A question of character

Greg Cooper

As he thumbed through his selection choices last year for the Highlanders, coach Greg Cooper always remembered a few key themes.

One in particular was not negotiable.

Call it resolve, character, courage or roll them all together. Cooper does not mind but you get the idea how he broke any selection deadlocks about players with similar abilities.

"I wanted to find it in our selection process because it is not something that you can really coach," he said, "so we all worked very hard to get the sort of guys we thought would hold up, the sort who had been knocked down before but come back."

So far, so good. Those qualities have created a decent portion of the Highlanders' success since they lost their opening game to the Blues.

That 14-30 defeat at Carisbrook has been followed by a draw and four wins including three offshore in South Africa and Australia and a place in the top four.

Not bad for a side expected by many to finish towards the bottom of the ladder. That could still happen but the Highlanders' progress has given them a lot more conviction than they had at this stage last year.

They have coped with the arduous journey to South Africa, beating a desperate Sharks side in the humidity at Durban, knocking over the Cats on the high veld and then beating the Reds in Brisbane.

"There has been a lot of pressure in terms of the travel and getting the results," Cooper said.

"The Brumbies were not able to get rid of the Sharks in the first 20 minutes but we were fortunate and then at Ellis Park it was a very different proposition where we couldn't get rid of the Cats early on.

"But we eventually got there and then found the energy to get over the Reds at Ballymore."

So how have the Highlanders discovered the momentum, what has allowed them to hang tough in this competition?

"I think we found it in selection," Cooper said. "You can have the best systems in the world but if you don't have the character to go through with it then you struggle.

"We worked very, very hard in our selections. Of course we wanted to have as much ability as we could but if it came down to several players of similar skills then we looked at the criteria of those who were very strong mentally.

"Those who were strong off the field and we did not compromise that at all."

It was still early days in the Super 12, Cooper admitted, but the attitude in the squad had helped get them results. Tonight is another huge test, at home against the champion Brumbies before the bye.

"I think though if you compromise that [attitude] from day one then you will have trouble at some stage because the sort of people we want to have stand up, are doing that."

Lock James Ryan had been able to mix his law studies with rugby while Tom Donnelly had returned from a shoulder reconstruction two years ago and further surgery last season.

"It had been a bit of a gamble to pick him but he had shone in the way he went through his rehabilitation. Another like that was Matt Saunders. I don't overlook that lightly," said Cooper, "because in the end when they come under pressure those people dig deep. Whether it is good enough remains to be seen."

But it had been an interesting study in human responses. At the start of the Super 12 there was limited public expectation but the success of the Highlanders had created more presumption.

"We just had to say let's back ourselves as players and coaches, we had to come up with a formula that we would stick with.

"It is always easier to be underdogs but we now have belief and although it is only halfway through the competition we have to try and push on, keep it going," said Cooper.

Players such as Paul Miller and Seilala Mapusua had responded to pre-series challenges about their fitness and turned in strong performances once the Super 12 began.

"Add in Anton Oliver, Carl Hoeft and Carl Hayman who year in year out deliver their standards and it becomes infectious for those younger guys."

Some fortune allowed them to pick up Ben Blair in the draft, a fullback who did not play well in last year's Super 12 final but is a consistent footballer reared in the excellent environment at the Crusaders.

When teams such as the Highlanders are labelled castoffs or second-raters, then they have to work much harder.

But there were areas, said Cooper, which were not up to standard when they finished ninth last season. Otago then did not perform well in the NPC so there had to be a great deal of remedial work.

There is now depth in the squad, some serious competition for places.

"This game against the Brumbies will in some ways be a reality check," Cooper said. "I am enjoying where we are at the moment. What I do most days is I wake up and say 'yesterday was good, let's see what we can improve on' and I think that is the feeling throughout the squad."