Coach keen to view his players’ fitness
Southlanders Josh Bekhuis and Jamie Mackintosh will look to prove their fitness to Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph in this afternoon’s trial game against the Blues in Auckland.
The two tight forwards, who both had offseason groin surgery, will start the game being played at the Blues’ Unitec training base after making surprise appearances off the bench against the Chiefs in Queenstown last weekend.
The injury-struck Highlanders will open their Super rugby campaign against the Chiefs in Hamilton next weekend and would dearly love to have Mackintosh, the team’s skipper, and experienced lock Bekhuis in their line up.
Joseph said after training at the University Oval yesterday that both players would play ‘‘until they fell over’’ against the Blues and a decision would then be made on their availability depending on how well they recovered. ‘‘They pulled up remarkably well when we gave them 10-15 minutes last week. If they are going to be in contention for the following week then they have to get through some rugby.’’
The Highlanders have a front row crisis with Stags prop Chris King suffering from a groin injury and fellow tighthead Ma’afu Fia struggling with a hamstring strain.
Joseph
said
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Highlanders prop conundrum was worsened with the next cab off the rank, Southland’s Nic Barrett, playing for the Crusaders.
Scrum coach Kees Meeuws will play on the bench today as cover, while Jacob Ellison has also been called into the squad.
The issue in the front row is matched by midfield where Ben Smith will be brought forward from fullback to partner new recruit Phil Burleigh, who was originally named in the Chiefs wider training squad.
Joseph is still hoping former All Black Tamati Ellison could be available to play the Chiefs but that would depend on his Japanese club team losing this weekend.
Joseph, who has eight players injured and two more unavailable because of overseas club commitments, admitted he had never experienced such an injury curse during his coaching career, except for a locking problem during his time with Wellington when Ellison had to be switched from prop to the second row.
Despite that, spirits within the camp remain high, Joseph said.
‘‘The team has got a good feeling and you don’t take that for granted. We are mindful that it’s February and as coaches we are telling the players that if we are any good we’ve got to be still performing in August.’’
Today’s game kicks off at 2pm with the Highlanders flying to Auckland and returning the same day to save money.