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Aaron Mauger impressed by Josh Ioane midfield experiment despite Highlanders defeat to Sharks

By Alex McLeod
(Photo by Teaukura Moetaua/Getty Images)

A new era of Highlanders rugby kicked off in forgettable fashion at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday night as the hosts were blitzed 42-20 by an impressive Sharks side in their season-opening Super Rugby clash.

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Void of a multitude of key names who have left for clubs in New Zealand and overseas, the new-look hosts were romped by the South African visitors, who flexed their comparative experience through the likes of World Cup-winning Springboks Makazole Mapimpi and captain Lukanyo Am.

Mapimpi bagged a brace of tries on the left wing, a feat of which was emulated by rapid fullback Aphelele Fassi, whose pace on the dry, roof-protected track in Dunedin was at times too much to deal with.

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Building on his eye-catching World Cup form, Mapimpi’s double came in a rapid fire seven-minute period at the end of the first half, where the Sharks ran in three tries to head into the half-time break with a compelling 27-3 lead.

While the Highlanders matched and even outplayed the Sharks for the remaining 73 minutes of the contest, it was that short period of inefficiency and early season rustiness that cost Aaron Mauger’s side dearly come full-time.

“We didn’t necessarily do anything wrong defensively, it was more around just a couple of errors and they were pretty sharp,” head coach Mauger said post-match.

“They’ve got good backs and took their opportunities, and on the other side we didn’t really take our opportunities.

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“There were guys with the line wide open and didn’t quite take them, whereas they took all their opportunities.”

While a couple of try-scoring chances that could have swung the momentum of the game went begging, the fact that those opportunities arose was a positive aspect of an otherwise disappointing result for Mauger.

“First game, a little bit of rust there, but they certainly created opportunities, so we’ll keep trusting our plans, just the execution on those plans needs to be better,” he said.

Part of the Highlanders’ plan leading into last night’s match was the deployment of a dual-playmaking axis between five-eighth partners Mitch Hunt and Josh Ioane.

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Plenty had been made earlier in the week of Mauger’s decision to pick new recruit Hunt ahead of Ioane at first-five, with the one-test All Black instead shifted to the midfield.

The positional switch came as a surprise to many given Ioane’s exploits in the Highlanders’ No. 10 jersey in 2019, which earned him an international debut last season.

However, Mauger cited on Wednesday that Ioane’s defensive solidity was the key reason behind his selection at No. 12.

Despite the defeat, which saw the Highlanders struggle to punch through the middle of the park with two playmakers on the field, Mauger was full of praise of the Hunt-Ioane partnership.

“I think two of those guys went really well,” he said. “I thought Josh Ioane was outstanding at No. 12.

“I thought he was a real threat with ball in hand and his physicality on defence was exactly what we expected, so I thought he met all the challenges but also sparked the attack when he had ball in hand.”

Hunt’s influence was particularly evident on attack, with the former Crusaders pivot frequently lofting flat, cross-field chip kicks in behind the Sharks’ defensive line for rookie wings Jona Nareki and Tima Fainga’anuku to latch onto.

Ioane added to the Highlanders’ ambitious game plan by attempting many long cut-out passes, plenty of which were nearly picked off through the Sharks’ tenacious rush defence.

Playing with such width stemmed from Mauger’s wariness of carrying into contact against an opposition side filled with large defenders, and he was pleased by his squad’s attacking intent, which eventually paid dividends when two of the Highlanders’ three second half tries were set up by nudges from Hunt and Ioane.

“I thought we attacked pretty well, to be fair,” he said. “In terms of the plans of moving them around.

“Our attacking kicking game was good. When we executed them we had them under pressure.

“It’s just getting the balance right. Teams like that want to win the collisions, that’s why they bring the line speed.

“It’s important that, especially the way we want to play, that we don’t get sucked into trying to carry against bigger men like that through the middle.”

The Highlanders will look to overturn their shaky start to the new season next week, when they travel to Canberra to take on the high-flying Brumbies, who are yet to taste defeat this year after overcoming the Melbourne Rebels 39-26 in the Australian capital last night.

The Sharks, meanwhile, will now travel to Wellington to face the winless Hurricanes in a bid to maintain their unbeaten start to 2020 following their 23-15 win against the Stormers in Durban last week.

Sharks 42 (Tries to Makazole Mapimpi (2), Aphelele Fassi (2), James Venter; 4 conversions and 3 penalties to Curwin Bosch)

Highlanders 20 (Tries to Dillon Hunt, Jona Nareki, Michael Collins; conversion and penalty to Mitch Hunt)

In other news:

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J
Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 3 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 5 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 8 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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