'Towelled up' Highlanders looking for quick bounce-back against Moana Pasifika
After being “towelled up” at the set-piece last week, the Highlanders have been able to inject international representatives Ethan de Groot and Jermaine Ainsley back into the starting line-up for this weekend’s clash with Moana Pasifika.
De Groot came off the bench against the Crusaders last weekend while Ainsley was originally named to do the same but was a late withdrawal from the southern derby. The pair have been a relative constant for the Highlanders this season, starting their opening four games together before a combination of factors saw the combo broken up against the Blues and the Crusaders.
With All Black De Groot and former Wallaby Ainsley both out of the run-on side in Christchurch, the Crusaders dominated the Highlanders at scrum time, with the experienced Daniel Lienert-Brown and Josh Hohneck no match for Joe Moody and Fletcher Newell.
Speaking to media this week, former All Blacks prop and current Highlanders assistant coach Clarke Dermody acknowledged that the team simply had not performed well enough at the set-piece in their most recent fixture.
“Against the Crusaders we got absolutely towelled up at scrum time,” Dermody said.
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“We probably didn’t adapt to what they were doing in the first half. We talked about it at halftime and I think we finished pretty strong in that game, around our scrum, but we’ve got to be on from the start to be able to put teams under pressure.”
Lienert-Brown and Hohneck have both been left out of the matchday 23 to face Moana Pasifika. With De Groot and Ainsley back in the starting side, the scrum will certainly be shored up, while Dermody suggested that the Highlanders also took a number of lessons out of their clash with the Crusaders – though not just in the set-piece.
“I feel like we’ve really grown out of that game,” he said. “Had a pretty good review around the forwards, where we need to be better. Sent some clips off to the referees to get a bit of clarity on what we could be better at, so that was great.
“What are we focussing on [this week]? Just all of our game, we’re just trying to sharpen up everything. 2 per cent better everywhere and we start converting opportunities and we start putting teams away.”
Dermody, who played three tests for the All Blacks in 2006, also praised the efforts of young prop Saula Ma’u, who has been training with the Highlanders for a number of years but wasn’t able to take the field until recently due to an ongoing run of unfortunate injuries which also prevented him from building any experience with Otago in the NPC.
“I’m absolutely stoked for Saula,” Dermody said. “He’s actually learning his rugby game playing Super Rugby because there’s no other competition at the moment to play in. He’s missed two years of NPC rugby, hasn’t really played much club footy either.
“What he’s doing is learning a lot off the older guys in the team. I know Josh Hohneck has done some awesome work with him behind the scenes on the computers. He gets to scrum Ethan most weeks as well so he’s been put under pressure. It’s exciting to see him grow so quickly [but] don’t want to get ahead of ourselves because he’s a young prop and there’s a long way to go.”
Ma’u will come off the bench against Moana Pasifika, having done so twice previously this season against the Hurricanes and Crusaders.
The clash between the Highlanders and Moana Pasifika will kick off at 7:05pm NZT on Friday evening from Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
Comments on RugbyPass
Are the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
2 Go to commentsBig 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
2 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 comments