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'We only had one sh***er': Ash Dixon leaves little to imagination while comparing Blues to Highlanders
Highlanders co-captain Ash Dixon didn’t mince his words when explaining why his side went into Saturday’s Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final as firm underdogs against the Blues.
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Chasing their first championship crown since their maiden title six years ago, the Highlanders came up short in an enthralling 23-15 defeat at Eden Park in Auckland.
With their backs against the wall for large chunks of the game, the Dunedin-based side did well to concede just two tries while only possessing 38 percent of the ball and 33 percent of the territory.
The result, and the way in which it came to be, accurately reflected the pre-match narrative about how the Blues headed into the match as favourites to walk away with the silverware.
That they did, and Dixon attributed that, in part, to the extensive depth evident throughout the Blues squad, something of which the Highlanders couldn’t match due to their restrictive budget and high injury toll.
“Our resources and our budget is a lot different to other teams,” Dixon said shortly ofter the match as he pinpointed the Auckland franchise’s forward pack as a particular strength of theirs.
“We had 13 guys out, one All Black [Aaron Smith] out there and one Japanese player [Kazuki Himeno] against 10 All Blacks.
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“To become an All Black, it ain’t easy. You’re the pinnacle of New Zealand rugby, and those boys can roll three All Black props out there with Patty Tups [Patrick Tuipulotu], who’s a big man, and Hoskins [Sotutu] and Akira [Ioane], that’s a quality side.
“Our team had no All Blacks in that pack and we had to square up against these boys who were running heavy balls.”
While the Blues maintained every Super Rugby team in New Zealand receive the same amount of money from New Zealand Rugby, Dixon joked about how his side had been impacted by their relatively modest resources at their Dunedin headquarters.
“They’ve got – I touched on it before – pretty good resources with their gym and I’ve heard they’ve got a cafe and a cook and about five showers and saunas and spas,” he said.
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“They’ve got that in there. We’ve got two showers and one of them wasn’t working and then someone blocked the sh***er this week so we only had one sh***er.
“That’s what I’m saying. We’re used to it. We just suck it up and get on with it. That’s the attitude. We’re just like, ‘Righteo boys, let’s get on with it, it happened’.”
Fresh after his side’s Super Rugby Trans-Tasman title-winning success, Blues head coach Leon MacDonald already has an eye on next year’s campaign with incoming NRL star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. #Blues #SuperRugby https://t.co/icI6F3GcJZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) June 21, 2021
The identity of the perpetrator remains unknown, although Dixon had to fight off allegations of blocking the toilet after he broke the news to his teammates.
“No, I don’t know [who it was], to be honest, but everyone was pointing to me because I put a video on the chat and everyone thought it was me. I got a bit of a ribbing for it, but it definitely wasn’t me, mate.”
On a more serious note, Dixon expressed pride in his side’s effort to even make the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final after being written off by many following an underwhelming Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign.
“I think there’s a lot of quality in this team and this region,” the 32-year-old hooker, who celebrated his 100th appearance for the Highlanders during the final, said of his side.
“They [the Blues] are a powerhouse of New Zealand rugby, and to play here at Eden Park, it is the home of New Zealand rugby, it’s a fortress here and we stuck in there, so I’m really stoked, man.”
New Zealand’s depth in the loose forwards continues to amaze – despite a few potentially crucial injuries. Will Shannon Frizell’s injury late in the #SuperRugby season impact the make-up of tonight’s #AllBlacks squad?https://t.co/SMTm2QgQyx
— The XV Rugby (@TheXV) June 20, 2021
With the final bringing the Super Rugby season to an end, Dixon is confident the Highlanders are on the right path to continuing their success through to next year.
Whether the Maori All Blacks captain is involved in next year’s campaign is unclear, but he suggested the Highlanders have laid the groundwork to pick up from where they left off leading into 2022.
“For me, if we can keep working on our game, sort out some injuries that we had, we’re right in the money,” Dixon said.
“Our culture’s great. Our team’s great. We’re just going to get better and better, so that’s the challenge for us, to keep looking forward, looking ahead with our boys.
“We obviously don’t get the cream of the crop, but the guys we do get, some of them have a chip on their shoulder and want to prove something to other players, so that’s how we get on with it.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Hope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
1 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
9 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
39 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
9 Go to comments