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Highlanders put Aaron Smith back into starting side for Blues clash

(Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

The Highlanders have brought captain Aaron Smith back into their starting lineup for their Super Rugby Pacific round four clash against the Blues in Albany on Friday.

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The decision reinstate Smith back into the No 9 jersey comes after head coach Tony Brown expressed his frustrations with last week’s dire 21-14 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington, a result that keeps the Highlanders winless this season.

Brown made particular note of the below-par efforts of halfback Folau Fakatava, who he said must “learn not to take everyone on by himself” and “do his job better”.

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      As such, Fakatava has dropped to the bench in place of Smith as part of five changes made to the starting lineup by Brown.

      Four of those alterations – including change of personnel at halfback – come in the backline, where young rookie Mosese Dawai has been recalled into the starting team having last featured in the season-opener against the Chiefs.

      In that match, Dawai endured a horror Super Rugby Pacific debut and was subsequently culled at half-time, with Brown later detailing his plans to further develop the 23-year-old in training before putting him back out on the park.

      It seems now that Brown has seen enough in Dawai’s progression and development as a footballer to thrust him back into the starting XV, where he lines up on the left wing and forces last week’s debutant Liam Coombes-Fabling into the No 14 jersey.

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      “Moses had a tough debut in difficult conditions in Queenstown and we just needed to give him time to get his confidence back,” Brown said in a statement.

      “We feel he is back to where he should be and are looking forward to getting him out there and showing everyone what he can do.”

      The reshuffled backline has resulted in the omission of Sam Gilbert, who had featured in every Highlanders match this season, as had centre Fetuli Paea, who has also been dropped in favour of Scott Gregory.

      In the forward pack, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u earns his first start of the campaign at No 8, which has led to Gareth Evans shifting to openside flanker and Hugh Renton moving to the bench.

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      The only other change in the starting side comes in the second row, where lock Manaaki Selby-Rickit is rewarded for his barnstorming cameo appearance last week to start alongside Josh Dickson.

      As a result, Bryn Evans has dropped to the bench, where he and Renton are two of four new faces, with replacement tighthead prop Josh Hohneck coming back into the No 18 jersey after missing out to debutant Saula Ma’u last week.

      Elsewhere, Ngatungane Punivai will make his first appearance of the year from the No 23 jersey as he fills the void left by Gregory.

      Kick-off for Friday’s match at North Harbour Stadium is scheduled for 7:05pm.

      Highlanders team to play the Blues

      1. Ethan de Groot
      2. Liam Coltman
      3. Jermaine Ainsley
      4. Manaaki Selby-Rickit
      5. Josh Dickson
      6. Shannon Frizell
      7. Gareth Evans
      8. Marino Mikaele-Tu’u
      9. Aaron Smith (c)
      10. Mitch Hunt
      11. Mosese Dawai
      12. Thomas Umaga-Jensen
      13. Scott Gregory
      14. Liam Coombes-Fabling
      15. Connor Garden-Bachop

      Reserves

      16. Rhys Marshall
      17. Daniel Lienert-Brown
      18. Josh Hohneck
      19. Bryn Evans
      20. Hugh Renton
      21. Folau Fakatava
      22. Marty Banks
      23. Ngatungane Punivai

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      T
      TWAS 8 minutes ago
      How the Lions will heap pressure upon Australia's million-dollar man

      I’m sorry but this just seems like incredibly selective analysis attempting to blame all team failures on JAS.


      Looking through the examples:


      Example 1 - long place by JAS, all support overruns the ruck. Pilfer also achieved by a player resting his arms on JAS - so should be a penalty for of his feet anyway. No failure by JAS there failing to secure the ball. By his team mates, yes.


      Example 2 - a knock on punched out by the first defender who’s tackle he initially beat, from behind. An error by JAS absolutely. But every player makes the odd handling error.


      Example 3 - JAS just beaten to the ruck because defender shoots to make a good tackle He passes and immediately follows. Potentially should have been a penalty to Aus because the tackler had not released and swung around into JAS’s path preventing him securing the ball, and had not released when the jackal went for the pilfer. Tackler prevented a clean release by Potter and if there was any failure, it was the ball carrier who got into a horrible position.


      I am struggling how you try and blame 1 on JAS and not support, but then blame JAS when the tackler fails to make a good placement.


