Highlanders coy ahead of Canes encounter
THE Highlanders have made a dream start to the season, but coach Aaron Mauger reckons his side has plenty to work on.
Just what areas they have been polishing up remains a tightlyguarded secret, though.
Mauger is not keen on tipping off the Hurricanes camp before the match in the capital.
‘‘I thought we got given a couple of gifts last week from the Crusaders around some of the areas we didn’t nail.
‘‘But I don’t want to give too much away, because it has been a key focus for this week and I’d be telling John Plumtree and Chris Boyd how to do their jobs, so we will just leave it to them to figure it out on Saturday night.’’
The Highlanders are the only unbeaten side in the tournament with three consecutive wins. The team is bursting with confidence following the bruising 2517 win against the Crusaders.
The match against the Hurricanes shapes as another fascinating encounter.
‘‘With the ball in hand they are a big threat, because they’ve got big physical athletes and those guys create good space for their playmakers. They have three worldclass playmakers in Perenara, Barrett and young Barrett.’’
That is All Blacks TJ, Beauden and Jordie he is talking about, and they are not half bad.
‘‘There is not too many chinks in their armour, to be fair. But we’ve come up with some strategies through the week to try and expose them where we think we can and look forward to testing it out.
‘‘It essentially doubles up as another All Blacks trial, doesn’t it?’’
The Highlanders have made three changes to the starting XV.
Elliot Dixon replaces the injured Liam Squire in the No 6 jersey. Squire is out for up to six weeks with a thumb injury.
Dixon made a big impact when he came on against the Crusaders and will be hoping to build on his form.
‘‘What I think Elliott has done really well this year is he has probably not worried so much about things he can’t control. When he has had his minutes, he has gone out there and really nailed them.
‘‘His 45 minutes in the weekend was probably 45 of the best minutes he has played in the last year or so.’’
The other changes are in the front row, with props Daniel LienertBrown and Tyrel Lomax starting ahead of Aki Seiuli and Siate Tokolahi.
Lomax will be making his debut for the Highlanders, while Otago first fiveeighth Josh Ioane is also in line for a debut. He has been named on the bench at the expense of Fletcher Smith, who has been released to play club rugby.
Loose forward Marino Mikaele Tu’u comes into the reserves as well.