Highlanders feel the consequences of sloppy play

An unusual setting provided the background for an unusual Highlanders performance on Saturday afternoon.

They were beaten 26-16 by the Chiefs in the opening New Zealand game in the new-look Super Rugby Pacific competition.

At the humble, almost deserted surrounds of the Queenstown Recreation Ground, the Highlanders took an awfully long time to get going.

Life in the bubble, perhaps, is not the best preparation for professional rugby, though the Chiefs did not seem too bothered.

The Highlanders wasted an hour of the game with poor handling — they conceded 17 turnovers to the Chiefs’ eight — and a concerning lack of discipline.

An injection of pace and power off the bench in the form of Folau Fakatava and Thomas Umaga-Jensen helped, but the Highlanders had left themselves too much work to do.

There were some strong points — Shannon Frizell was vigorous in his 50th game, Josh Timu had a highly promising debut, Manaaki Selby-Rickit did some fine work in the set piece and the impact of the reserves indicated there is some reasonable depth.

But the Highlanders were largely outplayed by a Chiefs team that overcame a terrible lineout to assert control.

Josh Ioane had a strong first half against his former side, and Pita Gus Sowakula was immense at No8.

The Chiefs were also delighted to welcome Brodie Retallick back to their colours, and the classy All Blacks lock showed very few signs of rust as he galloped around the field and dominated physical exchanges.

After a feeling-out period and the obligatory exchange of penalty kicks, the Chiefs grabbed the first day through All Blacks captain Sam Cane.

The visitors took control just before halftime when the Highlanders, maintaining a disappointing theme, gave away a silly penalty.

Then, eight minutes into the second half, the Chiefs produced an early contender for assist of the season when Retallick delivered an outrageous flick pass to fullback Emoni Narawa.

If the first 60 minutes had been forgettable for the Highlanders, the final 20 suggested they have something to work with.

It looked like James Lentjes had scored a nice try — the pass from Fetuli Paea was ruled forward by the TMO — and when, after a brief but intense period of pressure, replacement prop Daniel Lienert-Brown burrowed over the line, the margin was seven and it was game on.

The Chiefs responded, though, and iced victory with a Bryn Gatland penalty.

The Highlanders will need to regroup quickly as they play the Crusaders this Friday, not Saturday, as originally scheduled.

To give Moana Pasifika an extra couple of days to regroup following its Covid isolation period, the Crusaders-Highlanders and Blues-Hurricanes games have each been brought forward a day, and Moana Pasifika will play the Chiefs in Queenstown on Sunday afternoon.