Jamie Joseph reflects on ‘arm-wrestle’ and pressure on Highlanders

Coach Jamie Joseph admits the Highlanders were feeling the pressure after consecutive defeats to New Zealand rivals, which contributed to the team’s mixed performance in Sunday’s 27-17 win against Moana Pasifika in Super Round.

The Highlanders started their season with a bang, stunning defending champions the Crusaders by two points in an opening-round southern derby. But the men from the deep south managed just two more wins from their next eight.

Beating Moana Pasifika 39-19 on March 27 brought a two-match losing streak to an end, before falling to the Crusaders and Hurricanes. Those defeats set the scene for an important fixture at Christchurch’s One NZ Stadium, with only a handful of rounds left in the regular season.

Moana took a three-point lead into the break after tries to Israel Leota and Glen Vaihu, before the Highlanders took control during the second half. Angus Ta’avao and Adam Lennox crossed for one try each as the Highlanders outscored Moana 20-7.

That result has seen the Highlanders surge up to seventh-place on the Super Rugby Pacific ladder, just two competition points behind the Queensland Reds. But the Queenslanders do have one game in hand, with three home matches still to play in the round-robin.

“As a team, coming off a couple of really tight losses against a couple of teams who are in the top half of the competition was a little bit hurting because the boys played really well at times, enough to probably win those games and fell short,” Joseph told reporters in Christchurch.

“That put a lot of pressure on this game. I think our players didn’t play their best rugby because of that pressure.

“Get a win under our belt, jump on the plane, get over to Fiji and go and have another crack. I think that’s important for us going forward.”

First five-eighth Cam Millar brought the Highlanders and Moana level with an early penalty goal just two minutes into the second half. While Moana played with 58 per cent possession across the match, the Highlanders made their chances count.

The Highlanders raced out to a commanding 14-point advantage after tries to Ta’avao and Lennox, with the lively halfback covering the wing for the final 30. Former All Black Augustine Pulu touched down for his first Super Rugby try since 2019, setting up a grandstand finish.

Moana played with more than 60 per cent possession during the last 10, but the Highlanders did enough to hang on. Millar converted a penalty attempt in the final play of the match to deny Moana a losing bonus point.

“Just a real arm-wrestle, a really sticky game,” Joseph said.

“I felt that we created a lot of opportunities that we couldn’t actually finish off and kept the opposition in the game.

“I thought they kicked really well, put under a lot of pressure, but finding a way to win in a really difficult game like that is really important. Fortunate to be on the right side of that.

“The players have been put under a lot of pressure right until the very end so it was nice to get a win.”