The Highlanders kept their Super Rugby Pacific finals hopes alive with a dramatic 31–26 victory over the NSW Waratahs at Forsyth Barr Stadium, surviving a frantic late comeback after Caleb Tangitau’s electric return and Timoci Tavatavanawai’s match-winning turnover sealed a result that lifted the home side to seventh on the ladder.
Key moments
7 mins – TRY HIGHLANDERS: Mitch Dunshea claims the lineout and Lucas Casey carries in midfield. Timoci Tavatavanawai throws a nice offload for Cameron Millar inside the 22, before Tavatavanawai links again to find Caleb Tangitau, who breaks the line and dishes it to Jonah Lowe to score. Millar converts from in front. (Highlanders 7–0 Waratahs)
11 mins – TRY HIGHLANDERS: A huge scrum penalty gives the Highlanders position. Adam Lennox taps quickly and charges into the 22 before Tangitau picks from the back, barges through multiple Waratahs defenders and dives over for a brilliant individual try. Millar converts. (Highlanders 14–0 Waratahs)
19 mins – TRY HIGHLANDERS: Tavatavanawai carries powerfully from the lineout before Nikora Broughton charges forward. Millar fires the wide ball to Lowe, who flicks it inside for Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens to stroll in untouched. Millar converts from the left sideline. (Highlanders 21–0 Waratahs)
22 mins – YELLOW CARD HIGHLANDERS: Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii makes a half-break before Tavatavanawai is penalised for being off his feet at the ruck. Referee Damon Murphy deems it cynical and sends Tavatavanawai to the sin bin. Jack Debreczeni finds touch five metres out. (Highlanders down to 14)
23 mins – TRY WARATAHS: The Waratahs take immediate advantage of the extra man. Miles Amatosero claims the lineout, Angus Scott-Young carries in midfield, and Max Jorgensen fires it wide for Andrew Kellaway on the edge, who steps inside to score. Sid Harvey converts. (Highlanders 21–7 Waratahs)
30 mins – 50-22: Caleb Tangitau intercepts a Waratahs attack and delivers a superb 50-22 kick that trickles out on the five-metre line. Highlanders lineout 10 metres out.
35 mins – TRY HIGHLANDERS: After sustained pressure near the line, Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens throws the ball over the top for Lowe to pounce and score his second in the corner. TMO checks for a knock-on but the try stands. Millar converts from the left sideline. (Highlanders 28–7 Waratahs)
Half-time: Highlanders 28–7 Waratahs. A ruthless first-half statement from the Highlanders, built on forward dominance, the brilliance of Tangitau, and Tavatavanawai’s all-action involvement. The Waratahs responded through Kellaway during the yellow card period but were largely outclassed.
45 mins – TRY WARATAHS: Pete Samu claims the lineout and Suaalii breaks the line before being hauled down. Carter Gordon finds Apolosi Ranawai with the flat ball, and the replacement prop barges over for his debut Super Rugby Pacific try. Harvey’s conversion misses from wide. (Highlanders 28–12 Waratahs)
48 mins – TRY DISALLOWED: Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens appears to score his second after collecting a loose ball, but the TMO rules a clear knock-on from Jona Nareki in the build-up.
59 mins – RED CARD HIGHLANDERS: Tempers flare after Sid Harvey is tackled late. The TMO reviews a tackle by Jona Nareki, who made contact with his shoulder to the head of Jack Barrett. Initially shown yellow, it is upgraded to a 20-minute red card due to no mitigating factors. (Highlanders down to 14)
61 mins – HARVEY ERROR: Sid Harvey and Max Jorgensen combine brilliantly down the left, but Harvey drops the ball cold with the tryline at his mercy after gathering Jorgensen’s return pass.
65 mins – DEFENSIVE STAND: The Waratahs camp inside the Highlanders’ 22 but Tavatavanawai gets over the ball five metres out to win a crucial turnover penalty.
69 mins – TRY DISALLOWED: Suaalii breaks the line and feeds Harvey, who dots down in the corner, but Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens makes a superb last-ditch tackle to force Harvey into touch before grounding. The Waratahs tap from the penalty advantage.
