Rugby: Highlanders look to lower error rate

Mistakes at crucial stages of the match cost the Highlanders dearly against the Sharks last week. Photo / Getty Images

Cutting back on errors will be a top priority for the Highlanders as they target maximum points from their rugby Super 14 match against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday morning (NZT).

With the season nearing its end, and with the Highlanders stranded well off the pace in 10th place, coach Glenn Moore today said his team needed a more clinical finish to their campaign if they wanted to end a run of three defeats.

The Highlanders' last success was a 25-19 victory over the Queensland Reds in Invercargill on April 11.

It has since been followed by losses to the Blues, Stormers and Sharks.

Moore said the Highlanders battled well against the Sharks in Durban last week, but mistakes at pivotal times cost them dearly, and the fourth-placed South Africans ground out a 23-15 win.

"It was a frustrating game. The part we were most disappointed about was that the two tries they scored against us came from really basic errors we made," he said.

"Yet the tries we score were well-executed, and in certain parts of the game we played well."

Moore said the Highlanders had to build on that if they wanted to account for a wounded Lions outfit, second from bottom on the table and coming off a 20-32 loss to the Crusaders last week.

"I didn't think we played our territory game that well last week. We've got to do better with that and we have to execute better - we've got to be a little bit more clinical when we've got the ball," he said.

Moore had pinpointed set piece play as an area needing improvement as the Highlanders headed into their competition-closing three-match overseas stint, and he was only partially satisfied after last Sunday's game.

"We were under pressure in our scrum, particularly in the first half, although I thought we shored it up a little bit in the second half.

"But our lineout certainly improved and was back to where it has been through the earlier parts of our campaign, so we were pleased with that aspect."

The Highlanders have got off lightly on the injury front, with only two or three niggles to assess later in the week, although prop Jamie Mackintosh has been hit with the virus which flanker Adam Thomson struggled with over the weekend.

Causing bigger problems, Moore said, was the absence of inside back Daniel Bowden, suspended for one week after a dangerous tackle on Sharks centre Riaan Swanepoel.

Moore said the suspension was harsh.

"Personally I felt the yellow card at the time was sufficient punishment", he said.

"It's disappointing to lose him because he's been in good form, but we've still got the likes of Johnny Leota and young Jayden Hayward, who are both very accomplished footballers."

Despite the Lions having only three wins all season, Moore said he was expecting a challenge as the South Africans look to reverse last year's Super 14 result, which saw the Highlanders win at home 29-20.

"They'll be really pumped up for this game - we've been here before, and they're a different proposition at home to what they are when they're touring.

"They made the Crusaders work very, very hard last week for that win and I'll be expecting more of the same. They'll try and take it to us early in the game, and really put us under the pump at altitude."

The Highlanders finish their Super 14 campaign in Perth against the Western Force on May 16.

- NZPA