The Highlanders managed to do the near impossible again. Beat the high flying Bulls.
For the fifth time in as many games, the Highlanders were involved in a nail biting match that ended with the differences in scores being in the 12 & under bracket. The Landers needed to win this game to keep their play-off hopes alive, and they did.
With the Wellington Hurricanes going down to a superior Brumbies team, it opened up a three or four point gap between the Highlanders (7) and the Reds(8)/Hurricanes(9). The Highlanders now sit seventh, but are only two points out of the play-off wild card spot.
With this weekend's game against the Blues the Highlanders have a great chance to leap frog the Sharks back into the top 6. My pick is that the Sharks will fall to the now top of the table Stormers in Durban.
To get up and over the Blues for a second time in three weeks the Highlanders will need to execute a lot better than they did on Saturday night at Forsyth Barr Stadium.
The first half wasn't the flashest to watch. The line-out was below average, the Bulls were able to unsettle the Highlanders' attacking line with some intense rush D and both teams had to battle for every blade of grass that was ticked up in the metres gained column.
The Bulls took a 6 - 3 lead at the break through two Morne Steyn penalties. Delaney levelled the scores six minutes into the second half with another penalty.
The game didn't really get to interesting until the 60min mark when Hoeata dived for the line, but the video ref dis allowed it. Not too long after that Hoeata had another crack and managed to dive over the line for five points.
He even attempted to give the crowd an intense try celebration, but to my standards, it wasn't that good.
Delaney converted the try and added another penalty to take the Highlanders out to 16 points.
The Bulls were relentless in attack from then on and managed to get a try through Willie Wepener. Steyn, in his 100th match for the Bulls missed the conversion, as well as two penalties earlier to leave the Bulls stranded on 11 points.
They tried and tried to crack the Highlanders defence, but the boys in blue managed to dig deep (again) at the death and repel the Bulls attack, and held on for the four points.
The Highlanders should get good confidence with the amount of All Blacks named in the wider training squad, and when they return to practice this week the spirits should be high heading into the game this weekend.
Let's hope this weekend the boys will be able to get up again over the Blues and the Sharks, Hurricanes and Reds all lose giving the Highlanders a wee cushion heading into the final game against the Crusaders before the international window.
Again, if anyone is interested in some cheap banter, feel free to follow me on Twitter @Gldf1sh. Until next week!