Highlanders v Chiefs: Five things we learned

Malakai Fekitoa of the Highlanders makes a break during the round four Super Rugby match between...
Malakai Fekitoa of the Highlanders makes a break during the round four Super Rugby match between the Chiefs and the Highlanders at Waikato Stadium. Photo by Getty

ODT Online rugby writer Jeff Cheshire looks at five things we learned as the Highlanders beat the Chiefs 20-17 in Hamilton last night. 

Hanging in there
You would be forgiven for wondering how the Highlanders managed to win that game. They were under pressure for the first 30 minutes of each half and hardly fired a shot on attack. Actually they hardly had the ball at all and when they did they were hard on defence. Not usually the recipe for winning rugby games.

But they stuck with the Chiefs. Their chase line got up fast and shut down the space, the defence was relentless and they did just enough to force the Chiefs into far too many errors.

The Chiefs did not help themselves, having more than enough ball, but despite their attacking weapons, never really looked like actually getting across the line from anything other than a scrum.

The Highlanders were able to keep the score close and made the most of their own opportunities to snatch the most unlikely of victories.

Clearance strategy
The theory nowadays regarding clearing under pressure at scrum time is to set up a ruck and then look to kick. If that is what the halfback prefers then fair enough, especially if the scrum is going backwards. However, that ruck is risky in that it makes you vulnerable to a turnover or penalty under pressure. Therefore the minimize the risk, you need to set the ruck so you are going to have protection over the ball quickly.

In general the Highlanders do this okay, but it was worrying seeing Shaun Treeby running away from the scrum, knowing that possibly the fastest openside flanker in the competition is in the opposition and the Highlanders had a blindside flanker in the position. Guess who is probably going to win that race?

While Malakai Fekitoa was outstanding in his work as the first supporting cleaner, there was an occasion in which he missed the cleanout, leaving the team exposed.

Poor officiating
It is nothing new to suggest that a rugby game was poorly officiated. In fact it is becoming more and more common. But there were some very questionable decisions in this game. Was James Lowe's tackle really worth a penalty, let alone a yellow card? Not only did he hardly hit Fekitoa, he never had a hold of him, so could hardly be accused of lifting or dropping. Fekitoa seemed to jump over Lowe and fall awkwardly.

This is rugby - it is a sport where people run at each other at pace. Things like this are going to happen. You cannot just go handing out cards for something like this, particularly when they have such a huge impact on the game. Keep in mind that both referee and assistant referee came to that conclusion after watching replays; it was not just one man's opinion after seeing something once.

The Highlanders scrum was clearly under pressure during the ten minutes while Joe Wheeler was off the field. Does that warrant an automatic penalty or penalty try though? For the second penalty try the reason given was that it was "a whole scrum thing". Now maybe it was a mess, but to award a penalty you have to be certain at first that you actually saw an infringement. If you cannot identify the specific infringement, can you justify penalising that team?

The Chiefs were constantly offside on defence, as is their tendency, yet Liam Messam was penalised for a knock-down which did not look obvious enough for such a penalty to be given. Elliot Dixon's obstruction penalty was ridiculous as he did not change his line and Fekitoa was tackled anyway, while the first penalty on Josh Hohneck was really nit-picking too. The Chiefs were perhaps unlucky in the last penalty too.

Is it not frustrating that all of these minor infringements are picked up yet a team that has been a metre offside for four years continues to get away with it? Or that a game can be decided by a decision such as the one on Lowe? Or just that scrums in general are ruining the game?

Fekitoa's defence
Malakai Fekitoa keeps getting better and better. Last year he impressed with his ability to break tackles and create something from nothing. He is still doing that, but he is being more heavily marked and is having a tougher task making breaks. Through his defence and support play though, he has found a way to remain a dominating factor even without the ball.

He reads the play well, making good decisions as to when to commit to his man, when to hold off and wait for cover, as well as when to wait and go for the turnover. You do not see him missing many tackles either and he generally comes up with a couple of turnovers in every game. In support you see it to, often acting as the first cleaner off a midfield set on first-phase ball. His work doing these things makes him extra valuable.

Looking ahead to the All Blacks season, it should be a no-brainer that he is chosen now, particularly after outplaying Sonny Bill Williams so substantially.

Outstanding kick chase
A feature of the past two wins have been the quality of the kick chase. They say a kick is only as good as its chase, but in this case the chase probably makes the kick even better. In Patrick Osborne, Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith, the Highlanders have three flyers who get up quickly and posses superb aerial skills. Each are capable of challenging and either taking the ball themselves, or hitting it back to give the chasing line the chance to recover it.

Behind those three is the line itself, often led by the likes of Liam Coltman and Joe Wheeler. Their speed has been fantastic and really shuts down the space the opposition has to counter attack in. It has allowed the Highlanders to apply pressure and force turnovers or poor clearances, which ultimately can be turned into points.

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