A beleaguered Highlanders side and a Brumbies team bristling after a lacklustre performance against the Kings last weekend will make for an intriguing clash in Dunedin on Friday night. To get the low-down on what we can expect to see we’ve gone back to our good friends, Scott, from SuperRugbyTips, and passionate Brumbies’ supporter Trev, for their take on this Trans-Tasman clash
| What lessons do you think your side will take out of last weekend’s result? | |
 I am hoping that the Highlanders will have learnt how to combat long range counter attacking tries. They conceded some of these against the Blues and they were costly. |
 My hope is that the Brumbies have learnt that you can never relax when playing any team, and even though the Highlanders are yet to notch up a win, the Brumbies need to ensure that they bring their ‘A game’ for the entire 80 minutes, and not let the Highlanders get a sniff. |
| What strengths will your side bring to this encounter? | |
| The Highlanders’ back three have been great this season with Hosea Gear and Ben Smith in dynamic form. It is traditionally an area of weakness for the Southern Men, so it is a good change. |
The return of Jesse Mogg and Matt Toomua should settle the backline, and if the early week talk is correct and Andrew Smith is looking like returning to the starting line up I expect some extra starch in the back’s defence. Ben Mowen has been displaying a form aligned with a Captain’s Knock each week, and I expect this leadership to assist in the forward pack, particularly when combined with Steve Moore and George Smith’s experience. That should see the forwards moving in the right direction, giving the backline the space needed to fire. |
| What weaknesses do the opposition possess which your side will look to exploit? | |
| The Brumbies are a great side, their top of the table position shows that. The Highlanders will look to exploit them up front. The Highlanders are yet to really dominate anyone up front, even with several All Blacks in their forward pack. With that said Stephen Moore’s return will add some steel to the Brumbies. I also see the Brumbies’ midfield as an area that the Highlanders could attack with usual flyhalf Christian Lealiifano and Andrew Smith potentially vulnerable against Ma’a Nonu and whoever ends up partnering him. |
The Highlanders are a strong team, with their forwards generally providing the platform for the likes of Nonu out in the backline to fire. The issues the Highlanders have had is that they haven’t clicked as a squad in 2013, which makes their attack look disjointed and their defence quite leaky. I expect that while the Brumbies will need to be weary of the wounded kiwi team, if the Brumbies’ forwards can restrict the Highlanders forward pack from providing a platform, the disjointed nature of the squad will continue, and allow the Brumbies to hold on and win the game. |
| Who will be your team’s key player? | |
| Ma’a Nonu must pull his socks up and perform to his potential if the Highlanders are to stand a chance. He has shown patches of brilliance this season, but these have been overshadowed by last week’s yellow card, his poor long passing, losing the ball forward and giving away penalties. |
I think Jesse Mogg will be critical to the Brumbies, and his attack should assist the Brumbies in scoring tries, but the real impact should come from George Smith. His attack around the breakdown wasn’t up to his typical high standard last week against the Kings, and hopefully this week he can dominate that ruck area, winning some critical turnovers, and thus laying the platform for the Brumbies to attack from. |
| How will the match unfold? | |
| Both of these teams will be hurting from last week. The Brumbies drew with the Kings and will be fired up for this one and hence they have included their big guns like Stephen Moore and Jesse Mogg. This match will be another close one like most other games this season at Forsyth Barr Stadium and the million dollar question is – can the Highlanders find the cohesion they have been searching for all season? Every time they have looked like winning this season they have made stupid mistakes and let the opposition back into the match. Score prediction? Brumbies 27 Highlanders 22 . I am thinking the Highlanders won’t quite have enough to get across the line unfortunately. |
I expect the game to be quite tight early, with both teams getting a penalty or two, and maybe a single try to one of the teams, before they settle, and the Brumbies should run in a couple of tries in the mid part of the game. If Jake and his coaching staff have had the right approach to this week then the Brumbies should finish off with a bonus point win. While it will depend on how well the Brumbies defence gels with the changes over the past couple of weeks, I expect that the Highlanders may get 2 or 3 tries while trying to keep up with the Brumbies attack.Score prediction? Brumbies, 33-20 |