Smashed up front, the Highlanders lost to the Blues yesterday at Eden Park, going down 39-17 after trailing 17-3 at halftime.
The side was well beaten at the set piece and did not have enough ball and territory to mount a challenge.
In this set piece, power-orientated game that is all in vogue these days, the Highlanders could not match the Blues’ intensity and made too many sloppy errors.
The plan was to move the big Blues pack around and make them work hard for everything.
But the visiting side made too many mistakes and coughed up the ball. The Blues had two-thirds of the territory and in today’s game that matters — big time.
The Highlanders did not hold on to the ball to put pressure on the opposition and the game was as good as over early in the second half.
With lock Josh Dickson yellow-carded in the dying stages of the first half, the Highlanders went down to 14 men.
The Blues won a lineout a couple of minutes into the second half and then sucked in some defenders. It got the ball wide to the spare man, replacement winger Emoni Narawa, and he simply strolled over to score.
The Blues added another couple of tries and much of the rest of the game was an exercise in boredom with the rolling mauls being, um, rolled out.
The Highlanders did get a couple of tries — one from Ash Dixon, who got on the end of a rolling maul. Replacement halfback Folau Fakatava then nipped down the shortside from a lineout to score.
But it was all a tad academic by then as the Blues horse had bolted.
The Aucklanders love to go from set piece to set piece and bully sides.
The Highlanders had to make few errors and deny the side any turnover ball.
That simply did not happen.
That malaise started in the ninth minute when Josh Ioane put an inaccurate clearing kick in. It was recovered by the Blues who moved it wide and Rieko Ioane put Otere Black over.
That gave the home team the lead which it never relinquished. A second try came to Blues winger Caleb Clarke and the Highlanders never got close after that.
Highlanders lock Manaaki Selby-Rickit threw himself around, although he had a couple of brain explosions, while Shannon Frizell worked hard.
The Highlanders will now have a few days off before coming together at the end of the week. They next play the Hurricanes at Forsyth Barr Stadium on March 26.
Key forwards Ayden Johnstone, Pari Pari Parkinson and Kazuki Himeno all made it through unscathed in the Highlanders Bravehearts game against the Crusaders development side in Pleasant Point on Saturday. The game was won by the Crusaders side.
Meanwhile in Christchurch on Saturday, the Crusaders beat the Chiefs 39-17 — the exact score as the match in Auckland yesterday.
The match hinged on a poor piece of officiating early in the second half when the Crusaders were awarded a penalty try after losing the ball forward earlier in the try-scoring movement.
