Big guns set for Invercargill
Everything is pointing to the Highlanders rolling out their big guns in Invercargill on Saturday despite a temptation to provide a couple of key players an extra week off.
The Highlanders will take on Japanese team the Sunwolves on Saturday evening in the sole Super Rugby game to be played in Invercargill this year.
The Sunwolves were well beaten 50-3 in Christchurch last Friday night despite the Crusaders being below their best.
In the Sunwolves’ other game against a New Zealand opponent this season, they lost 83-17 to the Hurricanes on the back of a rushed build up to the round one fixture.
The Highlanders are favoured to do a similar job on the Sunwolves on Saturday, however Highlanders general manager Roger Clark said all the messages coming from the Highlanders coaching setup was that they were eager to avoid a potential ‘banana skin’ game.
Clark said they were also determined to put in an impressive performance in their one-off trip to Invercargill in 2017.
It seems the Highlanders won’t be throwing the Sunwolves any favours; barring injury, the Highlanders are expected to roll out their first choice team on Saturday.
The Tony Brown-coached team are coming off a bye following four wins and three losses to start the season.
Stags first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga has been sidelined with a hamstring injury for close to five weeks and is inching closer to a return for the Highlanders.
All Blacks wing Waisake Naholo injured his hamstring in the same game and is also closing in on a return.
The Highlanders team is likely to be named tomorrow, a day earlier than normal.
The Highlanders and Invercargill City Council have linked to ensure Invercargill gets at least one Super Rugby fixture each year.
Clark said the target was for a crowd of about 6500-7000 for Saturday night’s game at Rugby Park. As of yesterday about 4000 tickets had already been snapped up and Clark was confident they were on track to reach that 6500-7000 mark.
The figure is well below the 18,500 crowd number the Highlanders have averaged in their four home games at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin to date this season.
Despite this Clark said they still viewed bringing a fixture to Invercargill as a valuable exercise.
A curtain-raiser between Southland premier club teams Woodlands and the Eastern-Northern Barbarians will be played at 3pm followed by kick-off in the Highlanders-Sunwolves fixture at 5.15pm.
Clark said the earlier 5.15pm game will mean the players could return to their own beds in Dunedin earlier on Saturday night to help kick-start next week’s preparations.
The following week they will have a six-day turnaround to play the Stormers in Dunedin on Friday night.
The team will travel to Invercargill on Friday when they will go through the traditional captain’s run at Rugby Park.
They will also be at the H&J Smith store in Invercargill between 12.30 to 1.30pm on Friday for a signing session.
The Highlanders have beaten the Chiefs and Brumbies in their last two outings in Invercargill.