Highlanders playoff exit spells end of an era – Season Review
The Highlanders would like to have back that second forty-minute half against the Waratahs.
The sudden end to their season will haunt them with thoughts of what could’ve been after holding a commanding 23-6 halftime lead in the quarterfinal. The ‘Road Warriors’ had visions of 2015 all over again before the Tahs superstars lead a dramatic comeback to snuff out the men from the Deep South.
The loss marks the end of a promising season, the first under new head coach Aaron Mauger, and is almost the final chapter of the title-winning era.
The pieces of the 2015 Highlanders championship team have been slowly departing over the last few seasons. Head coach Jamie Joseph and assistant mad scientist Tony Brown are now fully integrated into Japan’s system, gun strike weapon Malakai Fekitoa left to take up a deal with French superpower Toulon and the side will lose their best ever first-five, Lima Sopoaga to Wasps.
His last play will go down as an ill-executed pop pass on the inside to a screaming Aaron Smith, metres out from the line that could have kept the season alive. The missed opportunity summed up the Highlanders season in a way – close but not enough.
After starting with a win over the Blues in a high octane 41-34 shootout, the Highlanders went on to claim the big scalp a few weeks later, beating the Crusaders 25-17 at home. A promising start was met with turbulence when they lost two crucial away derbies back-to-back to the Hurricanes and Chiefs just before the bye.
They regained momentum after with three straight wins. A defining moment was Sopoaga hitting a clutch penalty to steal a 29-28 win over the Bulls in South Africa that kept the streak going. They next week they were brought back to earth with a heavy defeat at the hands of the Sharks.
In the New Zealand conference, three losses is enough to put you out of contention for the top qualifier spot and they were on the back foot chasing results. They finished the regular season with a respectable 10-6 record to qualify for the playoffs.
The kick-first and kick-second approach continued under Aaron Mauger, utilising the box kicking of Aaron Smith and the short-range nudges of Sopoaga, Walden and Thompson and even Ben Smith. The Highlanders five-pronged kicking attack kept each game in a constant state of transition, creating as many unstructured situations as possible. The frequency of first phase kicking off set-piece pushed the opposition to scramble but gave away a lot of quality ball.
This approach had many praising the defensive stats of the Highlanders workmanlike pack, but it may have been a double-edged sword. No team tackles as much, but as the season wore on the team began to tire, missing more tackles and ended up on the receiving end of a couple of thumpings.
The Chiefs scored 40 in one half in Suva, the Crusaders hit 45 the next and even the Rebels pushed them for 37 in the final round.
The defensive load may have taken its toll after a season of kicking possession away. The Highlanders 152.5 tackles per game was by far the most of any team.
Moving forward, the loss of Sopoaga will very much change the makeup of this team, losing a key playmaker and component of the kicking game. World-class halfback Aaron Smith stands to take on more control as young first fives Fletcher Smith and Josh Ioane vie for the vacant 10 jersey. Ex-Blues pivot Bryn Gatland will also throw his hat in the mix, joining the side on a two-year deal.
The loose forward depth still appears to be strong with the emergence of new All Black Shannon Frizell, who they will hope to keep around. With Luke Whitelock, Liam Squire and Elliot Dixon the back row provides All Blacks with mobility and speed. James Lentjes and Dillon Hunt are also confirmed for next season. New Zealand under-20 young loose forward, Marino Mikaele Tu’u, will also join the full-time squad, promoted to a full contract.
The tight five is a bit of a mystery, with the contract status of a large number unknown. Jackson Hemipo is confirmed to return in the second row, with Liam Coltman, Tyrell Lomax and Siate Tokolahi packing down up front. That leaves a number of experienced campaigners like Ash Dixon and Dan Lienert-Brown as uncertainties at this stage. Tom Franklin will head to Japan for an off-season stint by the side is hopeful of keeping him for 2019.
This year’s centre pairing of Tei Waldon and Rob Thompson will be back to form another partnership. Thompson was a standout this season and elevated his game filling the vacancy left by Fekitoa. With Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith outside him, he should continue to play at a high level. Tex Nebura has earned a full-time contract and could oust Tevita Li as the left wing option. Young flyer Josh McKay is also waiting in the wings.
The 2019 roster is a work-in-progress that has just over 50% locked in. The Highlanders will have to juggle players coming off contract with filling needs on the open market, as well as keeping emerging Mitre 10 talent. The flexibility gives the Highlanders room to move but holds risk that this collection of out-of-town talent fails to gel with limited time.
The marquee players like the Smiths, Squire, Dixon and Naholo will provide the core foundation but too much volatility with ancillary pieces on the roster can affect how everything comes together.
Mauger, in his second year in charge, could look to change a few things and find some balance between the kicking game and holding possession, especially from set-piece situations.
They still have some of the best players in Super Rugby, with one of the world’s best halfbacks and fullbacks to play around. With a bit of tinkering, the Highlanders will still give teams headaches and Forsyth Barr will still be a fortress – they were undefeated at home this year going 7-0. They may not want to take a crucial New Zealand derby offshore next year after the Suva meltdown and would be wise to pick another matchup.
The championship era built by Joseph has ended and it’s now time for Aaron Mauger to build a new one.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments