What's Wrong with the Highlanders?

It hasn't been the greatest start to the long season of rugby for the Mainland. The Highlanders and Crusaders find themselves with no wins after 3 rounds.

While the Crusaders' situation as discussed previously is not so precarious given they haven't even played at home yet, the Highlanders' situation is a bit more of concern having played all their games so far at "home".

Ok, a first up loss to the champion Chiefs is not a disaster by any stretch of the imagination but a win against the Cheetahs in Invercargill a week after a bye was expected if the Highlanders are to challenge for the title as many had tipped after their extensive and high profile off-season recruitment campaign.

Ironically, it was the first game for two of the Highlanders most high-profile recruits of the last two seasons with Andrew Hore and Brad Thorn making their first starts for the season while the third, Ma'a Nonu, had to pull out last minute due to a knee injury.

Perhaps that was why the forwards seemed a bit cold throughout the game against a battle-hardened and ready Cheetahs side who had played 2 games on the trot against last season's finalists.

Give credit where its due - the Cheetahs have always been a solid, difficult side to beat - they take a while to wear down but just lack the consistency of the other South African sides to challenge  for the playoffs. However, they appear to have quite a bit of quality, e.g. Lappies Labuschagne, Sarel Pretorius, Johan Goosen, Rias Ebersohn, Heinlich Brussow.

But we are talking about the Highlanders, a side who on paper are loaded with quality, i.e. a side laden with past and current All Blacks like Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore, Jamie Mackintosh, Brad Thorn, Aaron Smith, Colin Slade, Ma'a Nonu, Hosea Gear, Ben Smith. However, it's the loss of another recent All Black, Adam Thomson that may have affected what has always been a strong part of the Highlanders game.

Joe Wheeler, John Hardie and Jake Paringatai have a lot of catch-up work to do to cover what appears to be a big loss - Wheeler on the blindside was culpable for the missed tackle that resulted in the Cheetahs' first try. Wheeler has shown potential at ITM Cup level for Tasman but Super Rugby is a big step up and he'll need to learn fast or face being discarded rather quickly and harshly.

The other problem last night was at first five. Lima Sopoaga had one of those games that he'd hope to forget in a hurry - the omens were not good when he put the first kickoff out on the full. From that time on, it seemed that Sopoaga was too keen to make amends especially when he repeated his mistake later in the game. After giving away two tries, Sopoaga was carted off for Colin Slade to make his return. Slade didn't do too badly although his vulnerability to injury is still a bit of a worry.

In my opinion, the Highlanders still have issues at first-five even with the players they have. They haven't really got an established, dependable first-five like the Hurricanes, Crusaders and Chiefs have. That could really hurt them later if Slade, Sopoaga or Parker fail to put their hand up and take control.

On the plus side, the Highlanders have tended to make flying starts and fall away badly at the end. Maybe, two defeats to start the season may not be such a bad omen after all. However, the Highlanders now must beat the Hurricanes or probably face huge disappointment after a pre-season full of promise.