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What went wrong with the Highlanders this season
By Ben Smith
Year two of the Highlanders under returning coach Jamie Joseph has presented challenges as the franchise sits in last place currently, after finishing 6th on the log last year.
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Despite this lowly position headed into the last stage of the season, oddly it hasn’t been a bad year, there have been some bright spots, like breaking a long-running drought over the Blues and for the most part they have been extremely competitive.
They have six losing bonus points, the most of any team and their points differential is better than the three teams above them on the ladder. In a competition with the most parity in world rugby, the Highlanders truly aren’t far away from being right in the mix at the top of the ladder.
Entering the season expectations for the franchise were low, with troubled years under former head coach Tony Brown where the club finished 8th and 9th in first two seasons of Super Rugby Pacific. There has been a realisation that they need a full re-build as they had quality coaches.
The Highlanders are trying to turn around the franchise over the long-term with a new strategy with more investment in academy and player development, particularly with home grown talent if they can. In 2020 they implemented a High Performance Programme, a new initiative for the club.
That has seen the likes of Finn Hurley, a product of Otago Boys, come through and explode on the seen earlier this season. Hooker Jack Taylor is another, a product of Southland. As a result the Highlanders are working with a very young roster, even by Super Rugby’s standards.
17 of the 22 contracted forwards are 25 years or younger, with many just 21 or 22 years old. This is very green for a forward pack that needs to build experience. Fabian Holland, an All Black lock prospect is just 22 years old.
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The Chiefs and Crusaders, the two leading New Zealand clubs, have the inverse, with most the forwards over 25 years old. There are plenty of All Blacks on those squads too.
It’s similar in the backs, but particularly in the key position at No.10 where the likes of Cam Miller and Ajay Faleafaga are 22. Tasman and ex-Crusaders squad member Taine Robinson has been given a lot of starts this year as the most experienced of the bunch at 25.
This new approach to roster building will pay off if they can retain them, with the bulk of this 2025 squad hitting their peak in a few years time.
The Highlanders also hit home runs on the transfer market this year, with ex-Blues winger Caleb Tangitau proving to be a great pick-up earlier in the season before injury struck. This year’s loose forwards Veveni Lasaqa and TK Howden from the Hurricanes are great prospects.
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Tangitau adds to the talent they have recruited with the likes of Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens and Timoci Tavatavanawai also proving to be boom signings.
The pieces are there for the Highlanders to contend over the next few seasons and build a new championship-calibre squad to rival the golden years of 2015-18.
They have more talent on the way from the New Zealand U20 squad, a homegrown halves pairing in Dylan Pledger and Mika Muliaina, nephew of All Black great Mils. These two at No.9 and No.10 for the long-term could be generational for the Highlanders.
Another lock prospect in the U20s, Josh Tengblad, was recruited out of Sacred Heart in Auckland and is a blue chip line out option and big body like Holland. The Highlanders are not short on hookers, but Shaun Kempton is another top prospect to add to the stable.
They are building strong foundations and depth from the ground up, which takes time, but it means that the Highlanders could contend year-in year-out if they hit on their draft intakes of about five players every year. The HPP has produced 15 Super Rugby debutants so far.
You can’t often say that the teams sitting in last place in a competition have reasons for optimism, but it is true for the Highlanders.
2025 hasn’t been as bad a year as their standing suggests.
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It doesn’t help that already thinning talent in NZ rugby has been spread even thinner by essentially setting up a 6th NZ team in Moana Pasifika. They’re about as far away from their mission statement in terms of being an island team with island born talent as they can get. They seem to go out of their way every season to avoid playing in the islands too.
We don’t have the depth for five teams anymore, let alone six. If anything, it should be four, two in each island. The Highlanders shouldn’t have to pay because of political correctness and the NZR bowing to pressure, and then MP just turning out to be another NZ team in a city that already has one.
Their mission isn’t to have island born talent, it’s simply to stop their players needing to go overseas. Whether they’re from Samoa Tonga or NZ is irrelevant, they just want pathways to the top.
The Highlanders catchment would be last in every category, there’s a reason they’re always in this boat. They would be the first to go. Even having Moana as a 2nd NZ team in AK makes more sense. You need to fix your arguments if you want to achieve something were they can succeed.
