VIDEO: 'Tahs target rested Highlanders
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Highlanders’ decision to rest key players ahead of the quarterfinal could have dire consequences says Waratahs forward coach Simon Cron.
The Highlanders elected to rest Aaron Smith, fullback Ben Smith, centre Rob Thompson, loose forwards Luke Whitelock, Dillon Hunt, and lock Tom Franklin last weekend.
Despite, the absence of the influential stars the New Zealand team produced a 43-37 win over the Rebels in Dunedin.
Highlanders head coach Aaron Mauger is expected to bring back their key players to the 23-man squad that will take on the Waratahs in the quarterfinal in Sydney on Saturday.
Asked if that influx of players into a finals team would be a help or a hindrance, Cron didn’t take the diplomatic route and said it could impact their combinations.
“It is an interesting one but I can understand their challenge because they might have been heading to South Africa or different options there,” Cron said.
“But sometimes you can lose cohesiveness when you rest a couple of guys.
“I have seen it before when you get into final and people have been rested and they haven’t been as cohesive when they come back in.
“I don’t expect that will happen to the likes of Smith or those guys who are seasoned professionals. But it might impact on some of the others,”
The Waratahs, on the other hand, head into the quarterfinals on a back of a shock defeat to the Brumbies.
The lacklustre effort could be a concern for supporters, however, Cron is adamant his side will ‘fix’ it and not duplicate the poor performance.
“Going into this game, Highlanders, quarter-final, playing at home – if you are not motivated for that, you should be playing tiddlywinks probably,” Cron said.
“Any competitive athlete should be disappointed if you lose a game. And then you go through the loss and your processes and that’s what we can fix.
“The boys are really clear on what we think we can fix. And we will train that,”
The assistant coach also emphasised that the Waratahs’ defence should be aggressive against the dangerous Highlanders attack.
“The Highlander are quite innovative, they got little trick plays and their game managers are very good, 9-10-15 run a lot of their game and they have some good strong forwards,” Cron said.
“For us, we just have to make sure we play our game rather than get sucked into their plan.
“The key thing for us is we can’t watch them play. If we sit back on our heels and watch them play, those game managers will eat you up.
“You have to get off the line and limit their time in attack. And also control our possession – you don’t want to give them any possession like an easy turnover or a dropped ball,”
