Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

More youth injected into Highlanders unit to face Brumbies

Tanielu Tele'a celebrates scoring the Highlanders try. Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

The Highlanders boast a young team looking to make a name for themselves and are proving to be ahead of schedule in their return to competitiveness after losing a wealth of experience over the offseason.

ADVERTISEMENT

Their next challenge awaits in the form of an underperforming Brumbies outfit hungry to right the ship and go one better than previous seasons’ semi-final eliminations.

A mountainous task requires a fit and firing team and that’s exactly what coach Clarke Dermody has named for the encounter, although a slight departure from the consistency of selection in the opening three rounds.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

The team’s lone All Black Ethan de Groot is again joined by Jack Taylor and Saula Ma’u in the front row, with Max Hicks and Fabian Holland rounding out a big tight five.

Captain Billy Harmon returns to the starting unit after a disciplinary relegation to the bench last week, joined by Tom Sanders and Hugh Renton in the loose forwards.

Folau Fakatava and Cameron Millar will line up in the halves, giving a glimpse into the team’s future and feeding a burgeoning midfield of Sam Gilbert and Tanielu Tele’a.

The lethal back three of Martin Bogado, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens-Kneepkens are bound to produce excitement in the crowd and cause headaches for the Brumbies.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s a home game that promises great insight into where both teams are at, with no result guaranteed in such a highly competitive Super Rugby Pacific season.

The home side will however be without their No 8 Hugh Renton for an estimated six weeks after an ankle injury in the win over the Waratahs.

“We’re gutted to have lost Hughy, he’s been a real asset on the field, but we have confidence in our other loose forwards to do their jobs,” Dermody said. “The same goes for Cam, he’s benefitted from two weeks at home training and playing for the development team and has now got his opportunity to prove himself as a starting 10.

“There’s nothing like being at back at home and we’re looking forward to putting on a good show for our fans – our Highlanders family – back at Forsyth Barr stadium on Saturday afternoon,” said Dermody.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related

Highlanders team to face Brumbies 

  1. Ethan de Groot
  2. Jack Taylor
  3. Saula Ma’u
  4. Fabian Holland
  5. Max Hicks
  6. Tom Sanders
  7. Billy Harmon (C)
  8. Nikora Broughton
  9. Folau Fakatava
  10. Cameron Millar
  11. Martín Bogado
  12. Sam Gilbert (VC)
  13. Tanielu Tele’a
  14. Timoci Tavatavanawai
  15. Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens

 RESERVES

  1. Henry Bell
  2. Ayden Johnstone
  3. Jermaine Ainsley
  4. Oliver Haig
  5. Sean Withy
  6. James Arscott
  7. Ajay Faleafaga
  8. Connor Garden-Bachop
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

287 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING World Cup-winning halfback on Cam Roigard’s substitution in France loss World Cup-winning halfback on Cam Roigard’s substitution vs. France
Search