Super Rugby Aotearoa: Highlanders player ratings vs Blues
The Highlanders travelled to the City of Sails for their round three clash with the resurgent Blues at Eden Park on Saturday evening. With 4 competition points already, Ash Dixon’s men found themselves ranked 3rd on the Super Rugby Aotearoa table before the whistle with today’s opponents setting the pace on 8.
A loss for the Highlanders would make it hard to stay in touch with the Blues and Crusaders and a win tonight would be a message that the men from the deep south have the game to be relevant at the business end of the tournament.
However, it was not the Highlanders night, going down 27-24 in an enthralling match with the hosts securing the Gordon Hunter Trophy.
How did the Highlanders players rate?
1. Ayden Johnstone – 7/10
Applied himself well against stiff opposition. Impressed with his work rate and physicality but is prone to dropping off a tackle when coming off the line too hard. Still a very solid performance.
2. Ash Dixon – 7
A solid skipper’s performance. Brought his experience and drove his forwards in and around the breakdown and middle of the park and had the Blues on the back foot at times. Secured a try early in the match but a poor defensive misread on the right edge lead to a Blues try. This coupled with some infringing around the ruck tarnished his night.
3. Siate Tokolahi – 6.5
Solid scrummager and has some ball play about him. Played with the right intent and has the makings of a very decent front row forward.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB69L7HA9LT/
4. Pari Pari Parkinson – 7
Building on his reputation as a high work-rate lock. Impressed with his work in the tight, but needs to address his body height as, at times, he arrived into the contact too high. Good support play when team was in possession and clearly has a big future in the game.
5. Josh Dickson – 8
Put in a shift befitting of a South Island tight forward of yesteryear. No fuss, just hard work and driving defence and always in the thick of it. Every tight five needs a player like Josh Dickson. Impressed in the lineout, stealing two in the second half. Made 11 tackles and missed none. Best Highlanders forward on the park.
6. Shannon Frizell – 7
His opening minutes were average with body height and body position into contact being questionable but as the match went on, he found his rhythm and was strong in the carry and tackle and deserved his try as reward for his efforts. Needs to build on this performance.
7. Dillon Hunt – 6.5
There was nothing exceptional about his performance but it was a very respectable night out for Hunt. Worked hard on and off the ball but couldn’t say he ever truly imposed himself in any particular area.
8. Marino Mikaele Tu’u – 7
Whilst all the talk midweek had been about Hoskins Sotutu, Tu’u impressed with several power carries. He brought the energy as the game progressed and lead his team over the advantage line. Prone to coming into contact too high and needs to improve his defence
https://www.instagram.com/p/CB6sHIhAkR7/
9. Aaron Smith – 7.5
Started a little quiet but his option taking and execution was, as usual, exceptional. Possibly underplayed his hand in the first half. Dropped off a cover tackle that contributed to a Blues try that would be the only significant blemish. Second half was his. He made a crucial clean out to secure his side the ball when the Blues had been pressuring deep in the Highlanders half and nearly rallied his team to a win.
10. Mitch Hunt – 7.5
Much to like about his performance. His general kicking game was solid as was his positional play. Scored a wonderful second half try when he took on the line. A busy player who would benefit by having another playmaker at 12 or 15 as too much comes off Hunt.
11. Jona Nareki – 7
Started poorly and looked apprehensive. Exited poorly that lead to a turn over in possession but appeared to find his feet as the match progressed and had some solid touches and chased the kicks. Plenty to work on but there is some class there.
12. Patelesio Tomkinson – 7.5
Worked hard for his team all night in defence making 9 tackles and only dropping off 1. Carried well into tight spaces and got his side over the advantage line. Solid night out.
13. Rob Thompson – 6
Not his best performance. Had a poor defensive read that contributed to Caleb Clarke’s try. Needed to find a way to influence the match but failed to do so. Quality player who will no doubt improve from this.
Good luck trying to rein this fella in, Kangaroos ? #SuperRugbyAotearoa #AllBlacks #BLUvHIGhttps://t.co/BQHuYHSYiT
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 27, 2020
14. Sam Gilbert – 7
His 20 minutes prior to injury were encouraging. A courageous player who throws himself into the collision and was looking for work, looking to impose himself on the game from the outset. Appeared to have sustained a serious leg injury but a good performance up until that point. A good prospect indeed.
15. Scott Gregory – 3
Dreadful. Nothing really went right for him. Had a kick charged down kick that lead to a Blues try, did some aimless kicking that turned over possession which led to another Blues try. This coupled with handling errors is everything you don’t want from a full back.
Replacements:
16. Liam Coltman – 6
Came on and brought some no-frills steel to the Highlanders pack.
17. Daniel Lienert-Brown – 5
Was there for about the last 20 but didn’t impose himself enough.
18. Jeff Thwaites – 7
Nearly scored a wonderful try that any back would have been proud of after storming onto a short ball in the midfield but was felled just short of the line. Did his job elsewhere. One to watch.
"We’re hurting like everyone else"https://t.co/xMBKuCq1Kw
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 27, 2020
19. Manaaki Selby-Rickit – 5
Didn’t see much of him but was found to be too high in body height when the Highlanders were driving for the line off an offensive line-out. Needs to fix this.
20. Teariki Ben-Nicholas – 5.5
Had limited impact on the game.
21. Kayne Hammington – N/A
22. Bryn Gatland – 6
Had a few classy touches after coming on for Gregory.
23. Ngane Punivai – 6.5
Scored a wonderful disallowed try out wide on the right flank and did all the work to beat his man on the outside. Has something to offer.
Comments on RugbyPass
An 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 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.
24 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.
24 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 commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments