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Aaron Mauger loads up on All Blacks for 'transformed' Reds team

By Alex McLeod
Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger. (Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)

Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger has rung the changes as his side prepares to face what he believes will be a gritty, youthful Reds outfit in Dunedin on Friday night.

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The injection of nine All Blacks into the starting lineup – including Shannon Frizell, Dillon Hunt, Aaron Smith and Waisake Naholo, all of whom didn’t start last weekend – makes for a very strong Highlanders side, of which will be looking to build on from their thrilling season-opening 30-27 win over the Chiefs in Hamilton last Friday.

Impressive playmaker Josh Ioane has retained his role as the starting first-five after a composed showing at Waikato Stadium, with cult hero Marty Banks set to complete his return to the franchise from off the bench after ousting Bryn Gatland – who failed to make his Highlanders debut from off the pine last week – in the reserves.

“Josh performed well,” Mauger told RugbyPass of his pivot’s display last weekend.

“[It’s] just a reflection of the quality of preparation he’s put into his game through the pre-season, went out there and trusted his game.

“[He] did everything we asked, and you could see his confidence growing and the trust that the guys around him are starting to have in Josh leading the team around the park.

“Marty comes into the 23, [as] part of our plan, we want to get all those fly halves involved in the first couple of weeks, so they’ll get their time through there.”

A notable omission from the match day squad is 23-test loose forward Liam Squire.

The 27-year-old announced his signing with Japanese club NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes earlier this week, meaning 2019 will act as his final season with the Highlanders.

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However, the start of his last campaign with the Dunedin-based franchise has been delayed with a “hip grumble”, according to Mauger.

“We just want to make sure we manage him right,” Mauger said.

“It could be one week or it could be two, so we’ll just wait for the medical team to give us the go ahead.

“Like out All Blacks last week, we want to make sure they’re ready when we put them out there, there’s no point putting them out there, especially when we’ve got the depth that we have in that position.”

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That position, at blindside flanker, has a new occupant this week, with Frizell bumping Jackson Hemopo back into the second row, where he played all of his Super Rugby last year.

While the All Blacks selectors see three-test Hemopo primarily as a number six that can play in the second row, Mauger views things differently.

“We see him as a lock that can play six,” he said.

“This year, we’ve got a lot of loose forwards. Last week, he played six due to circumstances, that’s what we required [of him], but he’s going to play lock this week with the potential to shift out if we need him.”

Despite the obvious firepower evident throughout his side, Mauger is wary of the threat posed by the Brad Thorn-coached Reds.

The Queenslanders are yet to play this season, after having the bye in the opening round, but Mauger is expecting the youngsters in the side to shine under the tutelage of Thorn.

“You can see in the Reds’ performances over the last year how much that reflects Thorny, and how he played the game and his mindset towards the game.

“He’s really transformed them. They’ve turned into a real tough team to play against, they compete very hard at everything, and that was Thorny’s style of play, and I’m sure he’s transferred that into his coaching philosophy as well.

“We expect them to be on for 80 minutes, they’re a team that don’t give up, there’s plenty of guts and grit in their side, and they’ve also got some young guys coming through.

“Hamish Stewart, they’ve got Moses Sorovi at nine, who performed really well in their pre-season games, and starting to take a bit of confidence and lead their team around, so they’ll be a very tough challenge this week.”

The Highlanders fought hard for an 18-15 win over the Reds in the corresponding fixture last year, requiring a second-half comeback and 78th-minute penalty goal to break a 15-all deadlock in Brisbane.

Mauger is set to be without the services of one of his own youngster, with midfielder Sio Tomkinson still awaiting a verdict from his judiciary hearing following his controversial red card for a rogue tackle on Brodie Retallick last week.

The Highlanders appealed Glenn Jackson’s decision to send Tomkinson off, and are hopeful of a result this afternoon, Mauger said.

Highlanders team to face the Reds at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday:

  1. Ayden Johstone
  2. Liam Coltman
  3. Tyrel Lomax
  4. Jackson Hemopo
  5. Josh Dickson
  6. Shannon Frizell
  7. Dillon Hunt
  8. Luke Whitelock (cc)
  9. Aaron Smith
  10. Josh Ioane
  11. Tevita Li
  12. Tei Walden
  13. Rob Thompson
  14. Waisake Naholo
  15. Ben Smith (cc)

Reserves:

  1. Ash Dixon
  2. Daniel Lienert-Brown
  3. Siate Tokolahi
  4. Jack Whetton
  5. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
  6. Kayne Hammington
  7. Marty Banks
  8. Matt Faddes

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J
Jon 16 minutes 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”?

31 Go to comments
j
john 2 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 4 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 7 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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