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South Africa leaves door open for highly rated Josh Neill
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David Kidwell reveals what helped the Highlanders shut down Crusaders
By Henry Lee
Highlanders assistant coach David Kidwell has explained what the most pleasing aspect of their opening-round South Island derby victory was, as they start looking towards this weekend’s clash with the Chiefs.
The Highlanders defence coach joined Jamie Joseph’s coaching staff at the start of the season after Dave Dillon left his role as assistant coach at the end of last season.
Kidwell had previously been the head coach of the Kiwis in Rugby League, while most recently being involved with the Leicester Tigers, Japan’s national team, and Argentina alongside Michael Cheika.
A Cameron Millar clutch penalty was the difference at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, closing out a game where in previous seasons, they may have let the result slip through their fingers.
Joseph’s Highlanders side still had to defend their lead after the hooter, with the Crusaders having possession inside the home side’s half, looking to try and steal victory.
But it wasn’t to be, with a handling error after a number of phases giving the Dunedin-based Super Rugby Pacific franchise the round one win at home.
Joseph said post-match that he was proud of his players, especially due to last season’s inability to close out games in the clutch.
Kidwell echoed Joseph’s thoughts and added that the players created the plan and stuck with it.
“We had a plan, and the boys come up with the plan, and they executed it defensively,” Kidwell told media on Monday morning.
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“88% tackle efficiency, that’s pretty good, but I want higher, always want higher. But look, they executed the plan, and the end result was just the end of the process.”
Touching on the final stages of the match, Kidwell explained that one of the most satisfying aspects of the win was that his players said to him that they were “calm”, which showed the defensive coach that they understood their respective roles.
“Yeah, towards the end of the game there’s about five minutes there that we had to defend. And I think some of the boys said we’re really calm, which is a good sign, which means we know the clarity in our roles within that defensive system.
“So we’re only going to get better so and we need to because we’re playing an important game this week.”
When asked about how he’s dealing with all of the noise around Joseph and the vacant All Black coaching job, Kidwell is quick to say they have remained focus on the task ahead, but also wishes the new head coach luck.
“Yeah, look, I control what we control with our Highlanders, we’ve got the Chiefs this week, and that’s where our concentration is. And you know, whoever the All Blacks coach is, good luck.”
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