Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
NZ NZ

'We can still run': Blues hit back at South African comparisons made by Highlanders

By Sam Smith
(Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

Blues assistant coach Tom Coventry has hit back at comparisons between the Auckland side’s forward pack and that of South African sides made by Highlanders assistant coach Clarke Dermody earlier this week.

ADVERTISEMENT

Dermody told media on Wednesday that his side’s preparations for Sunday’s clash at Eden Park was “like preparing for a South African team without the South Africans in the competition” due to the size of the Blues’ big men.

“They’re a massive pack, [they do] a lot of kicking. Our challenge is to match them up-front and not get drawn into that game. They want to be walking from set-piece to set-piece, so we’ll try to speed the game up,” he said.

Video Spacer

The XV | Stats and Snapshots Episode 3

Rob Vickerman and Andy Clarke come together to give an in-depth analysis of where it’s gone right for Wales in this year’s Six Nations.

Video Spacer

The XV | Stats and Snapshots Episode 3

Rob Vickerman and Andy Clarke come together to give an in-depth analysis of where it’s gone right for Wales in this year’s Six Nations.

Highlanders head coach Tony Brown reiterated Dermody’s sentiments on Friday as he told reporters his side will look to use their smaller frames to their advantages by running their larger counterparts off the park.

“They’re a very physical side. They like the game slow and lots of set pieces, lots of kicking game, so we need to speed the game up and take them on that way,” he said.

However, Coventry has poured cold water on those notions as he asserted that his side are more dynamic than the Highlanders coaches implied.

“We are big, but we’re not as immobile as that was implied,” Coventry said. “We can still run and move around the field as well as anyone. I get the implication, but I like to think we’re more than a big heavy pack that does one thing well.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The Blues’ forward pack played a key role in the club’s resurgence last year as the likes of captain Patrick Tuipulotu, Hoskins Sotutu, Akira Ioane, Ofa Tuungafasi, Alex Hodgman, Dalton Papalii and Kurt Eklund all flourished.

Joining that contingent is debutant lock Sam Darry, the Canterbury young gun who will partner Tuipulotu in the second row in what will be his first appearance at Super Rugby Aotearoa level.

The 20-year-old, who stands at 2.03m and 110kg, had impressed Coventry throughout pre-season, which has led to him usurping Gerard Cowley-Tuioti in the starting lineup.

“Sam has had a marvellous preseason so he’s earned the right on merit to have a crack,” Coventry said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We’re looking forward to his performance. He’s a really conscious young man. He does his homework, he works hard on and off the field so it’s a process of getting him on the grass so we can develop him even further.”

Coventry is hopeful Darry and his forward teammates will be capable of thwarting the threat posed by the Highlanders at the lineout, an area of which the Blues have pinpointed as an area of strength.

“We’re very aware of where they score their points – I think half came from their lineouts last year,” Coventry said.

“That’s no change. I know Ash [Dixon] had a great season with Hawke’s Bay and he fits back into the Highlanders team in the boot there. We’ve spoken about it, we train that area a lot.

“The maul has become quite big in Super footy again. Teams are getting the craft pretty accurate so we’re very conscious of their strength.”

Kick-off for the match is scheduled for 3:35pm on Sunday [NZT].

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | Episode 6

Sam Warburton | The Big Jim Show | Full Episode

Japan Rugby League One | Sungoliath v Eagles | Full Match Replay

Japan Rugby League One | Spears v Wild Knights | Full Match Replay

Boks Office | Episode 10 | Six Nations Final Round Review

Aotearoa Rugby Podcast | How can New Zealand rugby beat this Ireland team

Beyond 80 | Episode 5

Rugby Europe Men's Championship Final | Georgia v Portugal | Full Match Replay

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
Jon 6 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”?

35 Go to comments
j
john 9 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.

36 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 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

36 Go to comments
FEATURE
FEATURE Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me' Luke Cowan-Dickie: 'I didn’t feel right. I felt like I was going to pass out. Everything was going black in front of me'
Search