Oliver injury rounds off Highlander woe

The Highlanders lost to the Crusaders 13-27 at Carisbrook last night. And they could well have lost their chance of playing in the Super 12 playoffs, too.

But most significantly for New Zealand rugby, they lost inspirational skipper Anton Oliver to a calf injury.

The Otago captain, whose form has been so good this campaign a starting spot in the All Blacks test team seemed certain, left the field - after a cuddle from Justin Marshall - unable to bend his left leg.

"He's pulled his left calf," Highlanders coach Greg Cooper explained. "It doesn't look good."

For him or Graham Henry. Although it is too early to ascertain the seriousness of the injury, the All Blacks can ill afford to lose his ilk when they meet the hyper-experienced Lions in July.

Oliver was hitting his targets in the lineout - particularly the outstanding James Ryan - and making his tackles. But Oliver's worth can't be calculated by stats alone. When he left the Highlanders lost something irreplaceable - leadership.

It was no coincidence.

Oliver wasn't their only injury worry. Fullback Ben Blair left just before the half after, with heavy emphasis on euphemism, a somewhat 'mixed' display against his former team-mates.

He had the opportunity to put the Highlanders up by more than their one-point lead but missed two kickable penalties and dropped the ball with an unimpeded run to the tryline.

Cooper explained that Blair had a good excuse for his handling woes.

"He's broken his hand; well that's what it looks like. [You could] see he had trouble catching the ball."

Anthony Tuitavake left with a quarter of the match remaining, looking as if a bus had hit him.

Forget a possible semifinal - Cooper must have been wondering by then whether he could field a team next week.

When the Crusaders turned with the breeze at their backs, there was a sense of inevitability about the result.

When Aaron Mauger grounded a clever Leon MacDonald chip kick just following the break, there was nothing to suggest otherwise.

Canterbury, or incarnations of, have driven a dagger through the heart of Otago so many times now, the Carisbrook faithful should be used to the pain. It is 'The House of ... ' after all.

But this was as cruel - the cat toying with the mouse.

Just when the Highlanders looked like dragging themselves into a bolthole, the long paw of the Crusaders would drag them in and remind them who was boss of the Mainland.

You want evidence of toying? Try New Zealand's most experienced halfback Marshall gifting a try to late replacement Hayden Pedersen after a Seilala Mapusua break.

That put the Highlanders up 7-3 after a scrappy opening quarter and Otago's hopes were ratcheted up another notch.

The try to Mauger and one shortly after to Marshall made reality bite for those south of the Waitaki.

A Nick Evans penalty brought the Highlanders back within a converted penalty but it was not to be.

Mauger made sure of that with a try in the final five minutes. It was a try that symbolises the Crusaders' method of victory: simple, uncompromising and ruthlessly efficient. Gone was their supposed defensive frailties, as was much of their razzle-dazzle attack.

This wasn't Alex Wyllie's 50m penalty in 1975, or Latta's hand and Mehrtens' boot.

It was a slow-burning dominance rather than a dagger but it could prove just as damaging to blue and gold Super 12 dreams.

Over the past two weeks the Highlanders have looked like the team everyone expected them to be: gutsy and committed but ultimately just falling short on class.

That they'd managed to go on a streak that had everybody wondering whether there was something in the water down there shouldn't be forgotten. But it will, unless other results go their way and they manage to beat the improving Chiefs in Hamilton next week.

Highlanders 13 (H. Pedersen, try; N. Evans 2 pens; B. Blair con).

Crusaders 27 (A. Mauger (2), J. Marshall tries; D Carter 2 pens, 3 cons).

- HERALD ON SUNDAY