Rugby: And now it's three wins out of three

Roger Clark
Roger Clark
The Highlanders are keeping their feet on the ground but Otago rugby officials hope for a crowd of up to 20,000 when Super 15 derby rivals the Crusaders come to town in two weeks.

The Highlanders won their third straight game in the Super 15 yesterday morning (NZ time), downing the defending champion Bulls 35-28 at Pretoria, the first loss at Loftus Versfeld in 19 games for the South African side.

Highlanders general manager Roger Clark said that although the season's start had been great, the coaches and the team were not getting ahead of themselves.

"From our perspective the feet are still firmly on the ground. Don't get me wrong. I would rather be 3-0 than 0-3, but there is a long way to go.

"I spoke to the coaches and they are being very realistic about the season... I think the good thing about the way we have played is the team is playing to its potential. And credit for that has to go to the coaches.

"There is a bit of a buzz around. A lot of locals are talking about it and they have waited for this for years. We got up to 11,000 for the Chiefs game and I would hope to get up to 15,000 to 20,000 for the Crusaders game. The guys deserve a good crowd."

Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph deflected attention away from himself after yesterday's win, saying it had come from a superb effort from the players.

"I just think this team has a real understanding of their own ability. They realise they have to play for each other like that.

"We had to attack in this game and not stand back and let them run the game. This is an intimidating place to play and I'm real happy that we could win," Joseph said.

The last time the Highlanders won their first three games was 2003, and the side sits second on the table, and top of the New Zealand conference. The team, which has been the bottom-finishing New Zealand side in the competition for the past six years, was 12th last year.

It takes on the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday morning (NZ time) before facing the Crusaders at Carisbrook in Dunedin on March 19.

 

 

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