The Highlanders have not so much limped into the playoffs as lurched into them like a punch-drunk boxer — but they are in the fight, and that is all that matters.
Their Super Rugby Pacific season lives to fight another day, and cue the scorn from north of the Waitaki River as a team that ends the regular season with a grim record of four wins and 10 losses somehow gets the same chance of winning the inaugural title as seven teams with winning records.
All the Highlanders needed from yesterday’s clash with the Rebels in Melbourne was a bonus point, and they delivered — what is not to like?
Fine, a 31-30 loss to the 10th-placed Rebels, a fairly shabby performance all round and ... did we mention the 4-10 record ... are not exactly feats to be trumpeted from the rooftops, but this is the system, and the Highlanders can only play the cards they are dealt.
They finished tied for eighth with the Force on 23 points, progressing courtesy of a vastly superior points difference (plus-3 to the Force’s minus-117).
Only a hopeless optimist will be tipping the Highlanders to bowl the rampant Blues in this Saturday’s quarterfinal, but they have made it, and that is some consolation for a team that started with six straight losses, even if it is also a bit of an indictment of the playoff structure.
Whether the Highlanders ‘‘deserve’’ to be playing beyond the regular season is immaterial.
Their fans might, though, be keen to see a team playing with a bit more gumption.
Yesterday’s game, the last in the regular season, was not one of the great spectacles of Super Rugby, thanks to several delays for scrum resets and a litany of handling errors.
When the Highlanders were good in the first half, they were very good — generally when barnstorming No8 Marino Mikaele-Tu’u had the ball in his hands.
They made a cracking start when winger Rory van Vugt grabbed his first career try after just three minutes, and led 12-0 after 20 minutes when Josh Dickson crossed the line.
The Rebels responded with a try from a lineout drive, and after Marty Banks kicked a penalty, the Rebels closed the gap to a single point when Glen Vaihu swooped on a wayward Aaron Smith pass.
Banks added another three to give the Highlanders an 18-14 lead at halftime, but they should arguably have been ahead by plenty more.
There was a five-minute spell in the second half when it appeared the resurgent Rebels were going to spoil the party.
They scored a stunner through fullback Nick Jooste to take the lead, and forged ahead to 26-18 when Lukas Ripley showed juggling skills to cross out wide.
Fortunately, for the Highlanders, Mikaele-Tu’u then staged another big break and halfback Folau Fakatava was on hand to score.
Fakatava — again wonderful off the bench — promptly carved off a huge break of his own, and when the move ended in a Fetuli Paea try, the Highlanders looked safe with a lead of 30-26.
There was time for one more twist, Young Tonumaipea scoring to give the Rebels their 31-30 lead, and while the Australians got the ball back near the end of the game, they were happy to kick it out to take the win.
The other Super Rugby quarterfinals will feature the Crusaders-Reds, the Chiefs-Waratahs and the Brumbies-Hurricanes.
Force centre Byron Ralston scored a late try as the Perth-based side beat the Hurricanes for the first time in 15 years, 27-22, to stay alive — at least until the Highlanders claimed their bonus point.
The Blues, who had already sealed top spot, rested players but still managed to eke out a 20-17 win over the Waratahs to make it 13 straight wins, and the Chiefs withstood a stirring comeback from everybody’s second-favourite team, the Fijian Drua, to win 35-34 in Lautoka.
The result of the round was in Auckland, where Moana Pasifika completed a memorable debut campaign with a magnificent 32-22 win over the Brumbies despite playing for 70 minutes with 14 men, after captain Sekope Kepu was sent off.
