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Why rugby romantics should be hollering for the Highlanders
TONY SMITH
Last updated 10:52, July 2 2015
OPINION: Capital dwellers, English rugby refugees and other johnny-come-lately bandwagon jumpers are hooting that the Hurricanes will have it all their own way in the Super Rugby final.
Southern folk choking on their cheese rolls have just two words to say about that kind of claptrap: Alex Ainley.
Forget the fancy-dans in the Hurricanes' backline, with their carefully coiffed hair and colour co-ordinated eye-liner. The first all-New Zealand Super Rugby final since 2006 will be decided by the dust-up between the packs. And that's where Ainley and the other unheralded Highlanders forwards come in.
After taming Brodie Retallick and his Chiefs comrades and a Waratahs pack replete with Wallaby internationals - and biltong-munching breakaway Jacques Potgieter - their Canes counterparts should hold few fears for Jamie Joseph's yeomen eight. These Highlanders heavies wear their "lack of All Blacks tag" like a bloodied badge of honour.
The Highlanders must be the first-choice for floating fans and rugby romantics. Supporters have always related best to teams which exude work ethic, with blue-collar players who look like they've stepped straight off the terraces.
Take Ainley. The "rookie" lock turns 34 this month but he's appearing in a final in his first year in the top tier after 10 years as a rugby pro. With his battered beak, Ainley looks like he's gone 10 rounds with one of the few heavyweight boxers still capable of lasting that distance. It's not too big a leap of faith to imagine him sitting beside you in a Swanndri in the stand, a can of Speight's in his meaty paw.
Ainley, carved from the same teak-tough mould as coach Joseph, won't take a backward step to the big boppa ball carriers in the Hurricanes pack, like James Broadhurst, Brad Shields and late developer Victor Vito. Nor will props Josh Hohneck and Brendon Edmonds, who have come into their own this season, along with durable Southland loosie Eliot Dixon.
Everyone was raving about Dane Coles last weekend, but is the All Blacks' hooker any more mobile than Liam Coltman?
It says much for the Highlanders' systems and increased player depth that they can pluck an openside flanker out of Dunedin club footy and not skip a beat against the Waratahs' vaunted Michael Hooper.The Highlanders, much more than the Hurricanes – whose support has waned in the hinterlands beyond Wellington – have united an entire region.
It doesn't matter that only Ben Smith is a bona-fide born and bred southerner. His team-mates may hail from Fiji, Samoa, Nelson, Wellington, Waikato, Hawke's Bay and Kyoto, but they will put their bodies on the line for the blue, gold and maroon jersey (or that garish green garment) as willingly as the All Black fullback.
Southern people are this nation's friendliest folk and warmly embrace anyone prepared to buck the usual migratory trend by moving south of the Waitaki River's verdant banks.
The Forsyth Barr faithful has taken this Class of 2015 to their hearts as instantly as they adopted blow-in scarfies like Marc Ellis, Taine Randell and Josh Kronfeld.
Recent attacks on the Highlanders' so-called negative tactics are both unreasonable and unconscionable. Critics have failed to acknowledge someone in the southern side's boot room, whether it be Joseph himself, Tony Brown or Scott McLeod, is pretty savvy at sussing opposition frailties and exploiting them.
Claims the Hurricanes have a demonstrably better backline also lack rhyme or reason. Yes, Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu are still the best midfield in the world, but Malakai Fekitoa has the footwork and speed to befuddle both All Black greybeards. Richard Buckman, best known as a Hawke's Bay wing, was also simply sensational in Sydney at second five-eighth.
Can anyone seriously suggest the Highlanders are serial dullards? Don't they have the competition's top try scorer? Haven't they already dotted down seven times in the Super Rugby playoffs?
Don't they boast Ben Smith and Aaron Smith? Common names, uncommon talents.
And whatever the ticket touts scalping on the Cake Tin concourse are charging, the duel between Julian Savea and Waisake Naholo will be worth the inflated price of admission. If the Hurricanes can get the ball off the Highlanders' pack.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/o...he-highlanders
I do hope the Hurricanes "win it for Jerry", but for the sake of some last minute points and the TAB odds, I have to go Highlanders!!