The Highlanders have gone from the outhouse to the penthouse with an outstanding 33-12 win over the Crusaders in Christchurch last night.
After a week from hell when players were partying late and loud, the Highlanders made an emphatic and bold statement last night.
They stood up tall and basically smashed the Crusaders, notching up a result that no-one saw coming.
It was a record win over the red and blacks for the Highlanders.
The Highlanders were all over the Crusaders like a cheap suit. They won the physical battle by a country mile and tackled anything that moved.
The side has been talking about execution all season and it was bang on the button last night. Its set piece was solid and the passes were accurate and crisp.
The Highlanders just totally unsettled the home side and it was a Crusaders team all at sea — yes, it was great to watch.
The Highlanders went ahead 26-7 just before the hour mark when centre Michael Collins scored. He had earlier toed a loose Crusaders ball on.
The Highlanders then banged away through their forwards and a nice cut-off pass from replacement halfback Aaron Smith put Collins over.
It was wrapped up with a try from electric fullback Connor Garden-Bachop with just over five minutes after he got on another wayward Crusaders pass.
It was a complete performance from the side and it would be hard to single one player out.
First five-eighth Mitch Hunt was composed and correct in everything he did, the loose forwards were superb and lock Bryn Evans rolled back the years with a great effort.
The Highlanders put on their best 40 minutes of the season in the opening period.
The side tackled like demons, was composed with the ball in hand and made the Crusaders look ordinary.
All this when the visiting side had a woeful decision go against it in the opening minute.
Crusaders fullback Will Jordan clearly took his opposite Garden-Bachop out in the air but the refereeing team somehow found an obstruction from Highlanders winger Scott Gregory.
Jordan should have been cooling his heels for at least 10 minutes but stayed on the field.
The Highlanders, though, shrugged it off and slowly chipped away with Hunt slotting a penalty on the 10 minute mark.
He added another after 18 minutes and then, five minutes later, the Highlanders scored a try.
Hunt ran the ball back and linked with his forwards.
Big lock Pari Pari Parkinson almost went over under the posts but from the resulting ruck, the Highlanders moved the ball wide.
It ended up in the hands of flanker Billy Harmon and he stepped inside of a couple of defenders and then twisted over to score in the corner.
Hunt slotted the conversion and added a penalty for the visiting side to be up 16-0 just after the half hour mark.
The Crusaders, though, scored right on halftime. Form hooker Codie Taylor barged over but there was a hint of a double movement when he scored.
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Comments
Outstanding! Brown would seem to have inadvertently, and fortuitously, discovered the truth of Voltaire's maxim that it's sometimes necessary to execute an admiral (Ioane) in order to encourage the others.