Rugby: Joseph returns to bygone era

Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph has restored some southern pride to the jersey he once played in. Photo / Otago Daily Times

Pride, mate; pride in being a Highlander!"

In six short words, coach Jamie Joseph explained a large percentage of the Highlanders stunning revival from last season also-rans to current log leaders.

Joseph has been praised right across the Southern Hemisphere for his side's extraordinary upset win over the Blue Bulls in Pretoria last weekend, and a new challenge, in the shape of the Stormers, awaits in Cape Town this Friday.

Joseph accepts it will be different and no less difficult. Can the Highlanders keep winning and notch an incredible double over both last season's Super 14 title winners and runners-up ... all inside seven days in South Africa?

"I am not sure. This match poses a different challenge to us: the Stormers, Cape Town, the humidity. They have an aggressive forward pack and the South African test side midfield. It is a different team to the Bulls so we are going to have to step it up a notch.

"But the belief is strong in this team. And life is always good when you are winning."

Behind the training field where the Highlanders worked out this week under Joseph's eye, stood Table Mountain, the geographical icon of Cape Town. And although three games rarely wins any competition, you could just say the Highlanders have already scaled their own particular mountain this season. Away wins at the Hurricanes and Bulls, plus a home win over the Chiefs after a great second half comeback have had character written right across this squad.

The talk of the town, in fact, in Cape Town this week? Joseph played a straight bat to that one. "I'm not sure about that," he said. "But we were pretty focused in that Bulls match. The guys did their homework and played accordingly. It was a hard challenge given we had just flown over but the guys were pretty committed."

He felt that one aspect above all others, the result included, gave him most pleasure. It was to see a young 21-year-old back-up hooker playing his first game, plus a halfback of similar age on the field at the end, as they clinched victory. "They grow from that sort of experience" he said.

So what has made the difference to the Highlanders this year? Is it hunger, pride, a group that wants to prove something? Joseph reckons it is a bit of all those things.

"It is a group of Highlanders from last year that were very disappointed with the results of the team and probably their own personal efforts as well. They feel they let themselves down. There is also a bit of the new guys coming in and wanting to make it at this level, that's another ingredient. Then there are guys that want to be All Blacks in this World Cup year.

"You put all that together and you have a nice recipe for a team to be hungry."

Joseph said his philosophy did not change when he took over at Carisbrook. "My philosophy has always been, clear expectations, accountability to what we do on and off the field and that sets a nice standard for the team. As for the type of rugby we want to play, we don't want to be one dimensional. We played a very direct type of game against the Hurricanes and Chiefs that we thought suited those guys. But that wouldn't have suited us against the Bulls because they are big men and very good at their game as well, so we changed it up.

"We are showing as a team we can play a brand of rugby given the different opposition. That is real fun for the players; that is what they are really enjoying as well."

Ask most coaches in Joseph's position about their ambitions for the season and they would talk of maintaining this outstanding start, maybe reaching the playoffs, etc. Predictable stuff like that. But Jamie Joseph was always different.

"We want to build our culture. When I was involved with this team as a player back in the 1990s, it was a very proud team, proud of our area. But that seems to have lost its way a little bit in recent years, although I'm not sure why.

"But I know that my era in Dunedin was very successful in terms of what we achieved as a team. We went three or four years without losing at Carisbrook but now there doesn't seem to be that same emphasis on what the team is, what they represent and who they represent. We have certainly brought that back into vision.

"It is about pride, mate; pride in being a Highlander. We are unique down there; the south man or the highlander man is different to other people. He has got those values and characteristics that I think are really needed in rugby teams. Even more so in the professional era."

Why? Joseph is not a great fan of where this game has gone since 1995. "When the game went professional we lost our way. We didn't do things right and we had to get better. The only thing that changed was, players got paid. Maybe only now are we starting to get that right."

Whatever the message from Joseph and his assistant Simon Culhane, it is very clear the whole Highlanders squad has bought into the revival. The senior guys like Jimmy Cowen and Adam Thomson have led the way with some fine performances. Joseph says of the All Blacks' halfback: "Jimmy was captain of last year's Highlanders and overall I think that is a big motivating feature for him, to rectify what happened last year in terms of the team's results. He is playing very well.

"As for Adam, he has been excluded from the All Blacks and although he might make the money, he wants the team. So he has to play well."

And it isn't just the players who face challenges. As coaches, says Joseph, they have to find ways of continually motivating the players.

"It is about doing it for something bigger than yourselves. The money is great until you are used to having it, then it means nothing. So you have got to do something bigger than that. You need to play for your family, you play for each other in the team. And that is what you are seeing with this squad. They realise they don't want to let their mates down and they are playing accordingly."