Ben’s back in business

Ben Blair is a big asset for the Highlanders, who have revived his Super 12 career. Picture / Fotopress

The doom and gloom merchants were lining up to write off the Highlanders' Super 12 year after the second round.

Well beaten by the Blues at Carisbrook, sharing the points with the Stormers in Invercargill, was not quite part of the plan.

But since then Greg Cooper and his team, after a quick visit to the telephone box to don their Superman capes, have beaten the Bulls in Dunedin, then the Sharks and Cats in successive weekends in South Africa.

They lie fifth on the points table going into tonight's match against the Reds in Brisbane.

Perhaps the most satisfying aspect is that the team has grown in confidence. Young players such as locks James Ryan and Tom Donnelly and prop Clarke Dermody have done their bit alongside the older sweats like captain Anton Oliver, Carl Hayman, Craig Newby and Paul Miller.

Not to mention fullback Ben Blair, who has gained a fresh lease on rugby life since being picked up in the draft from the Crusaders.

Blair, still among the quickest movers in the country and with an eye for an attacking chance, has bagged 67 of the Highlanders' 112 points - second only to the Cats' Andre Pretorius - snared three tries in the romp against the Sharks and his goalkicking proved decisive in the 16-12 scrape past the Cats last weekend, an ideal way to celebrate his 26th birthday.

"We're taking our chances a bit more now," Blair said. "We weren't too far off the Blues and against the Stormers in the first half we blew it. We should have won that one.

"But we gained a bit of confidence from the Bulls win, gave the Sharks a bit of a hiding and carried on last week."

Cooper insists the win over the Cats gave him more satisfaction than the 40-point breeze past the Sharks a week earlier.

"We made a point at selection time that while ability is important we weren't going to compromise on character, so we selected players from the outset that when it got tough we believed they'd dig it in.

"Now whether or not we're good enough to win remains to be seen, but we knew we had a side who'd work hard.

"Against the Cats - and I actually think they're not a bad side, a very good forward pack, the best playmaker in the country [Pretorius] and a good backline - we only had about 38 per cent of possession and still won. That speaks volumes for the character displayed that day."

Blair, who made his Super 12 debut in 2001 and retains the fresh-faced appearance he had when he cracked the All Blacks later that year, quipped that his team-mates "wouldn't be too fussed either way" on the type of win they got, as long as they got it.

"But there's nothing better than winning the tight ones and it was really satisfying to beat the Cats. They threw everything at us.

"You prefer to win well, but if you want to go further in the competition you've got to win the close ones." Blair is relishing his rugby in the south. Not only getting the kicking job back after the rise and rise of Daniel Carter in the last couple of seasons, but playing the full 80 minutes has helped his confidence.

Remember the No 15 who had a nightmare in last year's Super 12 final in Canberra? He looks just like the bloke at the back for the Highlanders but there's no doubt he's benefitting from the change of scenery, new voices and faces.

And, although Blair admitted "I'm not a massive talker", he is enjoying trying to take some responsibility as one of the senior players in a young backline.

In his first game for the All Blacks, Blair bagged 38 points against Ireland A in Belfast. He's had four tests in his six games for his country, the most significant being his slicing run in the dying minutes to set up Scott Robertson's match-winning try against Argentina in Buenos Aires in December 2001.

Whether he will get another chance in black is debatable. Mils Muliaina seems entrenched there and Leon Macdonald is back at the Crusaders.

But Cooper is delighted with his draft acquisition.

"He's a very good all-round player, probably one of the better goalkickers in New Zealand. He's got experience, is a fabulous attacking fullback, hits angles well and reads the game well. He was struggling for a bit of form.

"But the change of environment has done him the world of good. He's got an opportunity and he's making the most of it."