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Highlanders confirm first signing following mass All Blacks exodus

Scott Gregory. (Photo by Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images)

The Highlanders have confirmed their first new signing of the Super Rugby off-season, securing the services of Northland, All Blacks Sevens and New Zealand U20 speedster Scott Gregory.

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The 20-year-old outside back has signed a two-year deal with the Dunedin franchise, which has been hit hard by the post-World Cup exodus.

All Blacks Ben Smith (Pau), Waisake Naholo (London Irish), Liam Squire (NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes), Jackson Hemopo (Mitsubishi DynaBoars), Luke Whitelock (Pau), Elliot Dixon (Ricoh Black Rams) and Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes) are among 12 key players who are set to leave the club at the end of the year.

Super Rugby veterans Marty Banks (NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes), Matt Faddes (Ulster), Tevita Li (Suntory Sungoliath), Tom Franklin and Richard Buckman (both Kobelco Steelers) are also heading offshore next year.

With Smith, Naholo, Faddes, Li and Buckman all members of the squad’s outside backs, Gregory’s signature is a valuable one for the 2015 Super Rugby champions.

He was named in the New Zealand side for the U20 World Championship in France last year, and then again in Argentina this year, while also playing a key role for the All Blacks Sevens throughout the 2018-19 World Sevens Series.

Gregory debuted for Northland in their 2018 Mitre 10 Cup opener against North Harbour, and has been a prominent member of the Taniwha ever since.

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A former New Zealand age grade track and field champion, Gregory should bring some much-needed pace and strength on the wing under the roof of Forsyth Barr Stadium over the next two seasons.

He joins Canterbury star Josh McKay as the Highlanders’ only other outside back confirmed for next year’s campaign.

Gregory’s signing is expected to be the first of many announced by the Highlanders over the coming weeks, with fellow All Blacks Sevens and Otago wing Jona Nareki rumoured to be named as one of the club’s new recruits.

The Highlanders finished the 2019 Super Rugby season as beaten quarter-finalists after they were bundled out of the competition by the Crusaders in a 38-14 defeat in the first round of the play-offs in Christchurch.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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