Bye ‘not ideal’ for Highlanders
You can hardly blame Rob Thompson for resenting the timing of his team’s first bye week after what he did on Friday night.
Playing centre for the first time since a club rugby match in Palmerston North in 2012, the 26-yearold scored two tries and setup another on his way to a man of the match performance in his team’s 41-34 win against the Blues in Dunedin.
However, he’ll have to wait a fortnight to get another run as the Highlanders sit idle next week.
They’ll then play just four more games before burning up their other one.
Both Thompson and head coach Aaron Mauger said the team would much rather be playing next week, although don’t expect the team to take a week off.
‘‘It’s not ideal,’’ Mauger said. ‘‘We’ve got two byes in the first seven rounds, but it is what it is and we’re aware of those things going into the competition.
‘‘So we’ll take the bye week to address some of the learnings we found out [on Friday], and it’s also a chance to freshen up.’’
One area Mauger wants to address ahead of the Highlanders’ round three match against the Stormers in Dunedin on March 9 is their exit plays.
They got it wrong a couple of times – once when an Aaron Smith box kick was scooped up by Michael Collins and it led to an Akira Ioane try – and were promptly opened up.
‘‘I guess just keep the hard work up, we’ll go back and review,’’ Thompson said when asked how his team would avoid losing momentum from their opening round win.
‘‘We can’t take the foot off, you can’t get comfortable, it’s only round one.
‘‘The Stormers are going come over, and the Crusaders.’’
Thompson, who appears leaner and faster than in his previous two years with the Highlanders, didn’t miss a beat wearing the No 13 jersey for the first time in six years.
Having played most of his professional rugby at second-five, Thompson credited Mauger, who previously coached him at Christchurch club High School Old Boys, for priming him and the team.
‘‘We really front-loaded the week. We’ve probably worked the hardest since I’ve been at the club, as far as detail and individual skill- to set, and that’s what it came down to,’’ he said.
‘‘On Monday, we really slow things down and get to a walking pace so we know where each and every individual is meant to be.
‘‘Book work, a lot of book work and micro units. I’ll spend a lot of time with Tei [Walden] throughout the week and Azza [Mauger] really drives the locks to go away and have lock meetings and do skillsets with each other.’’
Thompson admitted he’d shed some weight over the off-season and worked hard to increase his speed, something which paid off when he latched on to a Tom Franklin inside ball and bolted 45m to score on Friday night.
After surprising a few people by opting to start Walden and Thompson in the midfield, Mauger hailed their performances as ‘‘outstanding’’ against the Blues.
Meanwhile, the first-year coach at the franchise hasn’t penciled in which games – each must sit out at least two matches – his All Blacks will miss this season.
‘‘No, not at all. We’re just focussed on the next couple of games. Those things tend to work themselves out, guys get injured and things happen,’’ Mauger said.