By NATHAN BURDON - The Southland Times



Last updated 05:00 13/05/2009



The Highlanders had made progress this season and hoped to prove it against Western Force on Saturday, coach Glenn Moore said.
"I think there's been considerable growth really," Moore told The Southland Times from Perth last night.

"It's just unfortunate that we didn't have just a little bit more experience in some of (the close losses).

"You don't teach that, you can't give that out, it's something you acquire. Overall I think we're a better team than last year we've won more games, we've probably collected more bonus points, the only team that we haven't been in close proximity with was the Waratahs. Other than that we've had a chance at winning some of those games."

The Highlanders aren't expecting to make wholesale changes ahead of the Force game, which starts at 11.40pm on Saturday.

Mathew Berquist was recovering from a back injury he suffered during the warmups before last week's loss to the Lions, but it's likely Daniel Bowden will be rushed back into the No10 jersey after serving a one-game suspension for a high tackle.
Berquist's late replacement Jayden Hayward had performed well given his last-minute call-up, according to Moore, but the Highlanders were guilty of some misdirected kicking as they attempted to pin the Lions back in their own territory during a calamitous second half in which a 22-5 lead turned into a 27-22 loss.

Another given the opportunity to impress was Chris King, who took his chance well on the tighthead side of the scrum and deserves to get another crack against the Force.

"I expected him to (play well)," Moore said.

"He was fresh, he'd had a week off (following the birth of his first child), and the conditions, I really value his ability aerobically so playing at altitude probably suited him more than it did Clint (Newland)."

Moore said the players had talked about playing well in the last hit-out of the season.

"Everyone was a little bit tired at the start of the week with the jet lag but, as I said to them today, the good thing is that the Force are in the same position (travelling back from South Africa), they don't get back until (yesterday)."wMeanwhile, for the third week in a row an inexperienced referee will officiate a game involving the Highlanders.

The refereeing appointments for the final round of the regular season were released yesterday with Australian Nathan Pearce set to control the game at Subiaco Oval.
The Highlanders felt the wrath of Phillip Bosch in the Sharks game and there were several question marks over the performance of Jaco Peyper last week against the Lions.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/2...how-gains-made