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<blockquote data-quote="Darwin" data-source="post: 466407" data-attributes="member: 24910">To a large degree that is true of our loose forward depth.&nbsp; I think Manu started every game last season at 8, and Thomson started in every game that he was fit - it was noticeable that by the end of the season both of these players were fatigued.&nbsp; Outside of Thomson, Manu and Haskell the Highlanders loose forward quality drops off noticeably in my opinion: Tiejtens and Hardie (our 7&#039;s) are solid ITM Cup players but are unproven at Super Rugby level. Dixon (our primary 8 cover) is a promising young player, but again lacks experience at this level.&nbsp; Nick Crosswell (our 6 cover) is a good hard-working player, but is probably not dynamic enough to be anything more than a journeyman at Super Rugby level (and it sounds like he may be playing quite a bit of lock this season). I&#039;d suggest out top trio would be 6. Thomson, 7. Haskell, 8. Manu, but I would expect Haskell to probably start 1-2 games at both 6 (if/when Thomson is rested/injured) and 8 (if/when Manu gets rested/injured).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Darwin, post: 466407, member: 24910"] To a large degree that is true of our loose forward depth. I think Manu started every game last season at 8, and Thomson started in every game that he was fit - it was noticeable that by the end of the season both of these players were fatigued. Outside of Thomson, Manu and Haskell the Highlanders loose forward quality drops off noticeably in my opinion: Tiejtens and Hardie (our 7's) are solid ITM Cup players but are unproven at Super Rugby level. Dixon (our primary 8 cover) is a promising young player, but again lacks experience at this level. Nick Crosswell (our 6 cover) is a good hard-working player, but is probably not dynamic enough to be anything more than a journeyman at Super Rugby level (and it sounds like he may be playing quite a bit of lock this season). I'd suggest out top trio would be 6. Thomson, 7. Haskell, 8. Manu, but I would expect Haskell to probably start 1-2 games at both 6 (if/when Thomson is rested/injured) and 8 (if/when Manu gets rested/injured). [/QUOTE]

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