Highlanders vs Chiefs: A final All Blacks audition, an embarrassment of riches

The Chiefs have secured the top seed heading into the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs with a 41-24 win over the Highlanders in Dunedin.

The game brought the hosts’ 2025 season to a close, but again, showed the Dunedin faithful there are plenty of reasons to be excited about the club’s future.

For the Chiefs, the promise of home-field advantage and a lifeline next week puts them in a strong position to live up to their billing as title favourites.

Here are some takeaways from the contest.

Chiefs hit playoffs in flying form

This game was one-way traffic early. The Highlanders may be bottom of the Super Rugby Pacific table, but this is a team that has pushed the Hurricanes and Crusaders to the very last minute in their two most recent contests. They had every right to feel they could at least make some noise tonight.

The body language of the Chiefs, though, expressed absolute confidence. Their willingness to play with the ball and be creative and free was complemented by their ability to finish the opportunities they created.

The Chiefs were able to get the ball wide when they wanted to and made twice as many linebreaks as the Highlanders.

This was, in many ways, the perfect way to round out the regular season for the Chiefs. When the dams burst, there was a flurry of tries, but equally, the Highlanders tested their mettle in stretches.

The review from the game will offer plenty of reassurance and validation, but also maintain an edge that should carry well into preparations for the qualifying finals.

A final All Blacks audition

There are a few Highlanders who have put their hands up for higher honours in 2025, and missing the playoffs comes as an extra blow for them on an individual level, as their counterparts go on with the opportunity to prove they can perform under the pressure of knockout rugby.

Fabian Holland is perhaps the most likely player to debut for the All Blacks in 2025, with the second row stocks still in rebuild mode after the departures of Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.

It was the latter of those two legends that Holland was compared to this week by former All Black James Parsons, who noted the 22-year-old’s engine, effectiveness at ruck time, and nous in the defensive lineouts as elite strings to his bow.

With Sam Darry injured and Josh Lord again struggling to log consistent minutes in 2025, Holland is a front-runner to be the fourth All Blacks lock, joining Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu and Tupou Vaa’i, who played out of his skin tonight.

The 2024 All Blacks XV standout made the most of his final All Blacks audition in Dunedin, logging 13 carries and 10 tackles to go with his six lineout wins. It was a robust, physical showing from the workhorse.

Timoci Tavatavanawai is also firmly in the selection picture and contributed 15 carries for 61 metres on the night. The Chiefs denied him any real opportunities at the breakdown, but the Fijian-born buiser still managed some industrious moments in the tight game.

Perhaps not the barn-stormer he would’ve liked to end the season with, but Tavatavanawai has certainly made his case throughout an impressive 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season. Hats off to the man for his first full season in the midfield.

Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens is maybe more of an outside chance given how stacked the talent stocks out wide are in New Zealand, but he’s certainly made his presence felt.

There were some moments of magic from the fullback tonight, but one expertly regathered chip-and-chase was followed by a couple of overly ambitious plays that handed the Chiefs counter-attack opportunities.

It was a performance that showed the skillset the 23-year-old possesses, but also, there may be some refining to be done before he’s fully trusted at the next level.

More firepower for a loaded arsenal

Etene Nanai-Seturo led this contest with three linebreaks in what was his first game in four months, despite only playing the first half. The former All Blacks Sevens ace’s return coincided with Emoni Narawa’s injury – a deep cut that shouldn’t keep him sidelined long.

When the two-Test All Black returns, Chiefs head coach Clayton McMillan will boast an embarrassment of riches in his outside back stocks. Heck, he does regardless.

Three genuine All Blacks contenders will be vying for starting jerseys on the wings in these upcoming playoffs, with the form of both Leroy Carter and Emoni Narawa surely too good to relegate to the bench. And yet the All Blacks XV hot stepper, Nanai-Seturo, remains one of the most capable game-breakers in the competition.

The playmaking prowess of Damian McKenzie and Shaun Stevenson is sure to see the outside threats get space to work with, and Josh Jacomb had some of his best moments with the ball in hand tonight under the roof in Dunedin.

Jacomb displayed creativity and agility attacking in traffic, with his body language never giving away his next move. Some players are easy to read, but not Jacomb.

This Chiefs backline is truly deadly, and already boasted a lethal bench before Nanai-Seturo’s return. Those second-half surges could pack even more of a punch with the speedster’s X-factor coming off the bench.