'We deserve to be here': How the Highlanders plan to shock the Blues
They may have won only four of their 14 matches in the Super Rugby Pacific regular season, but the Highlanders are firmly of the belief they deserve their place in the playoffs.
Despite a tumultuous campaign that has been blighted by injuries, suspensions, Covid, illnesses and poor form, the Highlanders have managed to wriggle their way into the competition’s post-season, much to the disdain of fans and pundits alike.
Sneaking into the quarter-finals thanks to Super Rugby Pacific’s bloated eight-team playoff structure, the Dunedin-based franchise will look to silence their critics by shocking a star-studded Blues outfit at the peak of their powers.
Few, if any, onlookers have given the Highlanders any hope of clinching a shock win over the Aucklanders – who are in the midst of a record-breaking 13-match unbeaten streak – at Eden Park on Saturday.
That doesn’t bother them, though, as Highlanders star Shannon Frizell made clear on the eve of his side’s do-or-die clash this weekend.
“We know how good the Blues are. They’re on the top of the table. They’re a good team, but we know how good we can be when go to our plan,” Frizell said.
“That’s our goal, to be in a playoff. The round-robin, it doesn’t really matter. We’re here and we deserve to be here.”
Frizell headlines the match day squad named by Highlanders boss Tony Brown on Thursday, with the 17-test All Blacks loose forward listed on the bench after missing the last eight weeks of action due to a knee injury.
His return is timely for the Highlanders as he offers power and experience that Brown said will be invaluable near the end of the match.
“He’s obviously a quality rugby player. He’s going to give the players a lot of confidence, and when he gets on the field, he’s going to bring the physicality that’s required to beat the Blues,” Brown said when asked why Frizell wasn’t named to start.
“We’ll look to inject him early on in the second half. We just feel as though he’s going to have the biggest impact on the team finishing the game.
“I felt as though if we started him, we’d need to take him off before the end of the game. We’ve got other guys who can do the job at the start. We want his rugby ability at the end of the game.”
Frizell isn’t the only notable addition to the Highlanders bench, as reserve hooker Leni Apisai has been named to make a potential debut for the club.
Part of the Highlanders set-up as an injury replacement player, Apisai has been used similarly by three other Kiwi franchises this season, having played for the Chiefs in pre-season and for the Hurricanes in rounds 10 and 11.
Now set to turn out for the Highlanders against his old team, the former Blues rake has been called in by Brown following injuries to Liam Coltman and Rhys Marshall.
“Leni’s been with us for a couple of weeks now, but he’s been with the squad off-and-on for the whole year, really,” Brown said.
“We got him in Queenstown for a few weeks, we just had ongoing injury problems with all of our hookers, really, so he’s been a great addition to the team.
“He fits into the environment well. It’s a good opportunity for him to play his debut.”
Frizell and Apisai will both be expected to provide the Highlanders with plenty of impetus from the bench as they look to defy the odds against a Blues team that finished the round-robin as league-leaders and title favourites.
Equipped with 11 past or present All Blacks in their match day squad, and others who could become All Blacks in the imminent future, the Blues present a daunting challenge for the comparatively understrength Highlanders.
However, according to Brown, the key to success for his side is to embrace that challenge rather than be fearful of it – a lesson he learned himself during his playing days with Otago and the Highlanders.
“I always remember, when I first started playing for Otago and the Highlanders, the Blues were always the team that was tough to beat, especially when you’re going up to Eden Park,” Brown said.
“It’s no different [this time round]. I remember in ’95, when we played the [NPC] final up there for Otago, they had 13 All Blacks and we came just a little bit short on a penalty try.
“Back in those days, the Otago sides and the Highlanders sides just used to give it everything that they had. They weren’t afraid of taking on the Blues. This weekend, we’ve got to be the same.
“We’ve got to give it everything we’ve got, can’t be afraid of their team, and if it’s good enough at the end of the day, then we win the game.
“If it’s not, we’ll still be proud of the effort and the preparation that we’ve had.”
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments