The Canterbury Crusaders, the behemoth of southern hemisphere provincial rugby, hit a 28-year low with their loss to Fijian Drua last weekend and they risk sinking into an unprecedented trough if they cannot turn their season around this week.

The Christchurch-based outfit have built a decent case for being considered the world's most successful professional rugby team over the last three decades and have won the last seven straight iterations of Super Rugby in its various forms.