Highlanders 2026
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At the moment, Taylor is much better than Tuputupu as a lineout thrower, and less error-prone around the field.
Taylor has also been a better lineout thrower than Taukei'aho and Bell this season too.
The Canes have the shortest lineout in the comp which puts a lot of pressure on their hookers. They regularly played Kirifi, Lakai and Iose. None of their top 3 locks are above 197.
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@brodean said in Highlanders 2026:
I thought Tuputupu has played better than Taylor and has a higher up side.
Maybe, I'd describe them both as serviceable and nothing more at this stage. For all we know, both players are in camp - which really just tells us that they're potentially in the top... eight or so hooker in the country?
The only really interesting thing we can gather from the selection is that Fakatava is definitely not in the selection frame. Otherwise, without knowing total numbers etc there's very little you can actually infer.
@Mr-Fish probably other thing that's interesting is that Saula Ma'au isn't the selection frame either. He made All Blacks XV last year. And aside from 2 - 3 miserable games mid season made a good comeback towards the end of the year.
With George Dyer heading overseas my assumption is he's have been first in line due to injury to be called into the squad. However given he's not in the camp you'd have to assume someone else is.
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@Mr-Fish probably other thing that's interesting is that Saula Ma'au isn't the selection frame either. He made All Blacks XV last year. And aside from 2 - 3 miserable games mid season made a good comeback towards the end of the year.
With George Dyer heading overseas my assumption is he's have been first in line due to injury to be called into the squad. However given he's not in the camp you'd have to assume someone else is.
@handa457 said in Highlanders 2026:
@Mr-Fish probably other thing that's interesting is that Saula Ma'au isn't the selection frame either. He made All Blacks XV last year. And aside from 2 - 3 miserable games mid season made a good comeback towards the end of the year.
With George Dyer heading overseas my assumption is he's have been first in line due to injury to be called into the squad. However given he's not in the camp you'd have to assume someone else is.
It’s just a smaller contingent at camp, nothing outrageous in terms on numbers. They will have both Lomax and Tosi there.
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Taylor has also been a better lineout thrower than Taukei'aho and Bell this season too.
The Canes have the shortest lineout in the comp which puts a lot of pressure on their hookers. They regularly played Kirifi, Lakai and Iose. None of their top 3 locks are above 197.
an @brodean said in Highlanders 2026:
Taylor has also been a better lineout thrower than Taukei'aho and Bell this season too.
The Canes have the shortest lineout in the comp which puts a lot of pressure on their hookers. They regularly played Kirifi, Lakai and Iose. None of their top 3 locks are above 197.
https://www.hurricanes.co.nz/squad?team=1
Conversely, none of their locks are below 1.97 and two are more than 2 metres tall. -
James Arscott confirming he is leaving Highlanders/Otago
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Looks like Filimone saying thanks and goodbye as well.
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Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
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Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
@CtownCowboy said in Highlanders 2026:
Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
interesting I thought he might have been worth a punt by a NZ franchise.
Crusaders for Drummond
Hurricanes for Enari
Chiefs for TTT -
@CtownCowboy said in Highlanders 2026:
Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
interesting I thought he might have been worth a punt by a NZ franchise.
Crusaders for Drummond
Hurricanes for Enari
Chiefs for TTT@Chris said in Highlanders 2026:
@CtownCowboy said in Highlanders 2026:
Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
interesting I thought he might have been worth a punt by a NZ franchise.
Crusaders for Drummond
Hurricanes for Enari
Chiefs for TTTHe's definitely better than Enari.
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@Chris said in Highlanders 2026:
@CtownCowboy said in Highlanders 2026:
Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
interesting I thought he might have been worth a punt by a NZ franchise.
Crusaders for Drummond
Hurricanes for Enari
Chiefs for TTTHe's definitely better than Enari.
@Canes4life said in Highlanders 2026:
@Chris said in Highlanders 2026:
@CtownCowboy said in Highlanders 2026:
Hearing Hastie is being linked to the Western Force
interesting I thought he might have been worth a punt by a NZ franchise.
Crusaders for Drummond
Hurricanes for Enari
Chiefs for TTTHe's definitely better than Enari.
Yeah at least he is a running threat.
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Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
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The way it works, is they will not announce players leaving who have not yet signed elsewhere. Standard practice.
@frugby said in Highlanders 2026:
The way it works, is they will not announce players leaving who have not yet signed elsewhere. Standard practice.
No it isn't. The last two years two to three weeks after the season they have released a list.
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@frugby said in Highlanders 2026:
The way it works, is they will not announce players leaving who have not yet signed elsewhere. Standard practice.
No it isn't. The last two years two to three weeks after the season they have released a list.
@SouthernMann all of whoom had signed with other franchises. Last year from memory it was CGB, Harmon, Bodego, Ainsley, Patchell and Pari Pari.
Jackson, Johnstone, Hicks, Plummer, Takafu, Tucke, Sanders, Timu and Whaanga were not announced at that stage.
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Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
Sad thing is he's one of the few Logan Park High School-adjacent rugby players we could claim.
His dad was the standout loosie for LPHS in the early 1990s.
Otherwise it's Flilipo Levi, who switched to Otago Boys in 7th form, or Shane Stewart, who played for Ulster about 25 years ago.
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@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
Sad thing is he's one of the few Logan Park High School-adjacent rugby players we could claim.
His dad was the standout loosie for LPHS in the early 1990s.
Otherwise it's Flilipo Levi, who switched to Otago Boys in 7th form, or Shane Stewart, who played for Ulster about 25 years ago.
@Smudge said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
Sad thing is he's one of the few Logan Park High School-adjacent rugby players we could claim.
His dad was the standout loosie for LPHS in the early 1990s.
Otherwise it's Flilipo Levi, who switched to Otago Boys in 7th form, or Shane Stewart, who played for Ulster about 25 years ago.
LPHS the home of Sparkie Dickel. Fuck all else in the sports arena. The only Dunedin school that can claim a current national talk back radio host though.
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@Smudge said in Highlanders 2026:
@SouthernMann said in Highlanders 2026:
Force makes sense for Hastie. Grew up there until 2019. Played first XV with Tamati Williams over there. Its first string halfback getting on. Would he have already done the Australian residency?
What I'm frustrated about is that we haven't seen it announced who is leaving the franchise yet
Sad thing is he's one of the few Logan Park High School-adjacent rugby players we could claim.
His dad was the standout loosie for LPHS in the early 1990s.
Otherwise it's Flilipo Levi, who switched to Otago Boys in 7th form, or Shane Stewart, who played for Ulster about 25 years ago.
LPHS the home of Sparkie Dickel. Fuck all else in the sports arena. The only Dunedin school that can claim a current national talk back radio host though.
@SouthernMann They also had 100m Olympics sprinter Chris Donaldson
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Any Josh Jacomb news?
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Any Josh Jacomb news?
@upthelanders said in Highlanders 2026:
Any Josh Jacomb news?
I just looked back at the timing of the announcements around player signings last year. The big group of new guys was named right about a year ago.
Which suggests we might start seeing some movement around 2026 in the coming weeks. You'd think from a publicity perspective they'd let the game in Dunedin run. Then the NPC announcements. Following it up with any potential player movements. My guess is in two - three weeks the franchise may come out with new material/announcements.
