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'I think it's frustrating for everyone': what cost the Highlanders in their loss to the Hurricanes
The Highlanders lost a crucial match against the Hurricanes at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday night, with their opponents moving ahead of them on the ladder. It was their failure to execute attacking opportunities deep inside the Canes’ 22m which cost the hosts though, who lost 30-19.
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Blindside flanker Shannon Frizell got close to scoring what would’ve been the Highlanders’ first points of the night in the 17th minute, but dropped the ball as he reached out to score. Painfully, it seemed like he’d done most of the hard work getting to the line, busting through the tackle attempts of a number of Hurricanes defenders.
Later in the half, the Hurricanes went down to 14-men with prop Tyrel Lomax sent to the bin for incorrectly entering a maul. But even with the advantage, just a metre out from the line, the Highlanders failed to score with Dane Coles instead winning a penalty at the breakdown in the 25th minute.
Winger Freedom Vahaakolo was also stopped just a metre short of the line soon after, with an impressive try-saving tackle made by the man of the hour, Jordie Barrett.
Not only did they fail to score points here as well, but the Canes won another penalty at the breakdown, with Salesi Rayasi getting over the ball.
Highlanders head coach Tony Brown spoke after the match about his sides failed execution which he said was “frustrating for everyone.”
“We had all the possession, all the territory, all the time inside the 22, and that’s just a bit of experience, a bit of patience and just being really ruthless when we get those opportunities,” Brown said following the 11-point loss.
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“If Freedom scores, if Shannon Frizell scores, it’s a different ball game but that’s footy, and we didn’t quite get the job done.
“I think it’s frustrating for everyone. The players have got the effort, and you can see that they’re really keen to make the most of those opportunities and we’ve just not quite executing. That’s the difference between first and second on the table, and fourth.”
Brown also highlighted the efforts of Pari Pari Parkinson, with the lock having returned from an injury in the round five clash.
“No one in New Zealand can play rugby like Pari Pari Parkinson. So for me, we’ve just got to let Pari be Pari.
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“He plays the game a different way to anyone else in New Zealand and when it’s on it’s unstoppable. For me, we’ve just got to let Pari be himself and go out and play the game he loves playing.
“We were hoping he would make it to half-time and he was pretty good at half-time so we left him out there. He’s only going to get better and better with more game time.”
The Highlanders head coach also spoke about Thomas Umaga-Jensen, who came on as a replacement in the second half. He also drew comparisons between Umaga-Jensen, and Parkinson.
The Highlanders had a glut of territory and possession but they just could not convert the abundance into points. Here’s how they rated. #HIGvHUR #SuperRugbyAotearoa https://t.co/IIWngc0gOJ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 26, 2021
“Thomas hasn’t played rugby for over two years, consistently. It’s a matter of us getting him out there and building his resilience to be able to play week-in, week-out.
“For me, he’s a bit like Pari Pari Parkinson. No one can play the game like Thomas Umaga-Jensen.
“If he can get game time under his belt, he’s going to be a quality player for the Highlanders going forward.”
Echoing his coaches comments about the match, Highlanders captain Ash Dixon also mentioned how “execution really let us down” against the Hurricanes.
“It’s something that we’ve been working on a lot and has been talked about, but we just can’t seem to put the foot on the throat and put teams away,” Dixon said.
“We got plenty of opportunities out there tonight but we didn’t seem to nail it. Nothing wrong with our attitude and the boys turning up.”
At the time of writing, the Highlanders are currently second-last on the Super Rugby Aotearoa ladder, equal on competition-points with the third placed Hurricanes though.
But next week, they’re set to face a team that Dixon described as being “right on top of their game.” They’ll travel to Christchurch to face the Crusaders.
Comments on RugbyPass
Big 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
1 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 commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to comments