Super rugby: Highlanders have 'a lot to work on' ahead of playoffs, Elliot Dixon says

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

17 Jul, 2018 05:12 AM2 mins to read

Elliot Dixon won the Super Rugby title with the Highlanders in 2015. Photo / Photosport

Elliot Dixon wasn't willing to wait to find out where the Highlanders would be playing the Super Rugby quarter-final.

After watching his side secure the sixth seed with a win over the Rebels in Dunedin on Saturday night, the loose forward stayed up to watch the Lions match against the Bulls to find out where they were headed.

The Waratahs had lost earlier in the evening, so a Lions win ensured the Hurricanes wouldn't have to travel to Johannesburg, and instead would be making the quick trip to Sydney.

"I actually stayed up to 3am to watch that game," Dixon said. "I wanted to know where we were going. I suppose for us only having to travel three hours or four hours instead of 15 to 20 hours is a big positive."

It's nothing new for the Highlanders to be heading out on the road for the quarter-finals. This year will be the side's fifth-straight trip to the playoffs, and the fourth time in that five-year span they have started their knockout campaign on the road.

In the last three quarter-final matches away from home, the Highlanders have won just once. They'll be hoping for a lift in form this weekend as they look to even the ledger against a Waratahs side who put 41 points on them earlier in the year.

"We've had a couple of performances that we probably aren't really, really happy with. We want to go to Sydney and play 80 minutes. If we play 80 minutes like I think we can, hopefully we can get the result.

"But that's a tough one. If we all had that then we'd be winning every week I suppose.

"We've got a lot to work on, a lot to improve that we want to, as a team, bring out on Saturday."

Dixon was one of a sizeable list of players missing from the Highlanders squad last weekend, which included fellow forwards Ash Dixon and Luke Whitelock, and backs Aaron Smith, Ben Smith and Rob Thompson. With all being given the week off for rest purposes, it is expected that they'll all be named in coach Aaron Mauger's match-day 23 for the quarter-final.

Super Rugby quarter-final fixtures

Friday
Hurricanes v Chiefs, Westpac Stadium, 7:35pm