Highlanders banking on energy of Lentjes

OPENSIDE flanker James Lentjes has been charged with helping to reenergise the Highlanders when they clash with the Crusaders in Christchurch tomorrow night.

Lentjes has been named to start in the No 7 jersey in the South Island derby as regular openside Dillon Hunt drops out of the Highlanders’ 23.

Lentjes was not part of the side thumped by the Chiefs in Fiji last weekend and should be ready to make a big impact early in Friday night’s game.

‘‘We just thought that was the right thing in terms of energy this

week,’’ coach Aaron Mauger said.

‘‘A big part of it was we knew over the two games it was going to be tight with the turnaround.

‘‘Jimmy has performed well when he has been on the field.’’

Mauger admitted energy levels were below par during his side’s catastrophic first half last weekend.

‘‘A key thing was acknowledging the things we didn’t quite nail last week and one of those was around our prep and our travel plan, which probably led to us not having enough energy when we started the game.’’

Despite there being a need to drastically lift their energy levels early in tomorrow’s encounter, do not expect the Highlanders to go into panic mode.

‘‘There is certainly no panic. All our focus is going up to Christchurch and putting in a good performance this weekend so we picked the team we think is going to do the job,’’ Mauger said.

The Highlanders’ embarrassment of blindside riches means that two current All Blacks and one former All Black are sched uled to play on Friday.

Liam Squire and Elliot Dixon have been bracketed in the No 6 jersey as Squire battles a shoulder injury picked up in the recent All Blacks series.

‘‘He has just got through a final run [today] and he will be available,’’ Mauger said.

Squire will go straight into the starting lineup ahead of Shannon Frizell, one of the Highlanders’ standout players in last week’s loss, who stays on the bench.

Dixon will sit beside Frizell on the bench and Pari Pari Parkinson is likely to drop out of the Highlanders’ 23, if Squire plays.

Should Squire be unavailable, Parkinson will play his first Super Rugby match.

Parkinson impressed Mauger in his first official match against the French Barbarians in Invercargill earlier this month the coach said.

The Highlanders loose forwards are set to take on a Crusaders combination that has been boosted by the return of All Black captain Kieran Read.

Read will start at No 8 in his first Super Rugby game of the season alongside blindside Heiden BedwellCurtis and openside Matt Todd.

All Black lock Sam Whitelock will retain the leadership of the side ahead of Read.

The only guaranteed change to the Highlanders forward pack is the predictable rotation of Liam Coltman ahead of Ash Dixon, who drops to the bench.

Coltman’s All Black counterpart, Codie Taylor, will start from the bench in his first game back from the All Black series.

Wyatt Crockett will also start from the bench in his 200th Super Rugby appearance.

In the Highlanders backline, Richard Buckman replaces Tevita Li in the only change from last week. Fletcher Smith takes the utility’s place on the bench.

Buckman has the challenging task of marking Seta Tamanivalu on his left wing.