Rot stops for Highlanders as they deflect Bulls’ charge

THE Highlanders pulled off one of their biggest wins of the season by beating the Bulls 16-11 in Dunedin last night.

It was a team effort rather than any individual player that clinched this win and for coach Jamie Joseph that must be one of the most pleasing aspects of this game.

A Highlanders defeat would have meant a third straight loss, and that for the second successive season the southern men had fallen away after a bright start.

If the Highlanders go on to make the top six, they’ll look back at this game as being pivotal to their season. For now, at least, Joseph’s side have stopped the rot.

After the Blues next weekend they face the Crusaders, Chiefs and Reds before a bye in the last week. The confidence from last night’s win means they can be judged as opportunities to take points from their playoff-hunting rivals.

The Bulls did little to excite the Dunedin spectators and even those in Pretoria who had got up early to watch the mach on TV must have wished they’d slept in and caught up with the result later.

Their kick-and-chase tactic is effective but it would be nice to see the ball passed along the backline every now and then.

In the first half the Highlanders weren’t helped by their poor lineouts. The Bulls were all over Jason Rutledge’s throws and even the tried-and-tested option of going to Adam Thomson wasn’t working as the Bulls regularly put a jumper up just in front of him to snatch the ball.

A strong run by Pierre Spies from the back of a scrum inspired the Bulls early on and although Morne Steyn’s first shot at goal missed, he was more accurate with his second attempt. Mike Delany squared up the game in the 26th minute from a penalty.

Just before the break Steyn kicked another penalty, but Delany again levelled it up with a penalty eight minutes into the second half.

Jarrad Hoeata came close to scoring the first try in the 63rd minute by bulldozing over from a pick and drive a metre from the Bulls’ line.

Replays showed he came close to touching the ball on the line, but the TMO decided he wasn’t quite close enough.

However, from the subsequent scrum, the ball was brought to the middle of the field and the lock had too much strength for the Bulls backs to hold him out.

Following a third Delany penalty replacement Bulls hooker Willie Wepener scored their own close-range try, but Steyn missed the conversion.