Rugby: Highlanders put focus on winning close games

Jamie McIntosh stayed with the Highlanders, this year as vice-captain. Photo / Getty Images

There is a fine line in professional sport - the difference between winning and losing at times can be wafer-thin.

A poor kick, a bad call, a missed tackle - mere centimetres can be the difference between the penthouse and the outhouse.

For the Highlanders, this is the season to get on the other side of the line. For the past two seasons they have been on the wrong side of that slimmest of slim lines too often.

They have lost 12 games by seven points or less in the past two years. Twelve bonus points, instead of 48 winning points.

So for this year, simply put, the Highlanders must win those close games.

The players know it, the coaches know it, heck, even undiscovered tribes deep in the Borneo rainforest know it.

Last year, if the Highlanders had won all six of the games they lost by less than seven points, the side would have finished top of the table.

That's right. Number one.

That they didn't is now history - eventually finishing 11th - but that sort of statistic shows not all is lost for the coming season.

But how do you win those close games?

Experience helps, so does ability, mental toughness, the odd good call and perhaps a bit of luck. The Highlanders have more than 20 players back from last year so they have the experience.

As for ability, the team now has four All Blacks: skipper Jimmy Cowan, lock Tom Donnelly, flanker Adam Thomson and winger Ben Smith - and also a bunch of promising players such as Israel Dagg and Robbie Robinson.

So the talent is there.

Mentally one would hope the scars of those close defeats run so deep that the players simply will not accept any more close-run things.

The new mandate on refereeing accountability and a clean-up at the breakdown should help the officiating and make the referees more anonymous rather than centre stage where they have been far too often in the past couple of years.

And last, surely after all those close losses perhaps a bit of luck might go the Highlanders' way?

Success is not that far away. All it needs is a couple of wins early on, and hopefully momentum and more importantly belief will take over.

That is why the early games are so important for the side.

It is far from the dream draw. The Crusaders away first up, followed by the Blues at home, and then off for three games in Africa.

But draws are like relations - you have to live with them, like it or lump it.

They have the squad to do it, and for their supporters the faith over the past two years must now come to fruition.

The Highlanders do have some really exciting players in the outside backs. Smith and Dagg are rare talents while Robinson is obviously going to be good, although he may be a bit green to start with.

Fetu'u Vainikolo looks like he has come back into some form.

If there is an Achilles heel it may be in the inside backs. Michael Hobbs is a bit of an unknown, but has played at this level before.

Mathew Berquist can kick goals very well and that is why he is in the squad. He needs to improve the quickness of his hands and his general kicking game.

Coach Glenn Moore is excited about the ability of Jayden Hayward, and the Taranaki man has completed his apprenticeship.

Cowan has put daylight between himself and other halfbacks in the country and will want to keep that gap, if not lengthen it.

Up front, the Highlanders' forward pack looks at least as good as any other New Zealand side.

Thomson and Alando Soakai had stand-out seasons last year and need to continue that form. The tight five is solid with Donnelly looking every inch an All Black and Josh Bekhuis is not far behind.

Jamie Mackintosh, wearing the vice-captain's arm band, is looking keen and fit. He plateaued a bit last season, dropping out of the All Black frame, and was nearly tempted to search for new pastures.

But he stayed and is due for a big year.

He is not alone.

PLAYER TO WATCH: BEN SMITH

To New Zealanders from warmer climes, he was the "huh?" selection when 2009's end-of-year All Black touring squad was named, but Ben Smith has the goods.

He's only played on the wing for the Highlanders in the past, but it was his sensational form as a fullback for Otago in the NPC that led to Smith's national call-up.

He could likely have the Highlanders No 14 jersey to himself this season, but expect to see him running at fullback as well. A full Super 14 campaign against testing opposition could go a long way to determining Smith's prospects for higher honours.

He prospered in last year's bewildering kicking duels, now, with breakdown rules that favour counterattackers, the Highlanders star wing must show he knows how - and when - to run.