      Example 4 - JAS flies into this ruck out of nowhere, seemingly runs past the 12 to get there. Also did you miss McReight and Williams just jogging and letting JAS run past them? Anyway he busts a get to get there but was beaten to the contest. Any failure here is on the supporting players, McReight and Williams and JAS showed great instinct to charge in to try and secure.


      Example 5 - JAS is following the lead of players inside him. How this is his fault I don’t know what you are thinking


      Example 6 - Gleeson misses a tackle so JAS has to drift in off his man to take the ball carrier, leaving a larger overlap when he offloads. Failure by Gleeson not JAS


      Examples 7 and 8 - Wallabies defensive line isn’t aggressive. But noting to do with JAS. Fisher has actually said he is not coaching a fast line speed. To try and blame JAS is again selective.


      Seems like an agenda in this rather than the genuine, quality analysis I’ve come to expect from the author.

      37 Go to comments
      J
      Jfp123 39 minutes ago
      France push All Blacks to 80th minute in narrow Dunedin defeat

      So, you think top rugby players’ wages ought to be kept artificially low, when in fact the forces of “demand and supply” mean that many can and indeed are commanding wages higher than you approve of, and even though players regularly get injured, and those injuries can be serious enough to cut short careers and even threaten lives, e.g. Steven Kitshoff.

      .

      As far as I can make out your objections amount to

      1) they’ve sent a B team, which is not what we do and I don’t like it. Is there more to it than that? You haven’t replied to the points I made previously about sell out Tests and high ticket prices, so I take it reduced earnings are no longer part of your argument. Possibly you’re disappointed at not seeing Dupont et al., but a lot of New Zealanders think he is over rated anyway.


      2) The Top 14 is paying players too much, leading to wage inflation around the world which is bad for the sport.

      Firstly, young athletes have a range of sports to choose from, so rugby holding out the prospect of a lucrative, glamorous career helps attract talent.

      Above all, market forces mean the French clubs earn a lot of money, and spend a large part of that money on relatively high wages, within a framework set by the league to maintain the health of the league. This framework includes the salary cap and Jiff rules which in effect limit the number of foreign stars the clubs employ and encourage the development of young talent, so there is a limit on Top14 demand. The Toulon of the 2010s is a thing of the past.


      So yes, the French clubs cream off some top players - they are competitive sports teams, what do expect them to do with their money? - but there’s still a there’s a plentiful supply of great rugby players and coaches without French contracts. The troubles in England and Wales were down to mismanagement of those national bodies, and clubs themselves, not the French


      So if you don’t want to let market forces determine wage levels, and you do want to prevent the French clubs from spending so much of their large incomes on players, how on earth do you want to set player wages?


      Is the problem that NZ can’t pay so much as the Top 14 and you fear the best players will be lured away and/or you want NZ franchises to compete for leading international talent? Are you asking for NZ wage scales to be adopted as the maximum allowed, to achieve this? But in that case why not take Uruguay, or Spain, or Tonga or Samoa as the standard, so Samoa, a highly talented rugby nation, can keep Samoan players in Samoa, not see them leave for higher wages in NZ and elsewhere.

      Rugby is played in lots of countries, with hugely varying levels of financial backing etc. Obviously, it’s more difficult for some than others, but aside for a limited amount of help from world rugby, it’s up to each one to make their sums add up, and make the most of the particular advantages their nation/club/franchise has. SA are not the richest, but are still highly successful, and I don’t hear them complaining about Top14 wages.


      Many, particularly second tier, nations benefit from the Top14, and anyone genuinely concerned about the whole community of world rugby should welcome that. England and NZ have laid down rules so they can’t make the most of the French competition, which is up to them. But unlike some NZ fans and pundits, the English aren’t generally blaming their own woes on the French, rather they want reform of the English structure, and some are calling for lessons to learned from their neighbours across the channel. If NZ fans aren’t satisfied, I suggest they call for internal reform, not try to make the French scapegoats.


      In my opinion, a breach of standards would be to include on your team players who beat up women, not to regularly send a B team on the summer tours for reasons of player welfare, which in all the years you’ve been doing this only some of the pundits and fans of a single country have made a stink about.


      [my comments here are, of course, not aimed at all NZ fans and pundits]

      266 Go to comments
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