’Landers must learn from double defeats

Anyone who thinks the Highlanders’ coaching staff has been trudging around the team’s headquarters with faces like dropped pies would be wrong.

Sure, consecutive losses to the Hurricanes and Chiefs leading into last week’s bye week were tough to swallow, head coach Aaron Mauger conceded.

Then there’s the fact they’ve gassed both their bye weeks before the competition even reaches the halfway mark. Good luck spotting Mauger and assistants Mark Hammett and Glenn Delaney toasting that.

But with a chance to improve their 3-2 record with a home match against the Brumbies in Dunedin on Saturday, things aren’t so bad for the fourth-placed side in the New Zealand conference.

‘‘That’s important for us, to keep perspective there. Losses can really dictate a mood and put a sour note on things,’’ Mauger said.

‘‘It’s certainly pretty bitter for us to take those when we know we’re good enough to win both of those games. That’s key for us, that we keep perspective and acknowledge the things that we are doing well, as well.’’

That doesn’t include the team’s lineout, which faltered twice in the waning moments of the Highlanders’ 27-22 loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton a fortnight ago.

It followed a clumsy knock-on with the try line begging. All three blunders cost them the chance to step up and snatch the game at the death.

‘‘It’s a tough old competition, isn’t it? Mauger said. ‘‘We had a couple of good learnings through our last two performances before we went into our bye, and we had a good chance to reflect on those.

‘‘There was a couple of key parts of our game that we didn’t quite nail against two good New Zealand teams and that resulted in a difference in terms of the outcome.

‘‘It’s not a massive one, but we’ve got to take the learnings because it’s happened two weeks in a row.’’

While there was improvement against the Chiefs, another area Mauger wants to see his side perform better in against the Brumbies is territory.

He knows if they get it wrong against a side armed with ace openside flanker David Pocock, and which likes to use their set piece to launch rolling-mauls inside the opposition’s 22, the 33-match winning streak Kiwi teams hold against Australian sides could be in threat.

‘‘[Winning territory] is a bit of a mixture of everything,’’ Mauger said. ‘‘Where some of our strengths are, and if you’re a team against us you’ll have certain plans.

‘‘I think the Chiefs and the Hurricanes executed those plans really well and we didn’t nail ours as well as we could have . . .’’