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Tony Brown's strategic tweak aimed to bring the best out of Highlanders star Aaron Smith

By Alex McLeod
(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

For the first time this Super Rugby Pacific season, Highlanders captain Aaron Smith won’t lead his side out onto the park by himself.

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Instead, Smith will share his leadership duties with former Highlanders skipper James Lentjes when the Dunedin-based franchise take on the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.

The pair have been named as co-captains for this week’s clash at Suncorp Stadium, a move that head coach Tony Brown says has been made to get the best out of his star halfback.

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In a year where the Highlanders have limped to two wins from 10 matches, Smith has struggled to find the form that has earned him the reputation as one of the greatest halfbacks in rugby history.

While it’s true that much of the Highlanders’ woes come down to lack the star power that they have enjoyed in years gone by, Smith’s troubles are also largely attributable to the burden of captaining the squad on his own.

It’s a task that, until this season, was one the 33-year-old had never taken on before in his 12 years with the Highlanders, as he had instead teamed up with departed hooker Ash Dixon as co-captain of the team in 2020 and 2021.

With Dixon now in Japan, Smith has taken on the role as sole captain of the franchise, but that has changed this weekend as he will be supported Lentjes as co-captain in Queensland this weekend.

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“Obviously Aaron’s only just come back into the team last week, so we just want to share the workload around the captaincy,” Brown said of the adjustment.

“Jim had an awesome impact on our team when he captained the team, so it’s just around sharing the workload and trying to get a better performance out of Aaron Smith.”

It’s the first time since Dixon’s exit that Smith has been accompanied by anyone in the skipper role, but it’s certainly not the first time Lentjes has taken on a leadership role with the Highlanders.

Named by former coach Aaron Mauger as captain for the pre-Covid Super Rugby season in 2020, Lentjes has stood as co-vice-captain alongside first-five Mitch Hunt this year.

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In matches where Smith hasn’t started this season, Lentjes and Hunt have combined to lead the Highlanders as co-captains, with the flanker even taking on the mantle as the side’s sole captain against the Brumbies in Melbourne a fortnight ago.

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It’s for that reason that Lentjes is at ease with taking on that leadership position as the Highlanders seek to provide Smith with more clarity in his game.

“I look at it more as I’m around the action around the forward pack and Aaron worries a bit more about the bigger picture stuff and how the backs are going,” Lentjes said.

“It’s sometimes easier for me to have the view on how we’re going as a forward pack, breakdown stuff, and that’s where I can influence and he can bring his energy into the backs, and we can both then talk about game scenarios and where we are on the scoreboard.”

The Highlanders hope that will enable them with the platform required to beat the Reds in a victory that would likely push them into a playoffs spot.

Brown knows that success won’t come easy against the Brad Thorn-coached outfit, though.

“I just think they play with the right attitude, they’re physical, they compete at the breakdown,” he said of the Queenslanders.

“I feel as though they play like Brad Thorn and the way that he attacked his rugby, so they’re always going to be a tough team to beat.”

As such, victory will only be achieved if there is an eradication of the weak defence that has plagued the Highlanders this season.

“I think, every game, we have a look at ourselves, forwards and backs, whatever it is, and there’s always just a couple of key moments in the game that have sort of let us down,” Lentjes said.

“I feel like we work really hard for our points, and sometimes we cough up soft points, so if we can eliminate that, I think we can start swinging things our way.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Brown as he called for widespread improvement from his players in all facets of the game.

“I just think just the execution of everything really, from our attack to try-scoring opportunities and also defensively, just being a lot better in every situation,” he said.

“Everyone’s trying hard, everyone’s trying to improve, so we’re just hoping [that] keeping consistent selections is going to help those guys get a little bit more belief and confidence in their ability.”

Kick-off for Friday’s match is scheduled for 7:45pm local time [9:45pm NZT].

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J
Jon 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

33 Go to comments
A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

33 Go to comments
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