Coach wants it right

Making the Super Rugby Pacific’s top six is the least worry of Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph.

Speaking to SUNsports after their 14-24 loss to the Fijian Drua at Govind Park, Ba, last Saturday, he said they’ve got some serious work to do.

“It’s not in my mind right now,” a disappointed Joseph said referring to the top six position so they could qualify for the quarterfinals.

“We need to get back to the plane, get back home and make changes to get improvements. We’ve a few days of training and it’s a tough competition.”

The Highlanders host NSW Waratahs in Dunedin this weekend.

Joseph reiterated that the focus is not the top six but to recover from the Drua match and by today they should be ready to go again.

The former All Blacks No.8 said the first half was an arm wrestle as they led 14-12 at halftime.

“We did not start well in the second half and the conditions were challenging.

“We made changes from the bench but there were particular mistakes where they were still put under pressure.

We played some good rug-by and had our moments however we still need to score tries to get points. We made mistakes and we were under pressure.

Highlander's co-captain Ethan de Groot said they managed to get down to the Drua 22 but failed to get points.

It was a game of two halves. This game was extremely important for us, but we let ourselves down.

It was an arm wrestle, but the Drua is a tough team especially playing under the heat.