Rugby can be a complicated game but there is one simple theme: kick your goals and you will win more than you lose. Rugby writer Steve Hepburn analyses the Super 15 kicking stats.
That the Highlanders are still in contention for the Super 15 playoffs is in itself a great effort.
But take a look at the goal kicking statistics, and it is nearly miraculous that the side is in the top half of the table.
The Highlanders have been very, very average in the goal-kicking department.
They may be in the penthouse when it comes to commitment at the breakdown and winning turnovers but they are in the outhouse - make that the abandoned tree hut out the back - when it comes to goal kicking.
Most consider the benchmark for a reasonable kicker to be at least 70%.
The Highlanders are way below that at just 52%, kicking 36 goals from 69 attempts. They are, by some distance, the worst goal-kicking team in the competition.
The next worst are the Lions with a 63% success rate, while the Hurricanes are not going too great at just 65%.
Robbie Robinson is the main offender for the Highlanders with a success rate of under 50%.
True, many of his kicks have been tough. Most of the six tries the Highlanders scored against the Rebels were wide out on the flanks. So that made it hard for Robinson to find the posts and he ended up kicking just four from 11.
But too many times, Robinson has missed kicks from handy angles.
Against the Stormers in Cape Town he missed three relatively straightforward penalty attempts, and last week against the Chiefs he also missed an easy penalty.
He has actually got worse. In the first couple of games he only missed one kick, but slowly his form has deserted him.
Robinson is very much a confidence player and it is not flowing at the moment.
Tony Brown is more reliable but he had a day to forget against the Crusaders, while Lima Sopoaga is also shooting blanks, though he has not kicked much.
Colin Slade kicked 75% of his attempts but did not have many, and four of his successful kicks against the Cheetahs could have been thrown over.
The Highlanders do not have a specialist kicking coach although assistant coach Simon Culhane was a talented kicker in his day.
Of the other New Zealand teams, only the Crusaders are doing well, with Dan Carter finding the target regularly, and the side kicking at 73%.
The Chiefs, Hurricanes and Blues are all around the 65% mark, showing the country's goal kicking talent is hardly earth-shattering.
Australian teams average a 73% success rate while South African teams are at 74%.
The best team is the Stormers, thanks to the deadly boot of Peter Grant. The Cape Town side is shooting at more than 80% and as the competition reaches its critical stage that is going to be a real key.
Second best are the Reds and Bulls, both shooting 79%.
