Concentrating on game, not milestone, Dixon says
ASH Dixon is not one for sentiment.
The Highlanders hooker and cocaptain will play his 50th game for the Highlanders if selected to play against the Sharks this weekend.
But Dixon is not getting too hung up about the occasion. To him it is simply another game.
‘‘To be honest I’m just looking forward to playing the game this week. I have not given much thought to it really,’’ he said.
‘‘To me I might start thinking about it later on or when I finish up playing. But for now it is just the game I am focused on.’’
Dixon (29), has also turned out for the Blues and the Hurricanes but joined the Highlanders in 2015, the year the side won the title. All up he has played 64 Super Rugby games.
He shared the workload with Liam Coltman that year — as the two hookers played in all 19 games.
Dixon missed the bulk of last year after a nasty back injury delayed his start to the season. He was made cocaptain of the team last year and continues in that role this year.
The shared captaincy with Ben Smith allows Dixon or Smith to lead the team off the field during alternate weeks.
In all his 49 games for the franchise, the Hawke’s Bay captain said he had not played 80 minutes.
‘‘I’m glad as I wouldn’t probably last that long.’’
Dixon and his front row colleagues had a bit of a hard time last week against the Bulls and were in reverse gear for much of the game.
Dixon said the front row was obviously not happy about the performance last week and would be looking at reviewing the scrum this week and bring out a better performance against the Sharks. The Highlanders only had four scrums where they fed the ball so did not have much game time to perfect the art of the scrum.
The Sharks were a side which carried strongly and had some big ball carriers. So the Highlanders needed to be watchful on defence and look to make the most of the opportunities, he said.
Dixon is settled at the Highlanders, signed through to the end of next year. He has captained New Zealand Maori for the past couple of years.