Key Highlanders Available for Chiefs Match Amid ‘Challenging’ Conversations
It will be “David versus Goliath” in Dunedin on Friday as the Highlanders welcome the Chiefs, but the underdogs can at least take some comfort from the fact that they will be at close to full strength.
After a disrupted season of ins and outs, the Highlanders confirmed on Monday that captain Billy Harmon and Josh Dickson will be available for selection, boosting a squad that regained long-term absentee Jona Nareki last weekend.
Josh Timu (ankle) and Martin Bogado (quad) will still be missing, but the Highlanders are finally in the rare position of having to make some difficult selection calls in the locks, loose forwards and outside backs, where Connor Garden-Bachop and Sam Gilbert are fighting for the No 15 jersey.
“There’s great competition, isn’t there?” assistant coach Dave Dillon said. “If you look at him [GardenBachop] and ‘Gilby’, both of those guys can play a couple of different positions and they offer that excitement you’re talking about.
“So, two can’t go into one so we’ll just see how that looks this week. “I think now we’re getting to the stage where that [injury count] is turning, so we are getting a lot of bodies back.
“So, then comes the discussions around what groups are suitable for the opposition that we’ve got coming up, and what will they add.
“So, it’s nice this week to be having those conversations.”
Nareki will be champing at the bit for a start after 25 minutes off the bench against the Waratahs in Sydney, while Scott Gregory was also solid on Friday.
In the loosies, Hugh Renton has probably locked down the No 8 jersey after a strong season, while Harmon’s work rate at No 7 is invaluable and Shannon Frizell is a powerful ball carrier.
That leaves Marino MikaeleTu’u and Sean Withy battling for a bench spot unless the Highlanders opt for a 6-2 split.
That internal competition should add an edge to the Highlanders’ preparations this week, and Dillon said some tough conversations were happening behind closed doors after a disappointing season to date.
“I think there needs to be an edge when you don’t get results and there’s a reason why,” Dillon said.
“I’d like to think in that space you don’t go out not to get the results, so coming together collectively as a group and challenging [each other] is healthy. “In any high-performance environment, if you look at [sports] documentaries it’s not a harmonious environment. So it’s good to have those conversations both ways.”
Yet, for the doom and gloom surrounding the southerners, a game against the competition leaders arguably comes at a good time.
Poor results against the Western Force and the Waratahs on the twogame tour of Australia have put the Highlanders in danger of missing the playoffs, but an upset win against the Chiefs would reignite their campaign in a big way.
“It’s a massive opportunity for us, and to be back at home ...the whole region loves these games, so I’d like to think that we get the support along,” Dillon said.
“It is a derby game, and we’ve shown last time out against the Kiwi side, the Hurricanes, we were right in that game for big parts of that game.
“I’m picking we’ll be rolling up our sleeves and looking forward to playing the Chiefs down here.”
As for the task of stopping the brilliant Damian McKenzie, Renton – who is off contract with the Highlanders and Tasman this year and is awaiting an offer – said it was easier said than done.
“That’s the million-dollar question isn’t,” he said. “But just like anyone in that first-five position, I think we need to put pressure on his skill set and take his time away. “We’ve seen that with him, with any time, he’s an outstanding player who can pull anything out of his bag of tricks.”