Highlanders poised to set new benchmark

Patrick Osborne is back in the starting XV for the Highlanders.
Patrick Osborne will be part of the Highlanders team looking to make it seven in a row.
The Highlanders will be in seventh heaven if they beat the Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday morning (New Zealand time).

The side has won six straight games and a win against the men from the high veldt would push the Highlanders to their seventh win in succession in a season, a mark yet to be achieved by the southern franchise.

When the competition first started, teams played only 11 games in the round-robin format so it is undoubtedly easier these days — when teams play 15 games in a regular season — to rack up the wins.

After getting off to a disappointing start in the competition with three defeats in their first four games, the Highlanders have come good to win their next six.

Much was made of the team’s poor beginning to the competition but that had just as much to do with the teams the side was facing rather than playing poorly.

The Highlanders have played only one New Zealand team — the Blues — in their run of six straight victories. The side’s first four games of the season were against New Zealand franchises.

The Highlanders have won six games in a row once before — in 2005 — when it had a purple patch under coach Greg Cooper. Four of those victories were away from home.

The side should have come confidence going into the match against the Bulls.

Statistics from Opta Sports show the Highlanders have won four of their past six games against the Bulls although they have been close-run things.

The last time the Highlanders won by more than seven points was in 2009, when they easily beat the South Africans in Palmerston North.

The sides have not actually played each other since 2014, when the Highlanders won 27-20 at Forsyth Barr Stadium against a giant Bulls outfit.

In 2015, the final year of the 15-team format, it was the Bulls’ turn not to play the Highlanders as one South African team missed out.

Last season, the Bulls were in the African one conference which did not play New Zealand sides.

Overall, the Highlanders have won 12 of the 19 games between the teams. The Bulls have won six and there was a 16-16 draw in Invercargill in 2004.

The Bulls have recorded just three wins this season and appear long shots to make the playoffs.

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