Mauger shuffles midfield for Blues clash
If anyone needed a reminder preseason performances mean very little, new Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger dished it up by leaving Matt Faddes out of his starting side for tomorrow night’s season-opener against the Blues.
Faddes ran in a first half hattrick against the Crusaders in Waimumu last Thursday, but Mauger has opted to hand Rob Thompson the No 13 jersey, while Tei Walden will start at secondfive eighth at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.
For everything Faddes brings on attack, questions have been raised around his defence since he burst on to the scene and scored 10 tries in his debut Super Rugby season in 2016.
The Blues have named a powerful midfield in the form of Sonny
Bill Williams and George Moala, but Mauger said his decision to not start Faddes had nothing to do with his defence.
‘‘We just felt it was more around Tei and Robbie,’’ Mauger said.
‘‘We just thought it was the best
mix going into the game, a bit of physicality.
‘‘We’re really happy with Matt’s performance last week. Tei’s been travelling well and he came on and did a great job as well. So we just feel Tei and Robbie is the best mix for us to start the game and Matt will bring a bit of energy off the bench.’’
Friday’s match marks the first game in the post Malakai Fekitoa era, and as early as last November Mauger admitted the centre position was wide open.
He was unable to consider Richard Buckman (neck), who will be re-evaluated by the team’s medical staff in three weeks, or Thomas Umaga-Jensen (shoulder), who won’t return before May.
Having recently re-signed with the team through until the end of 2020, Thompson has predominantly played second-five eighth for the Highlanders, including in last week’s final pre-season match, and for Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup – not that Mauger sees it as a big deal.
‘‘When Rob and Tei have trained in the midfield, that’s how they’ve run. Numbers are irrelevant really, they often chop and change depending on skill sets and depending what move we want to play. We’re confident Rob’s going to do a good job for us at 13,’’ he said.
The Highlanders will otherwise head into the match with a familiar looking lineup as they start their third consecutive season with a different head coach, and attempt to win their season-opener for the first time since they beat the Blues 29-21 in Dunedin in 2014.
Flanker James Lentjes (shoulder) was the only other player not considered for selection due to injury, while highly touted prop Tyrel Lomax will get a chance to make his Highlanders debut off the bench.
The Highlanders swept the Blues, who haven’t tasted a win in their last 11 Kiwi derbies, last season and will defend the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy across this year’s home and away matches between the sides.
‘‘The Blues are normally a team which start the competition very well, they’re a big, physical side, so we want to make sure we’re pretty composed out there. They’re a team that can rattle teams in the space of five or six minutes and take the game away from their opposition,’’ Mauger said.
‘‘The key thing for us is to make good first up shots because they’re a team that really relies on momentum and, if we can do that well, we can nullify some big strengths in their game.‘‘