Highlanders overcome more injury woes to beat Fijian Drua in Super Rugby Pacific

Yellow card: Connor Garden-Bachop 31min

The Highlanders shrugged off an extraordinary injury count to produce their best performance of the season against the Fijian Drua on Saturday.

After losing Shannon Frizell in the warmup against the Western Force last weekend, the Highlanders were hit by no fewer than four withdrawals before kickoff on Saturday, with in-form midfielder Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Josh Timu, Hugh Renton and Josh Dickson all ruled out.

Fetuli Paea and youngster Jake Te Hiwi formed a new-look midfield, with Will Tucker replacing Dickson in the middle row and Nikora Broughton coming in at No 8.

Veteran lock Josh Bekhuis and outside back Connor Garden-Bachop were included on the bench.

Incredibly, Te Hiwi was then forced off after 11 minutes with an ankle injury, with Sam Gilbert moving into midfield.

Yet, despite the disruptions, the Highlanders’ tight five went to work against the Drua, producing a great platform for Aaron Smith to orchestrate a nine-try win.

The Highlanders’ backline was fizzing by the end of the contest, with confidence clearly starting to return after a tough start to the season.

Predictably, the Drua capitalised early against the reshuffled Highlanders lineup, with Frank Lomani scoring after big Drua midfielder Apisalome Vota targeted Mitch Hunt on defence.

However, that prompted a four-try burst from the Highlanders in response, as the southerners outworked the visitors and used their scrum and lineout drive as weapons.

The injury Gods did not relent, with lock Pari Pari Parkinson limping off slowly after the Highlanders’ fifth try on the stroke of halftime.

Surprisingly, he returned after the break and played on for a further 13 minutes in a sign of the resilience that summed up the Highlanders’ afternoon.

Young No 10 Cam Millar also got 25 valuable minutes off the bench, while 19-year-old hooker made his debut off the bench for the last 18 minutes.

Indeed, Millar put the icing on the cake with the Highlanders’ final try, showing good speed to finish another excellent attack.

The big moment

Aaron Smith’s try at the start of the second half was a real dagger for the Drua, and killed off any faint comeback hopes.

Match rating

7/10. A big improvement from the Highlanders as the tries flowed and Smith produced some moments of genuine All Blacks class.

MVP

Late call-ups Nikora Broughton and Connor Garden-Bachop stepped up, with the latter unlucky to be shown a yellow card when the ruck offence was committed by Jonah Lowe. Sam Gilbert and Aaron Smith also excelled. However, the Highlanders’ superiority started up front. The inclusion of hooker Leni Apisai appeared to sort out the lineout issues, while props Ethan de Groot and Jermaine Ainsley picked up tries and won set-piece penalties. Ainsley gets the award as his fine season continues.

The big picture

Even though it is only week five, the significance of this result shouldn’t be underplayed. It is already clear that there will be a real scramble for the last two or three finals spots in Super Rugby Pacific, with every competition point vital.The Highlanders will therefore be delighted with the bonus-point win.