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Highlanders run riot in Smith's landmark appearance

Aaron Smith

Malakai Fekitoa scored a try in each half as Highlanders thrashed Rebels 51-12 in Aaron Smith’s 100th Super Rugby game on Friday.

Highlanders had to come from behind to beat Brumbies last Saturday, easing to victory at a canter six days later in Dunedin against a Rebels side that has now lost five in a row.

New Zealand scrum-half Smith pulled the strings in his landmark appearance as Tony Brown’s men put on a show despite the absence of injured captain Ben Smith, running in six tries at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

Rebels made far too many sloppy errors in the first half and were somewhat fortunate to only trail 20-0 at the break after Fekitoa powered his way over and Luke Whitelock took a lovely offload from Tom Franklin to go under the posts.

Richard Buckman and Gareth Evans also got in on the act with five-pointers after the break as Rebels continued to be guilty of basic errors, while centre Fekitoa helped himself to a double with a late intercept try.

Tom English and Reece Hodge came up with consolation tries for Rebels, but they were blown away and Marty Banks’ 19-point haul with the boot ensured Highlanders racked up a half-century as they coasted to a third win in four games.

 

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Nickers 21 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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