ODT Online rugby writer Jeff Cheshire looks at five reasons why the Highlanders upset the high-flying Sharks in Durban.
Diversity of tries
How the Highlanders scored their points showed their versatility and that they are not reliant on one facet of the game to cross the line.
The first one was a great show of team play. There was Patrick Osborne with the initial spark, Shane Christie with the link, Aaron Smith with the cut out pass, Shaun Treeby with the vision for the grubber and Richard Buckman with the chase to finish. That is five names, or one third of the players on the field for the team involved in one sequence to score a try. This team the talent to produce a gem like this.
Later in the game Malakai Fekitoa conjured up something from nothing. His try was nothing short of brilliant and any team that has a player capable of doing this is always going to be threatening. The forward pack worked well to score their second try of the season from a rolling maul off a lineout, showing they can threaten from set piece, while the second try was a more standard set up with a snipe close to the line.
It is hard to defend a team capable of scoring in all of these ways. You cannot over-mark one player too heavily, as there are others who will threaten. You cannot commit too many to the maul, as there are so many dangerous backs lurking out wide. It is a case of having to cover all of your bases, which means that defences will struggle to be as effective against this Highlanders team.
Sharks' predictable kicking game
Rugby is a game of space and how you use the space available to manipulate the players in a way which allows you to create the space you need to do what you want. Never is this more evident than in the kicking game, both in its execution and reception.
The Sharks play a game typical of Jake White coached teams. They kick long, chase hard, try to force a mistake and then pounce. It was a tactic implemented so well by the 2007 World Cup winning Springboks and from the Brumbies of the past two seasons.
In this game though, the Sharks' kicking became too predictable. At first they were looking to kick into the space behind the relatively shallow Highlanders defensive back three, which turned them around and allowed the chasers to apply pressure. As the game progressed, the Highlanders began to stand deeper on the kick defence, meaning space was not there.
The space was now in between the defensive line and the back three, which would favour a higher kick for the chasers to compete for. But they did not opt for this, persisting with their long kicking game and in effect giving the ball straight back to the Highlanders. With the likes of Ben Smith, Lima Sopoaga and Richard Buckman running it back, this is never going to end well.
Defensive pressure
There was plenty of intensity from the Highlanders on defence with a more even spread of tackles, showing how everyone was involved. Nasi Manu was probably the best in close, creating momentum with his strong hits, while Shaun Treeby was the stand out in the backs, apply plenty of pressure to the Sharks backs who were taking the ball at the line. Ultimately this led to a high error rate from the Sharks, who committed a multitude of handling errors that stopped them ever getting their game going.
Defending the maul
Not only have they showed themselves capable of executing the rolling maul, the Highlanders forwards have shown themselves equally capable of stopping it. This has been a problem area for New Zealand teams of recent years, with South African teams using it as their main attacking weapon to push their opponents back in a manner that is near unstoppable when done right.
The Highlanders are getting low and staying tight in their initial defence, but are also switched on to the peel and reset, leaving a couple of players ready for the second maul to stop this shove. Against the Bulls they were under all sorts of pressure in this area and came through with flying colours, while they stifled the Sharks every time they tried it too.
Malakai Fekitoa
Should Fekitoa Be an All Black? This is not exactly an original thought by now, but he must be pushing very close to making the squad for the June tests.
With no obvious specialist back-up to Conrad Smith, the centre position is up for grabs. Fekitoa is by far and away the best performing centre vying for this spot at moment and the only thing likely to stand in his way would be the selection of a utility back in the position. History has shown us that this is not a good option, so leave Ben Smith and Charles Piutau where they are and pick a genuine No. 13 in the jersey.
Fekitoa has X-Factor, he is a hard worker on defence who reads the game well and knows when to come up, while also capable of doing well at the breakdown. His distribution game is getting better and the more he uses it the better it looks.
The man is playing well, so why not give him a go? If the selectors are going to complain about players below current All Black team leaving for off-shore, they need to give them a reason to stay.
