Highlanders halfback Aaron Smith will get an early close-up look at his team’s next opponent but says last night’s game is the ideal preparation for next Saturday night’s derby match.
Smith was a key figure in last night’s 33-15 win over the Stormers, giving the Highlanders their second win from as many games although the Crusaders loom large next Saturday.
Smith will spend the start of next week in Christchurch at an All Black foundation day where he will mingle with plenty of All Blacks from the Crusaders camp.
"It will be good to catch up with the All Blacks boys and see them for a bit. But it is an awkward one, to be honest. You are fully in the Highlanders game. And it will be a bit weird," he said.
"But these camps are about learning. We’ll come back here on Tuesday and get ready for the Crusaders game where we will smash each other up again."
Smith said it was good to play a South African side early on as they brought a lot of physicality and intensity to the game.
"The Stormers can play the direct game and also have a bit of flair and they caught us out a couple of times tonight. It was a huge effort from our boys and was a bit of a ding-dong battle.
"We were maybe off a bit and missing a beat. Once we got into halftime, changed the plan a wee bit, playing in their half and playing territory and build pressure we were able to build points."
The Highlanders’ discipline could have been better and Smith said the Africans played a physical game and sometimes the home team was over-eager to get the better of its opponent.
Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger was pleased with the victory and said it was a good performance against a quality Stormers side.
"We were creating opportunities and not coverting but we knew we would be creating those opportunities again in the right part of the field and we got that at the end. We had a good composed finish at the end to take the bonus point," Mauger said.
Mauger said the Stormers were a big side and set the Highlanders up for three big games coming up.
He said the side needed better game control at times.
If the side had taken all the opportunities it created, it probably would have put 50 points on the board and played better than it did.
Dan Pryor was forced to withdraw from the reserves bench because of a tight hamstring yesterday, with Marino Mikaele-Tu’u making his debut for the Highlanders when he came on in the second half.