Weak defence
After such a good defensive effort last week, it was disappointing to see a relapse from the Highlanders this week. They simply fell off too many tackles and gifted the Kings too many chances to run their way into the Highlanders 22 and apply pressure.
The Kings were finding gaps in close that enabled them to snipe, a result of the first guard dog drifting with no cover. This happened too many times in the first half, while as the game loosened up in the second they started falling off too many in open play as well.
I will say it again, defence wins games.
Too many penalties
A result of the weak defence was that the Highlanders were constantly scrambling and under pressure in their own half. This is inevitably going to lead to penalties, as they infringed to slow down the Kings' ball and to shut down their space. And it was this that allowed the Kings to kick for
the corner and make use of South Africa's most potent attacking weapon.
The rolling maul
It is so simple yet so effective that rolling maul. Once it gets going it is so hard to stop and if it is done well, it is every bit as effective as a classy backline move in scoring a try.
Perhaps it was not a surprise then that the Kings can credit this for two of their tries, which ultimately came from Highlanders penalties which gave the Kings the lineout in the first place. At times the Highlanders did defend it well, better than what has been done in recent times. But it was still the reason for conceding 14 points, which really is 14 too many.
Given that it is such a devastating weapon, it begs the question; why do more New Zealand teams do it? Certainly it would be interesting to see if the South Africans were as capable of defending it as they are in executing it. It really is not that difficult to do. But of course, it relies on winning your lineouts, which is something that has not been happening either.
Poor kicking
As bad as the defence was, it would have looked a whole lot better if they had have kicked more accurately. By kicking straight down the middle of the park to a waiting back three they were essentially handing the ball to the Kings to counterattack with. The kicks were not into space and
were not contestable, which meant they were essentially kicking possession away and forcing themselves to defend again.
This prevented them from getting out of their own half on numerous occasions and along with the shoddy defence, contributed to the amount of pressure they were under.
Goal kicking was just as costly, as Colin Slade missed two crucial conversions down the stretch which could have seen the Highlanders playing for a win rather than a draw in the closing stages.
Too many mistakes
When they finally did get possession in good attacking position, they kept turning it over. Dropped balls and bad passes once again dogged their game and made it impossible to build any momentum.
In a game where you have limited opportunities, it is important to capitalise when you have the chance, especially when you are playing a team who leaked 72 points last week. The Kings defence never came under question as there was rarely anything asked of them, as the Highlanders
lacked the basic skills to make use of their attacking weapons.
Even if they were to just hold on to possession without going anywhere, the referee was being relatively harsh on the defending team so at the least a penalty could have come up there.
You can sometimes forgive a team when you can see they are trying, but when they are making the same mistakes every week, patience begins to wear thin. It will be a tough task going to Loftus Versfeld to beat the Bulls next week and they will have to put on a much improved performance to
even make for a close game.
