1
We know the Highlanders have an astute, new-look coaching team led by former Leicester Tigers coach and former All Blacks five-eighths Aaron Mauger.
ADVERTISEMENT
We know they have nine past or present All Blacks in their ranks. And we know they will be tight, determined, and often hellishly difficult to put away. We just do not know where they will finish up, but they will hope to place higher than seventh (as in 2017) to avoid long-distance hauls in late July.
The draw is in their favour, with little early travel, as is the fact that Ben Smith will almost be jumping out of his skin to play after his sabbatical. Come to think of it, Smith always jumps out of his skin when he wears the Highlanders jersey. His co-captain will be the admirable Maori All Blacks hooker Ash Dixon, who has leapfrogged Liam Coltman in the rankings.
The tight five have few big names, but will be industrious, and the Steelers’ Kalolo Tuiloma is an interesting addition to Super Rugby. Two years ago he was 181kg!
Lock Alex Ainley is out to prove that 36-year-olds should not be put out to pasture. The seven loose forwards include four All Blacks in new international Dillon Hunt, Elliot Dixon, just over a long-term bicep concern, the bruising Liam Squire and the accurate Luke Whitelock.
They will win enough ball for Aaron Smith and Lima Sopoaga, before he links with Wasps, to carry out the game plan and provide prime attacking opportunities for men such as Matt Faddes, and potent finishers Waisake Naholo and Tevita Li. The versatility and skill of rookie Canterbury and NZ Under 20 outside back Josh McKay will be highly valued.
The big loss will be centre Malakai Fekitoa, whose driving defence was punctuated by moments of attacking brilliance in his four successful years with the franchise. Richard Buckman, the Barracuda, could fill the void, and his versatility and uncanny ability to pop up at the right time with or without the ball could be telling.
ADVERTISEMENT
The coaching staff are all South Islanders: Mauger, Glenn Delaney, Cory Brown, Mark Hammett and Clarke Dermody. That won’t be a bad thing.
In summation, the Highlanders again do not possess as much X-factor as some of the other New Zealand squads, but the groundwork laid by Jamie Joseph, which culminated in the 2015 title, is still infused in this group. Under-rate them at your peril.
One to watch
Just 20, Thomas Umaga-Jensen is coming off a breakout Mitre 10 Cup season with the Wellington Lions.
He scored five tries and beat 31 defenders in reproducing some of the form that made him a schoolboy star with Scots College from 2014-15. Umaga-Jensen, nephew of Tana Umaga, also looked noticeably trimmer after a difficult 2016. He could well challenge for a starting berth in the Highlanders’ midfield, especially after the exit of Fekitoa.
ADVERTISEMENT
Umaga-Jensen played for the 2015 NZ Schools and would have made the 2014 side if his mother had not decided to pull he and his twin Peter out of the reckoning, saying they needed to knuckle down to exams. Fair call, that.
2018 Predictions
New Zealand Conference Placing: 3rd
Player of the Year: Lima Sopoaga
Rookie of the Year: Thomas Umaga-Jensen
Best Signing: Dillon Hunt
Breakout Player: Tevita Li
Squad Movements
Ins: Tyrel Lomax (Tasman), Kalolo Tuiloma (Counties Manukau), Paripari Parkinson (Tasman), Dillon Hunt (Otago), Shannon Frizell (Tasman), Josh Ioane (Otago), Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Wellington), Tevita Nabura (Counties Manukau), Josh McKay (Canterbury)
Outs: Siua Halanukonuka (Glasgow, Scotland), Craig Millar (Sunwolves), Joe Wheeler (Panasonic, Japan), Gareth Evans (Hurricanes), Shane Christie, Marty Banks (Treviso, Italy), Malakai Fekitoa (Toulon, France), Patrick Osborne (Panasonic, Japan), Jason Emery
Squad:
Forwards: Liam Coltman, Greg Pleasants-Tate, Ash Dixon (c), Guy Millar, Aki Seiuli, Tyrel Lomax, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Siate Tokolahi, Kalolo Tuiloma, Paripari Parkinson, Josh Dickson, Jackson Hemopo, Tom Franklin, Alex Ainley, Elliot Dixon, James Lentjes, Dillon Hunt, Dan Pryor, Shannon Frizell, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock
Backs: Aaron Smith, Kayne Hammington, Josh Renton, Josh Ioane, Fletcher Smith, Lima Sopoaga, Teihorangi Walden, Rob Thompson, Matt Faddes, Sio Tomkinson, Richard Buckman, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Tevita Nabura, Tevita Li, Waisake Naholo, Josh McKay, Ben Smith (c)
More Super Rugby Previews
Hurricanes title window still open
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments