Frustrated Highlanders coach Tony Brown has accused six Highlanders players of “letting the team down” after they broke team protocols before Friday’s clash against the Crusaders.
All Black Josh Ioane, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Teariki Ben-Nicholas, Patelesio Tomkinson, and Sione Misiloi have all been disciplined by the Highlanders.
“They let the team down around their standards,” Brown said on Wednesday. “They broke the code we live by.
“It’s all around the professional habits. They let the team down, and the whole organisation, and they won’t be available for selection.”
It’s a massive blow to the struggling Highlanders, who are 1-3 in Super Rugby Aotearoa following a disappointing 30-19 loss to the Hurricanes last Friday night.
Stuff understands there was a loud party at Ioane’s house last weekend and Brown all but confirmed the incident was alcohol-related.
“I can’t really say. It’s in-house,” he said.
“They’ve let their standards down around preparation. They’ve let the leaders down, they let the organisation down.”
A police spokesperson confirmed to Stuff that police had been notified of a “disorder” on the street and had visited an address in the early hours of Saturday morning, but there were no further issues.
Highlanders CEO Roger Clark did not respond to Stuff‘s request for comment on Wednesday.
This is the second time that Ioane has been disciplined in the past eight months. In October last year, Stuff revealed that Ioane and Vilimoni Koroi – another Highlanders player – had been stood down by Otago for turning up to training in an unsatisfactory state.
Brown said he expected more from the talented playmaker who is danger of squandering his talent.
“Josh is an All Black,” Brown said. “If he wants to get back into the All Blacks he’s got to be better for sure.”
The Highlanders were also involved in a boozy incident in Queenstown last year, but it appears that Brown has now had enough of the poor preparation habits that have been holding the side back.
“They’re always sorry. We’ve moved on, and they’ve moved on,” he said. “I’m disappointed, the same as the whole organisation.”
The six players in question now must win back Brown’s trust to put themselves back in the selection picture, although Lienert-Brown was already unavailable due to a broken arm.
“They have to earn the right to get selected again,” Brown said. “We’ll see how they go for the rest of the week at training, and see how they go next week.
“The whole organisation supports every player in our squad.
“We’ve got lots of things in place to help them manage all sorts of things. We’re just disappointed that they are not able to be selected.”
In team news, Highlanders wing Jona Nareki is fit again to face the Crusaders on Friday while Brown has also handed starts to Kazuki Himeno, Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Scott Gregory.
Flanker Himeno was impressive off the bench during the disappointing 30-19 loss to the Hurricanes in Dunedin last Friday, and has promptly been rewarded by Brown.
The Japanese loose forward adds some real mongrel to the Highlanders pack, where Shannon Frizell has been a standout but needs some help.
Caleb Makene is set to debut off the bench with Ioane missing from the 23.
Wing Freedom Vahaakolo broke his foot at training this week – the same foot he injured at the end of the Mitre 10 Cup last year – and has been ruled out of rest of hte season.
On Monday, assistant coach Clarke Dermody said the Highlanders’ game was “in a pretty good place” despite their 1-3 record and a daunting trip to Christchurch ahead of them,
“We know how hard it is [playing the Crusaders away],” Dermody said. “The last few years we’ve been right in games and then the last 20 minutes they’ve put us away.
“[But] our game, we feel like we are in a pretty good place.
“Stats wise we were leading most things in that Hurricanes game but not the scoreboard, and that’s just execution for us.”
The Highlanders lost 26-13 to the Crusaders in round one in Dunedin, when they came up against a red and black brick wall in the form of the Crusaders’ maul defence.
“We learnt a lot out of that game,” Dermody said. “We learnt a lot around intensity for some of our younger guys.
“At the start of that game we had heaps of opportunities to execute in their 22m and they were pretty willing on D.
“They have a lot of pride in their line. We took a lot out of that, understanding where we’ve got to be at.
“[And] there was an incident in that game, at the first one, a potential yellow card, and we felt like were getting a lot of penalties in that area.”
The Crusaders will name their side at 4pm on Wednesday.
Highlanders: Connor Garden-Bachop, Scott Gregory, Michael Collins, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Jona Nareki, Mitch Hunt, Folau Fakatava, Kazuki Himeno, Billy Harmon, Shannon Frizell, Pari Pari Parkinson, Bryn Evans, Siate Tokolahi, Ash Dixon (cc), Ethan de Groot.
Reserves: Liam Coltman, Ayden Johnstone, Josh Hohneck, Josh Dickson, Hugh Renton, Aaron Smith (cc), Caleb Makene, James Lentjes
