ODT Online rugby writer Jeff Cheshire identifies five key points from the Highlanders' loss to the Hurricanes in Napier on Friday night.
No defensive organisation
As poor as the tackling was, the Highlanders' biggest problem on defence seemed to be their organisation. They just were not getting in the right positions to make their tackles, which makes it so much easier for the attack to wrong-foot the defence. It was not necessarily the fault of any individuals, it was more of a team issue and there seemed to be a lack of communication. Too often the players around the ruck were caught ball watching, rather than reorganising the line when players needed to come from one side to the other to balance up the numbers.
This is something Aaron Smith normally does with great urgency and it was clear he was missed in this area. The result was that an already devastating Hurricanes team was able to find gaps all over the park and the Highlanders were in positions where it was going to be hard to successfully make tackles. That they missed 33 tackles was telling in the end.
Not just the All Blacks missing
It is easy to suggest that the absence of Malakai Fekitoa, as well as Ben and Aaron Smith, was the difference in this team. But it was far more than just these three. None of Patrick Osborne, Nasi Manu, Mark Reddish or Josh Hohneck took the field, and all have been outstanding this year.
On top of this you had Liam Coltman on the bench and Tom Franklin leaving the field with injury in the first 20 minutes. That is nine regulars that were not playing, all of whom have been big difference-makers for this Highlanders team. Sure the All Blacks were missed, but so were the others.
Poor kicking
The Highlanders did not kick well, both in general play and at goal. Too often they kicked long, missed touch and picked out a Hurricanes player, giving their lethal backs a chance to counter.
Indeed the first Hurricanes try came from an instance such as this. At a time when the Highlanders were under pressure and a man down, they really needed to find touch and reorganise, rather than kicking the ball away and giving the Hurricanes a chance to attack. Lima Sopoaga did not have a great night kicking for goal either, missing three very makeable kicks in the first half which made the game seem far more one-sided than it could have been.
Fewer attacking weapons
One of the Highlanders' strengths this year has been their range of attacking threats. It means the defence cannot focus all of their attention on shutting down one player, as if they do they are giving space to other dangerous players. Even so they normally have plenty of space as it is, as the defence is normally spread pretty thin trying to cover a lethal backline. In this game however, this was not so evident. The backline was nowhere near as threatening and the defence did a good job of shutting down Waisake Naholo and Lima Sopoaga, neither of whom enjoyed the space they normally would.
Slow ball from the ruck
The speed of the ball from the ruck was not great and that did not help in building momentum or in giving the backs a chance to try to create something. Up front the platform was not being set as well as it has in recent weeks, with the forwards being slightly slower and less accurate. The result was Fumiaki Tanaka did not see much front-foot ball to work with. It was clear Aaron Smith's pass was being missed too. Smith passes quickly off the ground with width and puts the ball out in front of the receiver to force them to run onto it. However, this was not happening, as Tanaka generally took a step across the park, particularly when passing right and was passing deeper, which meant the receiver was not coming forward to catch the ball. Of course just about any halfback in the world was going to struggle to play to the level Smith has been at over the past two years. It does show just how good he is though and how important his fast distribution is to the Highlanders.