70 mins – TRY DISALLOWED: Suaalii steps inside and scores, but the TMO finds a knock-on in the ruck in the build-up. The try is ruled out.
71 mins – TRY WARATAHS: Third time lucky. Clem Halaholo powers over from close range after sustained pressure. Harvey converts from in front. (Highlanders 28–19 Waratahs)
77 mins – MISSED PENALTY HIGHLANDERS: Cameron Millar’s penalty from 30 metres strikes the left upright. The Highlanders fail to extend their lead.
79 mins – TRY WARATAHS: A set-play lineout move puts Harvey through a hole off an Ethan Dobbins pass. He bursts through the defence untouched and swerves to score under the posts. Harvey converts. (Highlanders 28–26 Waratahs)
79 mins – PENALTY HIGHLANDERS: From the restart, Lawson Creighton claims on his 22. Angus Scott-Young carries on the short side but Tavatavanawai gets over the ball and wins the match-sealing turnover penalty. Millar slots from 25 metres to seal the victory. (Highlanders 31–26 Waratahs)
Full-time: Highlanders 31–26 Waratahs
Match report
The Highlanders’ season is not dead yet, but it very nearly died a dramatic death under the Forsyth Barr Stadium roof. Jamie Joseph’s side produced their best 40 minutes of the campaign in the opening spell before almost unravelling completely in a second half that saw them play 30 minutes of the match a man down and withstand a Waratahs comeback that brought the visitors to within two points with 90 seconds remaining.
In the end, it took a trademark Tavatavanawai turnover at the breakdown — the co-captain’s third crucial jackal of the evening — to allow Millar to seal the result from 25 metres and send a crowd of 14,346 home relieved rather than distraught. The victory lifted the Highlanders from ninth to seventh on 24 points, one behind sixth-placed Brumbies, but they face an enormous task ahead with the Chiefs and Hurricanes on the road in their final two regular-season fixtures.
The writing was on the wall for the Waratahs from the sixth minute. Tangitau, returning from two matches out with concussion, used his speed and footwork to evade Suaalii, who had rushed out of the defensive line and missed his man, before finding wing partner Lowe with a neat inside pass to open the scoring. It was a warning the visitors failed to heed.
Five minutes later, Tangitau did it all himself. Collecting the ball from the back of a ruck after Lennox’s quick tap from a scrum penalty, the All Blacks hopeful beat four Waratahs defenders — Angus Scott-Young, Pete Samu, Jake Gordon and Angus Blyth — to power over in one of the individual tries of the season. The Forsyth Barr crowd were on their feet, and the Waratahs were on their knees.
The punishment continued. Millar, arguably the best goal-kicking flyhalf in the competition, showed his playmaking ability with a gorgeous long ball to Lowe out wide, and the winger produced an equally deft offload to send Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens strolling in untouched. At 21–0 inside 20 minutes, the contest appeared over.
It was not. A controversial yellow card to Tavatavanawai for a cynical ruck infringement — his attempt to get over the ball in the wider channels deemed worthy of a card by referee Murphy — gave the Waratahs a lifeline. They capitalised immediately, with Suaalii and Jorgensen combining to put Kellaway over in the corner. Harvey’s conversion from the sideline made it 21–7 and the visitors had a pulse.
But Tangitau was not finished. His superb 50-22 kick, after intercepting a Waratahs attack just inside his own half, handed the Highlanders another attacking lineout deep in enemy territory. The home side’s scrum then bulldozed through the Australians once more, and the resulting pressure produced Lowe’s second in the corner after Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens spotted the space out wide and threw an offload for his winger to race onto. Millar’s touchline conversion sent the Highlanders to the sheds with a commanding 28–7 advantage.
