Springbok News: Super 15 final confirmed what Boks need most

A pulsating and high quality Vodacom Super Rugby final brought a shock result and some important pointers to the southern hemisphere squads as they head into the build-up week to the first international matches of this World Cup year.

The Highlanders win over the Hurricanes, to put an unexpected seal on the Sanzar regional season, should also have provided hope to those franchises who have struggled in 2015. Lest it be forgotten, just two years ago they finished near the bottom of the table and lost to the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth, and even last year they had to really scrap to be competitive in their play-off loss to the Cell C Sharks.

Yet here we are not long later with a team that was acknowledged to have just three stars – there are actually more than that now – and made up mostly of “misfits” from the other New Zealand franchises, being the toast of their south island home city, Dunedin.

The Highlanders were the first team to become champions by doing it the hard way, in other words by winning the final after advancing from the first play-off round. They were behind the Hurricanes in the league phase of the season, but there was no denying their small margin of superiority in a Wellington final that comes close to ranking as the best the competition has ever seen.

The fact that the Highlanders turned the tables on the pace-setters after playing bridesmaid through the regular season, is the first point that might be absorbed, and possibly considered a bit disconcerting; by an All Black side that goes into the international season strongly favoured to retain the World Cup title it won at home four years ago.

Just like the All Blacks have for this entire World Cup cycle, the Hurricanes dominated the season, only to come up short at the final hurdle. That can happen to the New Zealand national team, and they won’t need reminding that it has happened before.

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