Highlanders happy to be home reconnecting

The Highlanders are happy to be home.

It has been a while since they have had a run around at their familiar training environments, and assistant coach Kenny Lynn said everyone was enjoying reconnecting as an entire squad and being back with their families in Dunedin again.

After their Super Round 37-29 loss to the Blues in Melbourne on March 1, the Highlanders shifted camp to Sydney last week in preparation for their game against the Waratahs, who were riding high after comfortably dismissing the Crusaders the week before, last Friday night.

They will be buoyed by the result, too, having secured a 23-21 win after Waratahs first five Tane Edmed missed a penalty kick in stoppage time.

"Yeah, it came down to a kick in the end, but I felt like we’d done enough to win it," Lynn said.

"I was just really happy that we’d found a way to do that in an away trip like that.

"It was different to the Blues game, but really glad that we could get that result."

The Highlanders have won two of their opening three games to sit sixth on the table.

Lynn said they were reasonably happy with that situation but, as always, there was plenty of room for improvement, especially with how tight Super Rugby was this season with every team — apart from the Hurricanes — having been beaten.

"That makes it exciting but it means you’ve got to ... build into your work and set yourself up for a performance."

The Highlanders have set themselves up nicely attack-wise so far, stringing together some nice phases to get things humming.

Lynn, who runs their attack, felt the opening three games showed how their attacking game was effective in different ways.

They looked good from broken play against Moana Pasifika, scored a couple of nice set-piece tries against the Blues and showed off their counter-attack against the Waratahs.

"That’s been good, but as we saw in our review ... there were moments, especially in the second half, where it was a bit clunky.

"The clarity wasn’t there in their roles, so that’s for me to really help guide and get better at so that we can stay consistent week in, week out."

Welshman Rhys Patchell has slotted into the Highlanders’ first five role rather seamlessly and has built a nice combination with halfback Folau Fakatava.

"They’ve been good in their own ways," Lynn said.

"They’re helping direct the team ... and they’ve also made some good plays between themselves, so that’s been really good."

Lynn also praised young gun Ajay Faleafaga, who added value when he was injected midway through the second half last week.

No 8 Hugh Renton picked up an ankle complaint following last week’s game and was being assessed by the medical team.

kayla.hodge@odt.co.nz