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Highlanders lose All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax to Super Rugby rivals

Tyrel Lomax. (Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)

The Highlanders have lost All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax to the Hurricanes, according to a report from Stuff.

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The one-test international made his debut for New Zealand last year against Japan in Tokyo, and has been in strong form for the Highlanders in his second year for the franchise since joining from the Rebels at the end of 2017.

However, Lomax’s partner has accepted a job offer in Wellington, meaning the 22-year-old will follow her to the capital, thus bringing his two-year stint in Dunedin to an end.

Lomax has strong ties to Wellington, as he was raised and played rugby league there after being born in Canberra to former Kiwis rugby league captain John Lomax.

As a teenager, he went back to the Australian capital where he pursued a rugby union career, which led him to represent Australia U20s in 2015 and 2016 while also being named in an extended 48-man Wallabies squad by Michael Cheika in 2017, but New Zealand Rugby lured him back across the ditch later that year to play for the Highlanders and Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Lomax becomes one of many high-profile players to exit the Highlanders, leaving them severely undermanned ahead of the 2020 Super Rugby campaign.

Fellow All Blacks Ben Smith (Pau), Waisake Naholo (London Irish), Liam Squire (NTT DoCoMo Red Hurricanes), Jackson Hemopo (Mitsubishi DynaBoars) and Luke Whitelock (Pau) have all confirmed their departures, while experienced utility back Matt Faddes (Ulster) is also heading to Europe.

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It is also believed three-test All Black Elliot Dixon will be cashing in on the two-seasons-in-one concept in the Japanese Top League next year alongside Highlanders teammates Marty Banks, Richard Buckman and Tom Franklin, despite having signed a contract with the Highlanders last year that would have seen him play Super Rugby in 2020.

News of Lomax’s exit comes a day after the Highlanders announced the return of former star first-five, assistant and head coach Tony Brown from the Sunwolves and Japanese national side in a yet-to-be-determined coaching role.

Highlanders CEO Roger Clark indicated both yesterday during the announcement of Brown’s signing and today to Stuff that the announcements of new player signings for next year would be made in the coming weeks, with many believed to be players from the New Zealand U20 and All Blacks Sevens sides, including youngsters Jona Nareki and Scott Gregory.

In other news:

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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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