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Jamie Joseph names 2025 Highlanders Super Rugby Pacific squad

Jamie Joseph of the Highlanders looks on ahead of the Super Rugby Pacific Pre-Season match between Highlanders and Hurricanes at Forsyth Barr Stadium on February 10, 2024 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)

Jamie Joseph has named his Highlanders squad for the DHL 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition.

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The 2025 squad features many new players, including the addition of new head coach Jamie Joseph who coached the Highlanders to the historic 2015 Super Rugby title.

“It’s great to be back leading the Highlanders. Dunedin and the wider southern region have always been a place that has provided opportunities for players to grow and develop. It’s a community that loves rugby, respects the game, and values hard work. My job is to ensure that we create an environment where players can blossom, not just as athletes, but as individuals who carry the game’s core values with them. We’ve got a very talented squad this year, and I’m excited to see what we can achieve together.”

Joseph has added Cody Brown to his coaching staff, the brother of former Highlanders coach and current Springboks attack coach Tony Brown.

Brown and Joseph will be joined by last year’s head coach Clarke Dermody as well as Dave Dillon to round out the 2025 coaching staff.

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Experienced Highlanders players return to the squad, including All Black prop Ethan De Groot, All Blacks XV players Saula Ma’u, Fabian Holland and Oliver Haig and halfback Folau Fakatava.

Impressive NPC campaigns for Timoci Tavatavanawai, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Nikora Broughton, Sean Withy, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Michael Manson and Cam Millar have earned them another full playing contract.

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The Highlanders have added Hurricanes loose forward and Manawatu player TK Howden, who will bolster the loose forward stocks for Jamie Joseph’s squad.

The forward pack will welcome the additions of Blues hooker Soane Vikena down south, as well as tighthead prop Sosefo Kautai (NZ U20, Chiefs, Brumbies) and loosehead prop Josh Bartlett (NZU20, Chiefs, Western Force) to improve the tight five.

Young players like Caleb Tangitau from the Blues, Will Stodart and Finn Hurley from Otago will be looking to stake their claim for starting jerseys.

Additions to the backline will further develop Joseph’s headaches for selections, including Taine Robinson from Tasman, who has been impressive in NPC over multiple campaigns.

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Veveni Lasaqa from the Hurricanes and Bay of Plenty will join the squad’s forward pack, as well as 30-year-old Tongan Lui Naeta who has been plying his trade in Japan before returning for Otago in this year’s NPC competition.

Head coach Jamie Joseph has high hopes for his new squad.

“We have a squad full of talented and motivated players, and we know that the fans in Dunedin and across the region are looking forward to seeing this team grow and perform on the field,”added Joseph.

“This region has a proud rugby history, and it’s our responsibility to make sure we honour that by playing with passion and commitment. We’re not just developing players on the field, but also people who represent the values of this community.” 

2025 Highlanders Super Rugby Pacific Squad

Backs: Folau Fakatava (Hawkes Bay), Nathan Hastie (Otago), James Arscott (Otago), Cameron Millar (Otago), Ajay Faleafaga (Otago), Taine Robinson (Tasman), Jake Te Hiwi (Otago), Thomas Umaga-Jensen (Otago), Tanielu Tele’a (Auckland), Josh Whaanga (Otago), Sam Gilbert (Otago), Michael Manson (Southland), Caleb Tangitau (Auckland), Jonah Lowe (Hawkes Bay), Timoci Tavatavanawai (Tasman), Jona Nareki (Otago), Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (Taranaki), Finn Hurley (Otago)

Forwards: Ethan de Groot (Southland) , Daniel Lienert-Brown (Canterbury), Josh Bartlett (BOP), Saula Ma’u (Otago), Rohan Wingham (Otago), Sosefo Kautai (Waikato), Henry Bell (Otago), Jack Taylor (Southland), Soane Vikena (Auckland), Fabian Holland (Otago), Mitch Dunshea (Southland), Oliver Haig (Otago), Lui Naeta (Otago), Will Stodart (Otago) Te Kamaka Howden (Manawatu), Sean Withy (Southland), Hayden Michaels (Southland), Veveni Lasaqa (BOP), Hugh Renton (Tasman), Nikora Broughton (BOP)

Unavailable for the 2025 season due to injury: Josh Timu and Tom Sanders

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Comments

10 Comments
R
Red and White Dynamight 176 days ago

Great signing for the Highlanders, would have made a good AB coach too. Tough bastard but loved by his squad.

S
Skinny Pins 177 days ago

How is it NZ brags about it's centrally controlled national model, yet Brodie McAllister sees more of a future going to the Chiefs to warm the bench for Taukeaho than go start every game for the Highlanders? Ditto Brayden Ennor, or Dallas McLeod, one of whom will see little game time at the Cru. And on and on we could go, citing so many other players who could start for the Highlanders but are content to be outside the top 23 at one of the other 4 major franchises. Surely this is where NZR should intervene and make sure guys of that calibre go South and PLAY PLAY PLAY. But no, be a wider squad guy at the Blues, Cru, Chiefs or Canes and play hardly any Super Rugby and still you are better placed for national honours. Look at Karifi. No even a starting Cane but captain of the AB XV. No wonder NZ rugby isn't what it once was. If you want to be an AB, go somewhere you can start matches and show what you have got against the other guys competing to be ABs. Don't go be their training opponent on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's pathetic Mark Robinson al lo ows this to happen. He is so weak as a leader for our sport it isn't funny. He's rugby's Jacinda, or Kamala.

