The good news came with veteran lock Sam Whitelock back from a hand injury and longer-term injury sufferers No8 Cullen Grace and second five-eighths Jack Goodhue back on the bench. Adding to that is the likely return next week of fullback Will Jordan who has been frustrated from starting this year due to a migraine-related condition.
But bad news with prop George Bower having undergone an ACL reconstruction that will end his season.
Coach Scott Robertson said Bower's operation was successful.
"He's mending well. Both he and Sevu [Reece] are together in rehab.
"Cullen is great. When he first got the injury, he thought it was going to be a lot longer, so he's been excited. He will bring a lot of energy off the bench. And Sam is Sam – you know what he's like. He'd play every minute of every game if he could."
Robertson said Jordan was close to playing this week, but they will give him another week.
"It's week by week, especially with someone that has had this for a period of time. You work with them. It's new, a unique situation from a health point of view. He wasn't quite ready this week."
Looking to the Rebels game, Robertson said he wanted the fourth-placed Crusaders to complete more of their sets this week.
"We do a lot of great things, we build a lot of pressure, but we haven't been able to sustain pressure through skill sets."
It was an amalgam of little things in their game.
The Rebels were a tough team, competitive at the breakdown and resilient, and in many of their games, they had been in them until the end.
He was pleased to have captain Scott Barrett back from All Blacks leave and the bye week and Whitelock back from a broken hand for the campaign's second half.
"They're world-class locks, both of them, have incredible work rates, love the Crusaders and it is good to be on tour with them. They bring confidence to the forward pack."
Barrett said his energy was high after two weeks off and was ready to go for the next block of the season.
Reflecting on the first half of the season, Barrett said after their first-round loss to the Chiefs, several of their subsequent wins were messy by Crusader standards, and they felt their best rugby was ahead of them.
"We're doing everything we can within our training to chase performances we can be proud of."
The Rebels showed that they were a competitive unit against the Hurricanes and Blues, especially in the first halves of those games.
"We're anticipating strong competition at the breakdown and looking to disrupt our set-piece. Those two physical areas are where they are going to come, so we're aware of what they're going to bring but as always we want to focus with how we want to play and what we're going to do with the ball."
The Crusaders have found more teams are competing at lineouts this season, especially in the 22m area, and they were not competing at the level the Crusaders liked yet. Therefore, they needed to perform better to provide top-quality ball for their backs.
"It's about doing your homework on the opposition and anticipating where they might look to jump, where they might look to compete so as a core you want to be clear on what you're seeing and back your skill-set and decision-making."