Ball possession key focus for Highlanders
THE Highlanders are not deliberately handing the ball over and are looking to improve their ball possession.
The side has moved to Durban after the win over the Bulls in Pretoria and has started preparations to take on the Sharks on Sunday morning NZ time.
The side won the game at Loftus Versfeld despite only having 30% of the ball and not having a lot of territory. It has been a recurring theme of the side this year with many of its games played with little ball or field position.
Highlanders assistant coach Glenn Delaney said the side did not set out to play the game with little ball.
‘‘Sometimes the game flows a certain way and that is how it is . . . they would have the ball and kick it down to us and eventually we would have to kick it out as the exit was not easy. They had a good lineout so we would just start again and you would get stuck a while doing that,’’ Delaney said.
‘‘We just need a little bit more ball. We are really happy with what we are doing on attack. We are looking dangerous and scoring some nice tries. We just want a little bit more of it.’’
The Highlanders were up against a solid set piece with the Bulls and the South Africans won every one of the 19 lineouts they had. Their scrum was also powerful.
The Highlanders were looking potent on attack but Delaney said the part of the reason for the lack of ball came down to being overeager at the breakdown and that was leading to giving away some penalties.
The win over the Bulls was based on defence and the Highlanders were getting through plenty of tackling.
Delaney, the defence coach, said he was proud of the effort put in against the Bulls and the defence worked hard right throughout the game.
The side had a defensive strategy group which was setting goals to get the side up to speed.
The Highlanders had come through well against the Bulls although winger Tevita Li has come home as he has a midfoot sprain.
Delaney said it did not appear serious but Li was not able to play this week so there was no point in him staying in South Africa. He has been replaced in the squad by Josh McKay.
All Black winger Waisake Naholo, who missed the game against the Bulls because of a hamstring niggle, should be right to play against the Sharks.
The Sharks were a dangerous opponent, Delaney warned.
‘‘They have been up and down but they have been up more than down against New Zealand sides, and have been very good. On their own patch they are going to be dangerous. They have a lot of powerful ball runners, are very direct and very good at offloads.
‘‘So we are going to have to be on our game and try and shut them down.’’
The Sharks had the bye last week but are 11th on the table and have won just three games.
❛ We are really happy with what we are doing on attack, we are looking dangerous and scoring some nice tries. We just want a little
bit more of it