Highlanders lost in a time warp

Neil Brew runs through the tackle of Sam Norton-Night and Morgan Turunui (right). Ross Land / Getty Images

Waratahs 20 Highlanders 3

Every  now and again rugby serves up a reminder of days gone by. Not the dockyard brawls, rucking and coathanger tackles some yearn for but the tough, gruelling, physical contests which test the combatants' resilience.

Challenging conditions dictated that desperate theme last night as Carisbrook went back in time for two sides coming off a bye. When the Waratahs and Highlanders emerged from the time tunnel, it was the visitors who showed a better grasp of the fundamentals in an exhausting combat.

There was not a great deal in it, just a couple of lapses either side of halftime which the Waratahs exploited while their Blue Wall defence was impregnable.

The Waratahs were determined to regain their momentum in their bid to host a semifinal while the Highlanders on their home patch, were striving to get out of the unwelcome duel with the Blues for the title of worst side in New Zealand this season.

It loomed as a battle and did not disappoint. It was not pretty but for those who like an arm-wrestle where mistakes test the nerves, where clever players profit and ball security is like gold, then the Deep South was the place to be.

The Waratahs' first attempt to reach Dunedin this week was aborted when their plane could not land in the treacherous weather and those climatic problems had scarcely abated when the teams arrived for last night's match. Surface water and incessant rain put a premium on handling, territory, defence and composure.

The Waratahs needed buckets of that last commodity as they were pinned inside their own half for all of the opening quarter, unable to escape from a stirring Highlanders pack and an array of probing grubber kicks which tested the visitors' defensive screen. But they held magnificently, they trusted their systems and each other, and showed the patience which has marked their Super 14 progress.

Eventually they broke out, Peter Hewat goaled a couple of penalties and the road to recovery had started.

By halftime, the Waratahs had the luxury of a 10-point buffer after they benefited from the extreme conditions and some pinpoint kicking of their own with Morgan Turinui scoring when the Highlanders could not defuse a kicking raid just before the interval.

In another memento of old-time footy, the Waratahs underlined the adage about the dangers of before and after halftime.

When play resumed, Ben Blair made a mess of a Hewat bomb which the impressive Waratah fullback recovered and sent Sam Norton-Knight to the line. As the heavens continued to weep, the Waratahs threatened to open the scoring floodgates.

They just had an extra bit of class and organisation to deny the Highlanders who worked on enthusiasm and grit but were thwarted by a side who are one of the prime contenders for the Super 14 title. The Waratahs have looked all class with the sun on their backs on hard grounds and last night proved adept enough in the cold.

They felt the heat of the Highlanders scrum but managed to absorb that with the help of some refereeing uncertainty while Daniel Vickerman and Rocky Elsom were a lineout menace and Phil Waugh was at his best filching turnovers.

One Highlanders raid promoted replacement halfback Chris Smylie towards a try but he was judged to have lost the ball over the line just as Hewat did minutes later when he was put in the clear by Wendell Sailor.

The Highlanders smashed away vigorously with their rolling mauls or scrum in the final 25 minutes but they could not break the line and eventually ran out of attacking ideas.

Waratahs 20 (M. Turinui, S. Norton-Knight tries, P. Hewat 2 pen, 2 con)
Highlanders 3 (B. Blair pen)
HT: 13-3.