As he digested the 26-16 loss to the Chiefs in Queenstown, Brown said it was reasonably simple to see where the game was lost.
“That was a tough first-up performance for us.
“I felt as though we didn’t quite execute well enough, and we gave away too many penalties, especially in that first half.
“I just think we need to make sure we hold on to the ball. And our discipline — making sure we’re not giving away silly penalties that keep the opposition in our half.”
The Highlanders were well below par yet trailed by just seven points with five minutes to play at the Wakatipu rugby club’s fenced-off ground.
That was a fair effort given the Chiefs had seemed to dominated much of the game.
“I just thought they played good rugby,” Brown said.
“They did well around holding the ball, keeping us under pressure, and scored a couple of good scrum tries.”
If the mix of sloppiness and ill-disciplined rugby was frustrating for the Highlanders coach to see, he was perked up by the efforts of Josh Timu on the wing.
Timu was arguably a surprise starter, given his recent body of work is relatively lean, but he responded with an excellent performance that blended genuine punch with some enterprising rugby.
“JT had an outstanding game,” Brown said.
“He was definitely the best back on the field if not the best player. So I’m pretty stoked for him.”
Timu’s wing partner, Mosese Dawai, had a difficult debut, let down by his handling before he was replaced at halftime.
“He made a couple of mistakes early, and on debut you want to make those first touches memorable ones,” Brown said.
“He’ll learn from that, and he’ll come back a better player.”
Highlanders vice-captain James Lentjes described the game as “a start”.
Like his coach, he pointed to errors and discipline as the culprits.
“We did some good things, but little errors let us down,” Lentjes said.
“We gave away a lot of penalties and that meant we struggled to build any pressure. Just little things.
“I think we played really well in patches. If we can just get rid of those errors, I think we can build big pressure on teams.”
And, like his coach, Lentjes was delighted to see Otago team-mate Timu make the most of his first official game for the Highlanders.
“It was awesome to see him out there.
“He’s fit as hell and that was an awesome debut.”
The Highlanders have reported no new injuries as they remain in the Queenstown bubble but prepare for the long day trip to Dunedin this weekend to play the Crusaders.
Their southern rivals eased into gear with a 42-32 win over the Hurricanes at a deserted Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.
Leicester Fainga’anuku scored three tries for the Crusaders, who coughed up a couple of late tries but otherwise looked ominously dominant.
The Waratahs welcomed the Fijian Drua to Super Rugby with a 40-10 win on Friday night, the Reds beat the Rebels 23-5, and the Brumbies edged the Force 29-23.
