Sharks do Chiefs a Super-sized favour
SPORT A little help from a friend has boosted the Chiefs. Evan Pegden reports. Herbert eyes Oceania campaign ‘‘We’ve got to get better each week and that’s what this group’s about.’’
Ricki Herbert has hinted his young guns could be pressing for places in the Oceania Nations Cup campaign after completing the All Whites’ first international victory in two years.
Striker Shane Smeltz gave New Zealand a 1-0 win over Honduras – ranked 62nd in the world to the All Whites’ 130th – when he headed home Jeremy Brockie’s brilliant left-footed cross on the halftime hooter in Dallas, Texas yesterday.
Herbert hugged his coaching assistants as he celebrated the All Whites’ first win in 11 matches since beating Serbia 1-0 in May 2010 in the leadup to the Fifa World Cup finals in South Africa.
He hailed a ‘‘a terrific’’ team performance which saw the tenderfoot team survive a Honduras onslaught in the final quarter to claim a morale-boosting victory at Cotton Bowl Stadium.
But he was already looking ahead to Sunday’s Oceania campaign opener against Fiji in Honiara after completing an unbeaten short tour of the United States which opened with a 2-2 draw with El Salvador last Thursday.
Herbert said senior players Winston Reid, Chris Killen, Rory Fallon and Tony Lochhead will join the squad in Brisbane ‘‘in the next 48 hours’’ to prepare for the Oceania assignment.
But they might not be guaranteed starts after youngsters Kosta Barbarouses, Marco Rojas, Chris Wood and Ian Hogg grabbed their opportunities to impress in the Texas doubleheader against opposition the All Whites could strike in the November 2013 inter-continental World Cup playoffs.
‘‘It’s about performance, not about age,’’ said Herbert, who felt 20-year-old Wood was ‘‘strong and dominant’’ after replacing Smeltz for the second half.
The West Bromwich Albion striker created gilt-edged chances for Aaron Clapham and Kosta Barbarouses, but neither was able to pull the trigger with only Honduras goalkeeper-captain Noel Valladares to beat.
The All Whites had few chances in the first 44 minutes despite some razzle dazzle by Leo Bertos, who replaced Hogg – a goalscoring debutant against El Salvador – after the latter limped off following a heavy challenge. But the Hondurans were equally shot-shy in the Sharks coach John Plumtree lived in Hamilton for a year, came close to being a Chiefs assistant coach and even owned property here after he left the area.
But it was the 25-20 win by his Sharks side over previous Super Rugby pacesetters the Stormers in Durban yesterday that will certainly endear him most to Chiefs fans this week.
That coupled with the Chiefs’ 10th win of the season – a franchise record – on Friday night, 28-20 over the Bulls at Waikato Stadium has enabled the Chiefs to regain the top position on the overall points table with four rounds of competition left to play over the next couple of months.
The Chiefs have 53 points and the Stormers 50 at the top of the table, while the Crusaders’ four points for their bye at the weekend keep them seven behind the Chiefs in the New Zealand conference with the in-form Highlanders and Hurricanes not far behind them.
The second-last Blues, who got within seven of the Highlanders with a team of no-names at Eden Park on Saturday night, lie in wait for the Chiefs at Eden Park this Saturday night, followed by a three-week break for the international window and then matches against the Highlanders, Crusaders and Hurricanes. Of those only the Crusaders are to be played at home. first spell. Smeltz fired the All Whites ahead in the 45th minute when he soared high to head home an inch-perfect left wing cross by Brockie. The new Wellington Phoenix signing had been released by a precision pass from Clapham, the Canterbury United captain who produced an energetic effort in his first All Whites start in an unfamiliar holding midfield role.
The All Whites were under the cosh for the final 30 minutes with the woodwork twice coming to their rescue when Honduran shots struck a post.
But Herbert was happy with the ‘‘tremendous composure’’ in challenging circumstances. The 32-degree heat was taxing, a pockmarked pitch tested technique and the All Whites had a limited warmup while El Salvador beat Moldova 2-0 in the curtainraiser.
‘‘The guys were fantastic,’’ Herbert said. ‘‘ We’ve backed up – [Honduras] were fresh and I thought we might be a little lethargic. I thought we took it to another level today.’’
Tommy Smith – New Zealand football’s youngest captain at 22 – and veteran Ivan Vicelich marshalled the defence admirably with solid support from Clapham.
Seven of the All Whites starting lineup were aged 25 or younger, as were five of the six substitutes, including debutants Tim Payne, 18, and Adam Mcgeorge, 23. Burnley professional Cam Howieson, 17, won his second cap off the bench.
The Chiefs are wary of the Blues before they take their three-week break which will see the players get a fortnight off in which they will pursue individual training programmes, eight apparently set to play in the North-south game and others for the All Blacks, before resuming team training.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie said the win over the Bulls had been pivotal to staying at or near the top of the pack instead of disappearing into it with a loss.
‘‘So that’s satisfying and it’s key we have a good week next week and front for the Blues because they’re too good a side in the end not to knock someone over and we don’t want to be that team,’’ Rennie said.
‘‘If we can do that and accomplish a win next week then we’ll be in a pretty good spot heading into that June window.’’
Chiefs co-captain Liam Messam, who celebrated his record 90th match for the franchise with another strong performance, said he just wanted the team to keep going now and not get comfortable with where they were and how they were currently performing.
‘‘We’ve got to get better each week and that’s what this group’s about. Come Monday they are a humble bunch of guys in this team and they just put their head back down and get back to work.
‘‘We’ll take the good out of this game [against the Bulls] and the bad and just move forward.’’
Messam said there was no chance of the Chiefs taking the Blues lightly.
‘‘Everyone knows in Chiefs-blues games or even Waikato-auckland, it doesn’t matter what your season’s like,’’ he said.
‘‘I remember us last year when we didn’t have the best of seasons, the Blues were on top and we went up there and did a job on them.
‘‘So it’s very important we don’t take them lightly, the boys never do. The Chiefs-blues derbies are the games you always want to play,’’ Messam said.
The Sharks’ win over the Stormers has livened up the South African conference with the Bulls just two points behind the Stormers and the Sharks now just a further three behind them.
The Stormers and Bulls meet each other in Pretoria this weekend in a match that could provide the Chiefs even more breathing space if they win and the Stormers don’t.
The three conference winners automatically qualify for the playoffs and then the next three highest-placed teams on the table. The top two teams go directly to the semifinals and the rest play off to find the other two semifinalists with home venue going to the highest ranked side on the table in each instance.