Highlanders rediscover 'mojo' despite falling to another loss
Saturday afternoon’s defeat at the hands of the Blues marked the Highlanders’ fifth successive loss to kick off the season but coach Tony Brown and co-captain Mitch Hunt were optimistic that the side had turned a corner and could push on from the match.
In the Highlanders’ opening four games of the season, New Zealand’s southernmost franchise managed a paltry six tries. Four of those tries had been scored by forwards, Dan Lienert-Brown, Josh Dickson, Manaaki Selby-Rickit and Shannon Frizell, with wing-cum-fullback Josh Gilbert the only member of the backline to get on the scoresheet this year.
While Gilbert remains the only try-scorer in the backs after the 32-25 defeat at the hands of the Blues, he at least added two more to his tally on Saturday, while Lienert-Brown also touched down once more.
From Brown’s point of view, that’s a step in the right direction.
“I think we found a little of our mojo there that we’ve been lacking,” the Highlanders head coach said following the game. “The boys were excited and physical and wanted the ball in their hands. We created some good opportunities there.”
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Fly-half Hunt was also positive after the loss – a change from the Highlander’ post-match interviews of weeks gone by.
“[It was a ] great game,” he said. “We’ve changed a couple of things in our game over the last couple of weeks. Obviously, I don’t know if the week off was a wee blessing in disguise to sort a few things out, rethink a few things. But I thought we looked a lot better tonight in general.
“I thought our kicking game was great, we created some real pressure. They just got a couple of lucky breaks in terms of tries, I think, and that ultimately sort of hurt us.”
“We’ve just simplified our game in terms of our carries with what we’re doing with our forwards,” he further explained. “We’re trying to make them work less and just really simplify their roles in terms of hard carrying, tough ruck work and creating speed that way.
“Really simplified for our backs as well around our running lines and what we’re asking them to do. I think when we got that right tonight, we saw some great tries, some great momentum, some great interplay – potentially what we haven’t seen from us in the previous few weeks so as I said before, I think maybe that week off was a wee blessing in disguise to sort of rethink and rejig a bit of our game.”
Still, another week without a win means the Highlanders are well and truly playing catch-up with sides like the Blues, Crusaders, Chiefs, Brumbies and Reds – who are all at least 11-points clear on the competition ladder.
“It’s a pleasing effort but not what we need at this stage in the comp so we’ve gotta keep working hard,” Brown lamented. “The games don’t get any easier. Crusaders in Christchurch is one of the toughest places to win so we’ve gotta get back into it on Monday and be ready to play on Friday.”
The Highlanders will, however, be confident they can claw back some points against the Australian sides later in the competition and with an eight-team finals series, there shouldn’t yet be any fears about missing the playoffs.
While each past loss has appeared to further dent the Highlanders’ confidence, it appears that Saturday’s defeat may not quite have the same impact – although it will still be a frustrating pill to swallow.
“I can’t fault the effort and the desire and the heart of my team,” Brown said. “Everyone’s putting so much effort into not only our performance on the field but our performance week as well around preparing for the game.
“Everyone’s putting in so much effort and then it’s just heartbreaking that we’re not getting the results that we need.”
Comments on RugbyPass
No surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to comments