Super Rugby
Do Highlanders need a resting rethink?
ESPN Staff
April 28, 2015
Brumbies 31-18 Highlanders (Australia only)

The New Zealand Rugby Union's World Cup resting policy has made life tough for the country's Super Rugby coaches this season with Highlanders boss Jamie Joseph sure to re-examine his approach after Friday night's loss to the Brumbies.

Joseph made the big call to rest all three of his All Blacks stars in the same week with Aaron Smith, Ben Smith and Malakai Fekitoa all excused from the trip across the Tasman. The Highlanders struggled for fluency in the absence of Aaron Smith in particular, and the Brumbies punished the resulting mistakes to set up a commanding half-time lead.

''They give guys a lot of confidence. You've got a classy No 9, and he gives your No 10 more time. You've got a guy out the back who can organise things and give others a boost,'' Joseph later said. ''Then we missed our main penetrator at the back. Malakai is our main guy there. But we have to remember, too, we were playing the Brumbies, who are a pretty good team and they were desperate to win. We gave them 10 points at the start and from there it was always going to be hard to come back from that.''

Joseph's decision to rest all three of his All Blacks was based on the short turnaround to Friday night after the Highlanders had faced the Blues the previous Saturday. Adding in the travel to Canberra, the Highlanders coach saw it as the ideal opportunity to rest the trio for the first occasion this year.

But it's a decision lacking a precedent this season with New Zealand counterparts Chris Boyd (Hurricanes), Todd Blackadder (Crusaders), Dave Rennie (Chiefs) and Sir John Kirwan (Blues) all choosing to break up the weeks in which they rest their respective All Blacks.

Joseph will recall the trio for this weekend's clash with the Sharks at home, leaving him six more matches, but just one further home game - against the Chiefs in Round 16 - in which to consider resting his Test stars.

And with the New Zealand conference set to go down to the wire the question has got to be asked whether Joseph should have attempted to rest his players earlier and; not all at the same time? Furthermore, will he effectively sacrifice another game by resting all three players from the same match again?

Joseph no doubt has a plan for which he's working to, but it didn't stop the team from ESPN Scrum5 breaking down his decision in this week's Podcast. Have a listen below.

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