Better defence
The main difference between this week and last week was that the Highlanders showed far more resilience on defence. Their line speed was much better, closing down the space the dangerous Hurricanes backs had to work with and they hit them hard too. The line was well-organised and tough to breach and it was clear it was simply a change in attitude that had done the trick.
Twice in the first half the Hurricanes applied pressure to the Highlanders line and twice the Highlanders held out. While they fell away towards the end of the second half, ten minutes of this was with 14 men and they defended bravely.
The two Smiths
If the story of last season was the lack of form of the team's All Blacks, this year has seen the two remaining All Blacks step up big time. Aaron Smith is back to his dynamic best, showing more versatility with his pass, providing more of a spark when running and excelling with with his kicking game. He is the form halfback in New Zealand and arguably of the entire competition.
Ben Smith has attracted far more attention from defences. They are up on him pretty quickly and in numbers whenever he has a chance to counter, but that has not stopped him. His kicking game has looked better, as has his catching game where he has taken some good high balls that he may spilled a year ago. Against the Hurricanes he looked dangerous all night with ball in hand too and was rewarded when he sped through a gap in the defence to set up the first try of the game.
Kick and chase
The quality of the kick and chase game was key and shows how far this team has come since last year. In the same game in 2013, the kicks were neither far enough to get in behind the defence, nor were they close enough to compete. So in essence they were just kicking the ball back to the Hurricanes, which is never a good idea.
Fast-forward 12 months and the team showed more accuracy in the kick and more urgency on the chase, getting the ball in behind the Hurricanes back line and applying pressure. This was most prevalent in the first half, where they were rewarded with a handful of penalties which saw them kick six goals. It was high-percentage rugby, executed well by Aaron Smith, Lima Sopoaga and Phil Burleigh.
Brilliant defensive read on intercept try
Intercept tries can be seen as lucky and often they are. But this one was the result of intelligent defence from Malakai Fekitoa and Patrick Osborne.
It was clear the Hurricanes wanted to move the ball, as they had numbers down the blindside and were on the front foot. However, it seemed at first they were looking to deliver a short ball to the man angling back in. Fekitoa recognised this and rushed up to shut down the passing lane.
With this, a gap was left in the line, but because of the position of the Hurricanes players, the long ball to the wing seemed like the most likely option. Patrick Osborne adjusted to this well, holding his line and rushing up too, rather than drifting wider to take his man.
The result was that the ball went straight into his hands and he would run away effectively the try that sealed the match. Lucky, I think not.
The Tasman factor
Two of the outstanding players so far this season, and particularly last night, came in Shane Christie and Joe Wheeler. Coming off the back of an outstanding ITM Cup with Tasman, both have been tireless workers for the Highlanders this season. Against the Hurricanes Christie was everywhere and made an unbelievable 27 tackles, while Wheeler had the next most with 16. To put that in perspective, normally if a player gets to ten you would say they had a fairly busy day on defence.
Along with this both players were fast around the field and always there in support. Wheeler's work cleaning out the opposition forwards at the breakdown should not be underestimated, as he seems to crop up more than anyone else in this area. He has improved out of sight since last year and looks to have learnt a lot, flourishing as a lock rather than as a blindside flanker. In the lineout he is safe further back too, which is good as this was an area the Highlanders struggled in last year.
Christie was fast to shut down the inside channel on first phase ball while on defence, while also doing his best to disrupt Hurricanes ball at the breakdown. He made a few good linking runs too, showing he is not just a fetcher.
Goal-kicking
While we like to give the Europeans some stick about it, goal-kicking is actually pretty important in winning rugby games. Lima Sopoaga was outstanding in this department, kicking nine goals after missing an easy one first up to score 25 of the Highlanders' 35 points. This in the end was a key reason why they won the game, as it allowed them to have something to show for all of their good work, especially in the first half.