The second half became a completely different contest. The Waratahs, presumably following a half-time spray from McKellar, came out with renewed intensity. Suaalii broke the line early and Ranawai barged over for a debut try off Gordon’s flat pass to make it 28–12. Small errors then began creeping into the Highlanders’ game. They were no longer clinical in attack, and the match exploded when Nareki was yellow-carded in the 59th minute for a shoulder to the head of replacement Barrett. The card was later upgraded to a 20-minute red after an off-field review found no mitigating factors, leaving the Highlanders with 14 men for the remainder.
From there, wave after wave of Waratahs pressure crashed down on the Highlanders’ line. Harvey dropped the ball cold with the tryline beckoning after a brilliant combination with Jorgensen. Suaalii then had a try ruled out by the TMO for a knock-on in the ruck, and Harvey was earlier forced into touch by a superb last-ditch tackle from Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens. Three near-misses in the space of five minutes — and the Highlanders’ defensive line somehow held.
It finally broke in the 71st minute when Halaholo powered over from close range. Harvey converted to make it 28–19, and the momentum was entirely with the Waratahs. Millar’s penalty attempt from 30 metres then struck the left upright, denying the Highlanders breathing space and setting up a grandstand finish.
Harvey provided it. A clinical set-play lineout move put the fullback through a hole off a Dobbins pass, and he burst through untouched to score under the posts. His conversion made it 28–26 with barely a minute remaining, and the stadium held its breath.
From the restart, Creighton claimed on his own 22 and Scott-Young carried on the short side. But there was Tavatavanawai — the man whose first-half yellow card had given the Waratahs life — standing over the ball at the breakdown, winning the penalty that allowed Millar to slot from 25 metres and send Forsyth Barr into celebration. It was a fitting end to a match of extraordinary swings, and a moment that may yet prove season-defining for both sides.
For the Waratahs, the defeat extends their wretched run across the Tasman to 13 consecutive losses in New Zealand. Dan McKellar’s side will almost certainly need to win their final three matches — away to the Drua, home to the Brumbies, and away to the Force — to have any chance of squeezing into the top six. On this evidence, that looks a tall order. A bewildered McKellar looked a beaten man in the coaching box as his side’s self-inflicted penalty count mounted throughout the evening.
The Highlanders, by contrast, head to Hamilton with renewed belief. Their scrum was dominant, their defence made more than 200 tackles, and in Tangitau they have a player whose All Blacks selection seems a matter of when, not if.
Match details
Highlanders 31 (Tries: Jonah Lowe 2, Caleb Tangitau, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens; Conversions: Cameron Millar 4/4; Penalties: Millar 1/2)
Waratahs 26 (Tries: Andrew Kellaway, Apolosi Ranawai, Clem Halaholo, Sid Harvey; Conversions: Sid Harvey 3/4)
Half-time: 28–7
Venue: Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Attendance: 14,346
Referee: Damon Murphy (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jordan Way, George Myers
TMO: James Leckie
Teams
Highlanders: 15 Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, 14 Caleb Tangitau, 13 Jona Nareki, 12 Timoci Tavatavanawai (co-c), 11 Jonah Lowe, 10 Cameron Millar, 9 Adam Lennox, 8 Nikora Broughton, 7 Lucas Casey, 6 Te Kamaka Howden, 5 Mitch Dunshea, 4 Tomas Lavanini, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Jack Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot (co-c).
Replacements: 16 Henry Bell, 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Saula Ma’u, 19 Oliver Haig, 20 Sean Withy, 21 Folau Fakatava, 22 Taine Robinson, 23 Xavier Tito-Harris.
Waratahs: 15 Max Jorgensen, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Lawson Creighton, 11 Sid Harvey, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Jake Gordon (c), 8 Pete Samu, 7 Charlie Gamble, 6 Angus Scott-Young, 5 Angus Blyth, 4 Miles Amatosero, 3 Dan Botha, 2 Ethan Dobbins, 1 Isaac Kailea.
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Jack Barrett, 18 Apolosi Ranawai, 19 Clem Halaholo, 20 Leafi Talataina, 21 Teddy Wilson, 22 Jack Bowen, 23 Harry Potter.
What’s next
The Highlanders travel to Hamilton to face the Chiefs next Saturday. The Waratahs head to Fiji to face the Fijian Drua.
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