After their win over the Hurricanes, the Highlanders have an eye on the Super 15 playoffs. ODT Online rugby writer Jeff Cheshire looks ahead.
The Highlanders now find themselves right in the thick of the playoff race and it is many years since they were in with this much of a chance so late in the season. This team is not falling away like the teams of 2011 and 2012 did and has not had anywhere near as many injury problems, which has been a huge help.
It is not an easy run home though. There are two games against the Crusaders, against whom the Highlanders usually fare well enough, but they will be difficult all the same. The Chiefs at home will be similar, as they too are desperate for points and are beginning to get some of their guns back.
This leaves the two games in Australia against the Waratahs and Reds, who will both be hard to beat over there, regardless of whether the Reds have been struggling of late. To make it through the Highlanders will likely have to win at least three, perhaps four of these. Not impossible, but far from easy too.
As they look forward to the next game, at home against the Crusaders next weekend, it is perhaps worth considering what worked (and what didn't) for the team in the last game, the 18-16 win over the Hurricanes.
Aggressive defence
It was the Highlanders' defence that won this game. They were up against a Hurricanes team possessing multiple attacking weapons and they did a great job to stifle them, despite going for long periods without seeing the ball.
They tackled aggressively, showing great line speed to get up fast and shut down the Hurricanes' attacking space. This meant that the Hurricanes backs had far less space to work with and the likes of Julian Savea were coming at the line with less pace, making them easier to tackle.
It was not pretty, but it was gutsy and they showed a lot of heart. Ultimately whether your team wins or loses, you want to see them showing plenty of fight right until the end, and this Highlanders team is doing that at the moment.
Clearing the ball from the scrum
The biggest problem the Highlanders had was their ball clearance at the scrum. TJ Perenara may have sneaked the odd foot in to make it awkward, but he was doing what every halfback should be doing: applying pressure, being pesky and pushing the laws right to the limit. The try he scored was an outstanding piece of timing and was more due to good work from him than poor play by Aaron Smith.
Smith was under pressure from a scrum that was not giving him flash ball, while also being pressured by Perenara. It was inevitable that he would struggle to clear the ball. This made Nasi Manu's play in the dying minutes all the more impressive and crucial, picking the ball off the back and getting some go-forward to allow Hayden Parker to send the ball down the line.
Kicking too far
If there was one criticism of the Highlanders it was that their kicks were slightly too far. They were not kicking long enough to turn around the Hurricanes defence and their shorter ones generally were too far for the chasers to contest. For the most part they were able to arrive at the time the opposition caught the ball, meaning they were not able to launch too much of an initial counter, but it does mean they were giving the ball back to them.
Away win
Do not write off the significance of an away win. They are not easy to come by and to make the playoffs you are generally going to have to have two or three. That is assuming all the home games are won, which is not the case this season, meaning the away wins assume greater significance.
Of the away games so far this year, two have been won, one was lost by one point and another by two. This is including two games in South Africa. The only blight was a drubbing against the Blues, but every team has at least one bad performance like that a year. On the whole this is an outstanding effort and encouraging given three of the final five games left are away.