Highlanders keep in touch at the top
March 24, 2001

The Highlanders will end round five as the leading New Zealand side, and within striking distance of the top four, after scoring the maximum five points in this comfortable victory over the Bulls this evening.

But it was never a spectacular match, too many errors from both sides, especially in the second half , destroying all their efforts to develop continuity . The Highlanders won the match in the second quarter, when they stretched away with three tries to lead by 15 points at the break. At their best they were able to mount dangerous forward drives, built around the loose forward play of Maka and Vahafolau, and then release the side- stepping Pita Alatini, who had his best game of the season, and the impressive winger Aisea Tulevu. But their hero of the evening was full back Brendan Laney, scoring 22 points and inspiring those around with the all round solidity of his play.

The Bulls started well enough, but after their try in the opening quarter of an hour were never again able to seriously threaten as a try scoring force. Van der Westhuizen is a pale shadow of himself , lacking the dynamism which has made him such a world class scrum half. Without someone to spark their effort they were doomed to put in a workman-like but fruitless 80 minutes of labour. They are likely to prove difficult opponents at home , but are already alarmingly adrift of the other eleven sides.

The Highlanders' pack made a terrific start, working in concert to mount a series of powerful drives. The opening sequence lasted two minutes before the Bulls could get hands on ball. Their defence was well-organised but bound to concede penalties as they denied all efforts to cross their line. From the first opportunity Brendan Laney pulled his kick to the left.

On attack, the Bulls looked sharp, Jacobs breaking the line to create an overlap and then proving prominent in a passage of interplay and impressive continuity. Monopolising possession at this stage they could not quite create the gaps, their players isolating themselves as they ran from side to side of the pitch. But they did earn a penalty after Middleton infringed at a scrum , but Steyn's kick hit the post. The Highlanders showed poor skills in clearing the ball, handing the Bulls a chance to work a good scrum move for van Schalkwyk to go under the posts , untouched. Steyn converted.

The Highlanders soon equalized, a surging move up the left initiated by Maka and carried on skillfully by Tuilevu giving Ropati the chance to race over unopposed. Laney's conversion was successful. The home side were soon back on attack , a piece of Bulls' obstruction giving Laney the chance to kick the Highlanders into the lead. With Vahafolau getting more and more into the game they seemed able to slice the Bulls' defence wide open and from one such move Maka stormed towards the line for Tuilevu eventually to squirm over . Laney's conversion was again good.

Maka led another charge, Tuilevu took it on and the Bulls could only cope by infringing. At this stage the Highlanders were in complete control , the ambition of their rugby delighting the home crowd and forcing the Bulls into panic measures. Tuilevu made another superb break but spoiled his good work by losing contact with his support, then hanging on to the ball on the floor.

The Highlanders struck a decisive blow with their third try just before half time. Alatini made a break on half way, Ropati was at his shoulder and threw a good pass to put Laney clear on the right. His conversion was poor , but the lead of 22-7 handsome and a fair reflection of the first half 's play. The Highlanders' bonus point was not too far away.

But it was the Bulls who scored the first second half points, Matfield upended in a lineout to give Casper Steyn the chance to kick his first penalty. A good sustained passage of inter-passing between the Bulls' forwards and backs gave the Highlanders a reminder that the game was not yet won , especially with Van Der Westhuizen threatening to control tactics close to the ruck and maul.

The game became very scrappy as the Bulls started to force their passes in search of the gaps and spaces out wide.This made things relatively easy for the Highlanders' defence.The game had reached stalemate with half an hour remaining , a shower of rain making things greasy , the play bogged down in midfield.

A series of strong Highlanders' forwards drives threatened a try , but skipper Oliver decided to take three points when the opportunity arose, Laney goaling from right in front. Bulls' replacement lock Ralf Schroeder then took a nasty blow to the head and play was held up for several minutes as the concerned paramedics attended to the prone player. Eventually he was carted off , neck brace in place hopefully only as a precaution.

The Bulls continued to attack but the Highlanders' defence was solid and the half backs, when in possession, happy to kick to the corners to pin the Bulls back. With ten minutes remaining the game had degenerated into an uninspiring , messy, mistake-infested bore, neither side good enough to create clear scoring chances. But with minutes remaining Laney scored his second try to nail the precious bonus point . It was a good set piece move, Laney finding himself on the end of it and appearing to have been run down by the defence before shrugging off a couple of tackles to race around beneath the posts.

Tuilevu , who had had a running battle with Drotske, was then sin-binned for lashing out with his boot whilst the South African was on the floor. Had Tuilevu connected Drotske would surely have been decapitated and the Fijian is likely to be hearing from the citing commissioner in due course. The Highlanders ended the game well in control, the Bulls disappointed that they could do so little with the possession they had enjoyed, especially in the second half.

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