Highlanders heading north with eyes wide open
As all teams regain their All Blacks for the fourth round of Super Rugby, Highlanders assistant coach Glenn Delaney believes “things will get pretty serious, pretty quickly”, especially for his side and the Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday.
Selections during the first three weeks had been varied as teams met the requirements to ease their All Blacks back into play but they would be more settled from Friday onwards.
The Hurricanes had already shown how different they were with their All Blacks back in the side.
Delaney said: “They’ve got quality right across that team.
“They’ve got a very powerful back row that will give them gainline, they’ve got a 10 who’s best in the world who will give them opportunities and, if in trouble, Ngani [Laumape] will carry the ball real hard.
“There’s a lot of intelligence on their side; their coaches are good guys and good rugby men and know what they are doing so they will try to set you up to let those assets play out for them.
“I’ve got a job to contain them and we’ll make sure we’re ready for it,” he said.
Delaney said while there was a natural emphasis on the ability of the Barrett brothers; Beauden and Jordie, halfback TJ Perenara also took responsibility when needed and his battle with Aaron Smith would be a key part of Friday’s game.
While the Highlanders had been without Smith and fullback Ben Smith in Melbourne last week, they were pleased with the way other players stepped up and it had been a continuation of their policy in growing the players beneath the top level.
“We knew this was going to happen and we got a good effort and good performance from the guys playing in those positions,” he said.
He said there were opportunities to win the game, notwithstanding the final act and if one or two things had occurred differently, they may have achieved a better outcome.
The Rebels had been very effective at the breakdown, although he said they had struggled to find where the advantage line was in the breakdown.
“I thought they were superaggressive and slowed our ball down and I think if teams are trying to play against us that’s a fairly obvious tactic.
“It’s not been an issue for us but something we are going to keep focusing on because we do know when we get speed of ball and gainline, we’re a pretty dangerous proposition, so that’s how we want to play,” he said.