Highlanders pay for poor decisions
Tony Brown’s willingness to fire shots at referees and opposition tactics should never be berated, but the Highlanders’ coach ought to take a good, hard look at his own side’s deficiencies.
Brown was all too happy to criticise the Crusaders after his side’s 26-13 defeat in Dunedin on Friday night, labelling the state of rugby ‘‘sad’’ and suggesting the cynical visitors weren’t punished for conceding 15 penalties.
Two yellow cards – to captain Scott Barrett and flanker Ethan Blackadder – were indeed dished out, as referee Ben O’Keeffe and his assistants particularly cracked down hard on offside play.
But that wasn’t enough for Brown, who was more interested in deflecting blame after his team’s season-opening loss than looking in the mirror.
After all, if he wanted to see the Crusaders’ admittedly poor discipline punished, he should have got in the ear of co-captain Aaron Smith or Ash Dixon and instructed them to line up more than the lone penalty attempt they took.
Mitch Hunt could have flicked one over with 13 minutes left. It, one of eight kickable penalties they turned down, would have cut the Crusaders’ lead to 19-16.
Instead, they were guilty of being pig-headed, drilling the ball deep inside the 22 and attempting to tick the scoreboard over with five-pointers.
Time to dig up the old saying: the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
In the Highlanders’ case, they repeatedly attempted to bulldoze what was essentially an All Blacks tight-five with their rolling maul.
It didn’t work. And, when they finally accepted they didn’t have the horsepower to do it, their other options weren’t much better.
Three cross-field kicks were launched inside the 22, all failed to find their target, including a shocker from Hunt which just about sailed into the stands.
Talk about letting the Crusaders off the hook through poor decision-making, and execution.
Two tries to show for 54 per cent possession – 22.4 per cent alone inside the Crusaders’ 22, 57 per cent territory, and 417 running metres, says it all.
Moody madness
Crusaders prop Joe Moody should count himself a lucky man after avoiding a card in the opening minutes of the match.
Like an angry bull, Moody unleashed a flurry of open-handed blows at Highlanders lock Jack Regan’s mug, connecting with at least three of them.
A juiced up Moody took exception to Regan holding him at a maul, but it didn’t warrant what was an unjustified reaction.
Moody, who copped a twomatch suspension for striking
Waratah Kurtley Beale in 2018, might not be so lucky next time.
Whistle, whistle, whistle
If you thought the Crusaders were poor disciplined on Friday night, how about the Hurricanes and Blues the following evening?
Referee Paul Williams blew 27 penalties during the Blues’ 31-16 win in Wellington, 15 of them against the home side.
Whistle-blowers have been instructed to crack down on offside this season, meaning defenders have to be ‘‘clearly onside’’ to avoid being penalised.
The early signs aren’t good for viewers’ ears, with 50 penalties blown across the first two games of the season.
Hurricanes robbed
Something’s wrong if assistant referees Mike Fraser and James Doleman didn’t get their eyes checked first thing on Sunday morning.
The pair kept their flags down when Jordie Barrett blasted over a conversion on Saturday night, burgling the hosts of two points.
It would have pulled them to within 21-18 with 17 minutes to play, before Rieko Ioane dashed clear and scored the Blues’ second fortuitous try of the night to bag the result.
Hurricanes fans howled at the blunder when replays were beamed on the big screen, but they should have been equally upset with the try their team gifted the Blues in the opening minutes, when Devan Flanders’ pass in front of his sticks didn’t find Vaea Fifita and sat up for Dalton Papalii to pounce on.