCaw reckons he'll hit Durban running as his Crusaders lean on a hunch the Sharks might be starting to puff ahead of their high-powered Super 14 rugby match.

All Blacks skipper McCaw makes his return on Sunday morning (AEST), six weeks after damaging a knee ligament against the Highlanders.

He hopes to slot seamlessly into a defending champion team that's unbeaten through their last four matches.

Scratchy as some of those performances have been, McCaw has been impressed by their gutsy defensive displays that have the Crusaders in eighth place but just eight points behind the competition-leading Sharks.

"The last three could have gone either way and we've managed to hold on and get the wins we require," McCaw said from Durban.

"Our defence has conceded very few tries ... that shows the character of the team, what the guys do when you don't have the ball."

The influential flanker was quietly confident of seeing out 80 minutes but was wary of keeping a tunnel vision approach to his own game.

"The key if you've had a layoff is that you don't go out there and try to do everything," he said.

"You end up running around and you don't actually do what you should do."

The only question mark hangs over bracketed halfback Andy Ellis, who has trained well this week and showing good signs of recovering from a rib injury.

Crusaders assistant coach Mark Hammett wondered if the Sharks, who were stunned 31-6 by the last-placed Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend, might be starting to feel the pinch.

Sunday is their 10th consecutive match, with a bye finally arriving next week.

"We know ourselves from the past that once a bye comes around, you can be limping into it," Hammett told NZPA.

"Perhaps there is a bit of fatigue.

"We didn't have the same issues ourselves this year because of a natural rotation because of injuries etc."

Hammett noted how the Cheetahs closed the Sharks down by attacking their lineouts and said the Crusaders' own bye had given them a chance to do extra analysis on the classy South Africans.

He was confident his back three of Leon MacDonald, Jared Payne and Colin Slade could handle the anticipated barrage of long kicking.

The Crusaders have beaten the Sharks 10 times in their last 12 meetings but lost 26-27 in the most recent visit to Durban two years ago thanks to a bizarre end to the match.

Leading 26-20 with the final hooter having sounded and in possession, the Crusaders opted to keep the ball alive, only to lose it and watch the Sharks sweep downfield.

Winger Odwa Ndungane scored and Ruan Pienaar converted from the sideline, much to the despair of prop Wyatt Crockett and his teammates that day.

"I'll definitely never forget that," said Crockett, who will play his 50th Super rugby match this weekend.

"If we're ahead at the end of the game we'll be definitely trying to get that ball out."

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