O
Otagoman II 176 days ago

Direct contracting by the franchises has helped do this. In the past you had a protected 23 or so but the rest was in the draft. Selection was earnt after NPC each year. A player signs on for 3 years so the team is committed to them and meanwhile another player develops well and gets an AB jersey and quickly enough you get stockpiling.


Something should be worked out that gaps in some teams should be traded. I can't see them stopping direct contracting these days though.

J
JW 177 days ago

Ahh no raz daz signing in the end huh. Thankfully the did get Tele'a over the line in the end but that's only going to be a team that's scary when everythings clicking and all are on the park. Lets hope they get lucky with injurys this time round!

O
Otagoman II 177 days ago

Joseph has taken a risk with only naming two specialist locks. Would of been nice to keep Will Tucker to back Holland and Dunshea up.

U
Utiku Old Boy 177 days ago

Agreed. Looks very light in the locking stocks. Whats up with PPP? Will Tucker was full of effort and +2m. Agree with SC - Haig is developing well as a 6 but will get dragged into the second row and Holland will be worked to the bone.

S
SC 177 days ago

Every other NZ franchise selected 5 specialist locks. But Joseph foolishly signed two specialist locks one of whom, Dunshae, is very injury prone. Holland is going to get played into the ground by the Highlanders and Haig who could have been a serious option for All Blacks at 6 after a good season of SRP will now have to play lock.

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BigGabe 20 minutes ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

Fair commentary. I am not sure it would probably work against him though, since his temmates have come out and said that they enjoy it. Similarly, Irish fans seem to enjoy Lowe’s celebrating and English fans their “plastic energy” players.


Oof, that Stormers comment..as a Stormers fan, it hurts to be a Stormers fan. We can be so good, but also we can collapse like a house of cards. I do think that there is a line, I would agree with you. But I also very much think that the rugby public blows it out of proportion when someone gets exuberant (Lowe annoys the daylights out of me, but that’s his game and he is good at it. I am sure plenty of people find Faf annoying too). I’m not sure rugby will go the way of the NFL though, I do think that on a cultural level rugby playing nations (and the cultural demographics that go into playing rugby) differ vastly from the US. The US as a nation is very much about bravado. Similarly, the argument about rugby devolving into football, it is a sport that rewards theatrics so naturally theatrics enter into the culture. I don’t see rugby going that way, there is something different about rugby and the people that it attracts. Perhaps it is the gladiatorial aspect, or the lack of insultingly large paychecks. I am not sure, it would be interesting to conduct a study on this to be honest.


Yes, my examples go back quite far and are sporadic inbetween. But this makes me wonder - does rugby not have so many showboats because it doesn’t attract showboats or because it doesn’t allow showboats?

12 Go to comments
W
Werner 43 minutes ago
URC teams aren't proving Stephen Donald wrong

3 things:


1) I don't think you have an understanding of what sort of politics goes on in SA, you are assuming it's very competitive and performance focused same as NZ, I can tell you it's a lot greyer and more ambiguous but green and gold goes along way in greasing wheels. Often revenue at the state and national level are prized more by some in the SARU despite the impact of accepting it, but you will never heard them own it.


2) While we're comparing national teams performance to gauge the ‘domestic’ comps, you do realise that both Ireland and Scotland are higher in rankings and have better recent record than Fiji and Australia who are in the SRP right? And when was the last time either of them made a final in SR? 2014! But here's the thing…. I never said URC is better than SRP, imo they are about the same each with their benefits and different style. Where as you harp on about how crap URC teams are but not why SRP is better. Have SRP teams faired better against European teams? No? So how do you know and ‘demonstrate’ this inferiority? both have a range of good and bad countries competing (URC has slightly more higher ranked teams). Both are dominated historically by one country and team (Leinster/crusaders). So what is this demonstrable fact I'm missing? What's the point of difference other than subjective opinion


3) let me understand this, the only decent team in the URC is Leinster as they are good enough to make Eurochamps finals but not good enough to make the finals of the URC the last 2 years. So they despite beating Leinster (the EC finalists and good team) the other URC teams are still crap?

50 Go to comments
P
PR 1 hour ago
'Love him or hate him, Henry Pollock has got the rugby world talking.'

There are degrees of taunting. In my opinion Pollock is slightly OTT. Nothing offensive, just what Australians call “a goose”. Like James Lowe and Ben Earl. Celebrating wildly and often towards the crowd throughout the game. “Plastic energy” as Bongi calls it. It’s the kind of behaviour that turns a hostile crowd more hostile and motivates opponents even more - so probably works against your own team. Pollock is young and having the time of his life so his antics are understandable but I think most people find that kind of showboating annoying - hence the ‘love him or hate him’ tag.


The reason why the behaviour of Pollock makes headlines is because it is still quite rare in rugby. Your examples go back to 1974, 2003 and 2022. Of course there are chirps between players during a game but what Pollock is doing is more like the showboating you see after a touchdown in NFL. He’s not the only one of course. Just about every Stormers try comes with an elaborate handshake or routine. Perhaps the future of rugby is more like NFL but I reckon it will always be annoying to a lot of people.


Also, unless you are Matt Williams or Gregor Townsend, 6-2/7-1 was never against the spirit of the game. It’s an argument brought up by pundits to get attention or frustrated coaches who are trying to justify poor results. Most coaches, players and supporters get it. Even World Rugby gave it the thumbs up. It should be celebrated for its innovation.

12 Go to comments
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