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Super Rugby Aotearoa: Highlanders player ratings vs Chiefs
The Highlanders have bounced back from last week’s season-opening defeat to the Crusaders by overcoming a 14-point deficit to thump the Chiefs 39-23 at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton.
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A Jona Nareki hat-trick was the highlight of the match as the Highlanders rocketed up the standings to lie in first place at the time of writing.
Here’s how they rated:
15. Mitch Hunt – 7.5
Pierced the Chiefs’ defensive line as part of a sweeping set move off a lineout and nearly put Jona Nareki in for the opening try of the game. Showed some good ticker around the park. Polished performance all-round.
14. Connor Garden-Bachop – 6.5
Much quieter than last week. Made a good tackle deep in his own half in a bid to shut down a Chiefs attack. Was the victim of a vicious yet innocuous tackle in the air. Off in the 72nd minute.
13. Ngatungane Punivai – 6
Mixed bag defensively. Weak tackle attempt on Luke Jacobson to unsuccessfully stop him from scoring. Quiet on attack.
12. Patelesio Tomkinson – 6.5
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Rocked Sam Cane with a thumping tackle about a quarter of the way through the match. Was sent to the sin bin for cynical play right by his own tryline, which ultimately cost his side a try. Did well upon his return.
11. Jona Nareki – 9.5
Started off poorly, falling off many a tackle throughout the first half, a couple of which led to tries. However, after bagging a 93-metre intercept try to close the gap at half-time, Nareki exploded in the second half, bagging a well-taken turnover, wreaking havoc with the opposition defence in the lead-up to Shannon Frizell’s try, and then showed some good poise to score a brace. Used his booming left boot to good effect and even managed to bump Brad Weber off – no mean feat for someone standing at 1.75m and 80kg. Got a well-deserved hat-trick with about 10 minutes to go. Keep this up and he’ll be well in the All Blacks conversation.
10. Josh Ioane – 7
Showed off his boulder of a shoulder on defence, but was shaky kicking off the tee. Showed his quality as a ball playing first-five, though, as he constantly asked questions of the Chiefs’ defence.
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9. Folau Fakatava – 8
Brought impetus on attack and staunch on defence. Even proved his worth as a lineout thrower while Dixon was in the bin. Showed his footwork and abrasiveness around the ruck to score his try. Off in the 51st minute.
8. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u – 6
Pinged for a breakdown infringement in the first play of the game which cost his side three points. Tried hard from there on out, but couldn’t deliver the type of impact we’ve come to expect from him. Off in the 46th minute.
7. Billy Harmon – 6.5
Busy defensively. A constant menace for the Chiefs’ attackers. Looks a like-for-like replacement to Dillon Hunt and seems to have a lockdown on the Highlanders’ No. 7 jersey.
Nareki completes an epic hat-trick.
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6. Shannon Frizell – 8
Bumped off Brad Weber to devastating effect. Showed his capabilities as a powerful loose forward option. Good support play to back-up Nareki’s scintillating second half break. Off in the 59th minute.
5. Jack Regan – 5.5
Good smothering tackle on Brad Weber to prevent him from scoring. Dominated in the collision zone though. Off in the 55th minute.
4. Josh Dickson – 6
Confrontational on defence. Typically reliable at the set piece. Never faded throughout the contest.
3. Siate Tokolahi – 6
Got through his work well. Didn’t shy away from his defensive duties. Impressive for a man as big as himself to stay on the park for as long as he did. Off in the 65th minute.
2. Ash Dixon – 6
Mostly reliable at the lineout. Was unfortunate in the extreme to be yellow carded for a breakdown infringement. Off in the 59th minute.
1. Daniel Lienert-Brown – 5
Wasn’t particularly noticeable until his injury-enforced departure from the game. Might be gone for the season with what looked to be a dislocated shoulder. Off in the 46th minute.
Reserves:
16. Liam Coltman – N/A
On in the 40th minute while Dixon was in the bin. Off in the 41st minute. Back on in the 59th minute.
17. Josh Hohneck – 6.5
On in the 46th minute. Worked well in tandem with Jeff Thwaites at scrum time.
18. Jeff Thwaites – 6.5
On in the 65th minute. Read above.
19. Manaaki Selby-Rickit – N/A
On in the 55th minute.
Nareki! ? #SuperRugbyAotearoa
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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) March 5, 2021
20. Liam Squire – 6.5
On in the 59th minute. Made himself known on defence. Might have enough minutes under his belt at this stage to earn starting role next week.
21. Aaron Smith – 6.5
On in the 51st minute. Injected plenty of pace upon his arrival into the game. A definite correlation between the Highlanders’ comeback and his arrival into the match.
22. Solomon Alaimalo – N/A
On in the 71st minute.
23. Hugh Renton – N/A
On in the 46th minute.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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 comments