Highlanders confirm signing of Otago star Lucas Casey

With a Ranfurly Shield win and a Super Rugby contract announced, it’s been a big week for Otago young gun Lucas Casey.

The flanker has been snaffled up by the Highlanders for the next two Super Rugby Pacific seasons, rewarded for his strong NPC form with a deal that will see him join the wider training group in 2026 before stepping into the top squad in 2027.

The club confirmed the signing of the 22-year-old on Friday morning, just days after a two-try performance in Christchurch downed a previously unbeaten Canterbury side. But The Post has reported it was after just round three in the NPC season that Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph moved to sign the young prospect.

 

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The Highlanders have a youthful loose forward contingent as it stands, with TK Howdon, Veveni Lasaqa and Sean Withy the most-used starting trio in 2025, while co-captain Hugh Renton and All Blacks XV utility forward Oliver Haig spent much of the recent season on the sidelines through injury.

The club have emerged as by far the most active recruiters in New Zealand since Jamie Joseph’s return from Japan, and have continued that this offseason with the acquisitions of veteran prop Angus Ta’avao, Los Pumas lock Tomás Lavanini, and New Zealand U20 flyer Stanley Solomon, who joins his Dunedin-based U20 co-stars Dylan Pledger and Josh Tengblad as new faces in the squad.

The club has lost the services of halfback Nathan Hastie, who departed for the Western Force, and utility back Sam Gilbert, who is headed to Connacht, but they’ve also made a flurry of key re-signings.

All three of the club’s All Blacks – Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, and Timoci Tavatavanawai – have been locked in on long-term contracts until at least 2027, while their rising backfield stars, Caleb Tangitau and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, have also committed for the long haul, signing extensions through until 2028.