I’m not bagging the Highlanders nor seriously advocating they be cut from SR - I just want NZR to be more proactive in making sure they have more depth in their squad, which means somehow stopping other SR teams stockpiling players who would benefit by getting more playing minutes, particularly tight 5 contenders. I’d suggest a loan system, so that players like Sione Lauaki, Tahylor Cahill, Selby Ricketts/Jimmy Tupou etc could go south for a period. I doubt that JJ or any other Highlanders coach would look that gift horse in the mouth, even if it was for one season.
I didn’t think you were but I’m just putting out the gut reaction of a southerner. Direct contracting has kind of led to this scenario. In the past it followed as you said and it had some real excitement for the Super season coming up. It suited Nz Rugby that the Crusaders served as the set up for the bulk of the ABs as Henry/Hansen wanted to turn Super in a long extended trial for test rugby. Sides can have a rotation of test players while the Highlanders can take the leftovers to provide a reasonably stiff opposition. This year’s comp has been great but I feel NZ Rugby need to dump this approach that the comp serves the ABs. Amongst other things this is one aspect that is gradually eating away at the base of the game in NZ.
Really if rugby had a flexible model, the Highlanders would find themselves in the next division down.
Their squad is just so far behind the rest in New Zealand, but luckily were able to see this team compete in the competition, trying to punch above it’s weight. It provides so many more interesting facets to the competition than just having a bunch of elite teams where we’re just waiting to see which ones click. and win.
It must be brutal on the Highlanders group every year though. Rugby really needs to sort out a much better model.
To provide one part of the other view is that the decline in the Highlanders has only truly been since 2020. The squad was very strong in the 6 years before that and may of slightly underachieved given the quality of players they had. There was a mass clean out and some poor options were taken in recruitment and planning. Tony Brown is a good attacking coach but was a rubbish selector of players.
Just lacked cattle. Thats all. I wont bag them.
I’ve got huge respect for what JJ and the Highlanders have achieved this year, and applaud the way they are bringing through their young talent. However, there’s no way you can hide the fact that their scrum lost them a few close games (maybe as many as 15 SR points) - the prime example would be the Reds. It was actually embarrassing watching the way Alex Hodgman, the Reds loosehead, ex Blues, a good journeyman, walked the Reds up the field by burying Ma’au time after time in the last 15 minutes. It wasn’t Maa’u’s fault, or the Highlanders, that they didn’t have any other options, that they couldn’t protect their young tight-head better - NZR has to take some responsibility. There’s a guy like Sione Lauaki in the Canes, who is behind Lomax and Tosi and Mafileo in the pecking order, who is a huge talent and could be getting game time down at the Highlanders and making more rapid development. I’m sure there are others, particularly in the tight five, like Selby-Rickets and/or Jimmy Tupou at the Chiefs, who are sitting in the grandstand week after week, instead of taking some pressure off 22 year old Holland. I think it’s time for the NZR to take some initiative - even up the playing field or drink the cup of poison and can the Highlanders. The Aussies did it with the Rebels and look at the results this year - no more Aussie pushovers. Get real one way or another.
I don’t like you’re solution (I want something flexible, open, and engaging) but I agree it’s a problem which just cannot be left to carryon like this.
France has a nice model we every club has to be used by the national side, they actually cannot take more Toulouse players out, they have to visit the other clubs for squadies. That would be a great way to incentivize Hannah’s to go their instead of the the Hurricanes.
100% agree with NZ Rugby directing players to the Highlanders.
At this moment, the Highlanders are an ITM squad playing Super Rugby, when an article holds out hope for the coming years around Mika Miliaina - huge talent but still qualifies for NZ U18 this year - shows how bad it is.
Understand it’s tough to get players to head down to a new city and lifestyle, but NZ rugby needs to find a way to ensure that the talent is more evenly distributed and ensure that all 5 NZ Super teams (ignoring Moana Pasifika, who are a Kiwi side in reality) are competitive.
I get what you saying about players being stockpiled by other teams though there are some players that have bucked that like Tangitau and JRN. The thing about a possible jettisoning of the Highlanders is that NZR will simply lose the southern region for rugby as I will not follow the comp anymore. I have no interest in supporting the Crusaders as much I respect them. The base of NZ Rugby will shrink further. Australian sides are stronger from the Rebels players but the promise of grass roots development in Melbourne that was happening in certain parts has been lost. A real shame.