Former All Black Sevens star and young halfback top pre-season bronco

It’s pre-season bronco time, and one Kiwi Super Rugby Pacific club has today posted their best two times, with no surprises around who may be the fittest at the club.

The Highlanders are coming off a disappointing last place finish in 2025, but they showed signs of threatening the playoff spots, with some impressive performances throughout the campaign under experienced head coach Jamie Joseph.

Joseph has just returned from a three-from-three All Blacks XV campaign, where his representative side beat England A, the Barbarians, and Uruguay respectively during their tour of Europe.

Joseph’s coaching staff also has a slight change for the new campaign, bringing in former Kiwis head coach David Kidwell as the defensive coach, after New Zealand U20 assistant Dave Dillon left to pursue other opportunities abroad.

Two of their new additions in 2026, Andrew Knewstubb and Dylan Pledger, have come through the fitness test with the best times, with the former Sevens star taking the chocolates in this pre-season test.

Knewstubb’s time for his 2026 pre-season bronco was 4:20, while Pledger’s was 4:23. Knewstubb’s 4:20 bronco yesterday for the Highlanders isn’t his fastest in his career, previously hitting the 4:11 mark, faster than both Beauden Barrett and Cameron Roigard, who are believed to have the record in the All Blacks.

 

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One of the main reasons for Joseph leaving Pledger at home during the All Blacks XV tour was to allow him to have some time off after a long campaign with both Otago, and the New Zealand U20’s, and have a full Super Rugby Pacific pre-season under his belt.

Pledger had a standout campaign for Otago in the 2025 NPC competition, where he was nominated for the New Zealand Rugby Age Grade Player of the Year alongside Oli Mathis and Black Ferns star Braxton Sorensen-McGee.

The 20-year-old halfback (Ngati Tuwharetoa) was announced as Te Tama-a-Ranginui, Junior Maori Sportsman of the Year yesterday at the awards, and will look to continue his rise in 2026 under Joseph in Dunedin.

Knewstubb, on the other hand, who is coming off a solid campaign for Canterbury in the NPC at first-five, will head into a Super Rugby Pacific campaign after the All Blacks Sevens management told him he wasn’t in their future plans.

“It’s a funny old feeling, obviously seeing all the [sevens] boys heading away to Dubai and that, and I’m down here getting amongst a bit of Super Rugby,” Knewstubb told Stuff NZ last week.

“It’s a bit of a long [story]. I kind of had a few meetings with sevens and they weren’t too sure what was best for me. I had a bit of a rough time last year and the year before, off field kind of stuff, and they thought it might be time to have a wee break.

But his break wasn’t to be, with the Highlanders coming calling after the NPC final victory for Canterbury over Pledger’s Otago.