Slow return for Landers’ ABs
All Blacks Aaron Smith, Liam Coltman and Shannon Frizell will be on restricted game time at the start of the 2020 Super Rugby season, depriving the revamped Highlanders of yet more experience, but the Dunedin-based franchise has acknowledged that the All Blacks rest programme remains a necessary evil in a crowded rugby calendar.
The trio’s return to rugby will be governed by the ‘40-60-80 minute’ principle, the Highlanders have confirmed, signalling that they will not make their full comebacks until round four of
Super Rugby in 2020, against the Crusaders in Christchurch (the Highlanders have the bye in round one).
The All Blacks will also sit out two games during the season but the Highlanders have adopted a realistic attitude to the now familiar scenario.
‘‘You don’t want to injure them,’’ Highlanders CEO Roger Clark told Stuff. ‘‘The trouble is that they come in late [midJanuary].
‘‘They probably miss four weeks of [preseason] training, even though they’ll be fit it’s the contact that they’ll miss. ‘‘You don’t want to break them.’’ Smith’s limited minutes, in particular, could test the Highlanders, who were disappointed to lose against the Rebels in round three last season when they rested the halfback and Ben Smith for the trip to Melbourne.
Rising Hawke’s Bay halfback Folau Fakatava and the experienced Kayne Hammington are the Highlanders’ other options at No 9 but Clark still noted the Highlanders were less affected than than the other Super Rugby franchises.
‘‘It seems to work and when you’ve only got three [All Blacks] players like we have, it’s manageable,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re used to it now, it’s been going on for a long time.
‘‘We’ve worked out that the players can only play a certain number of games before they need a rest.
‘‘That’s been scientifically proven and you’ve got to make sure you rotate them and give them the rest that they need so they can perform at their best for the entire Super Rugby season, which is a long window.’’
The Highlanders’ bye in round one week also gives them another week to get some more training into Smith, Coltman and Frizell so they hit the ground running.
In the hooking position, Ash Dixon will provide plenty of experience and is coming off a quality campaign for Hawke’s Bay in the Mitre 10 Cup, while Otago No 2 Ricky Jackson is mobile and dynamic.
Head coach Aaron Mauger has indicated the Highlanders could consider Frizell as a No 8 next year, and the back row already looks promising with Marino Mikaele-Tu’u (192cm, 115kg) and Teariki Ben-Nicholas (195cm, 109kg) offering genuine size and athleticism in the No 6/No 8 positions.
Meanwhile, the Highlanders have confirmed that new outside back Connor Garden-Bachop will need surgery on a back complaint and will miss the entire 2020 campaign. He has been replaced in the squad by powerful Tasman wing Tima Fainga’anuku.
The Highlanders start their 2020 campaign with a game against the Sharks in Dunedin on February 7.