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Highlanders name full-strength side for quarterfinal clash
By Online Editors
Highlanders Head Coach Aaron Mauger has named his strongest side to take on the Waratahs in Sydney for their Super Rugby quarterfinal clash.
Returning to the team this week are All Blacks Ben Smith, Aaron Smith, Luke Whitelock, Elliot Dixon, with co-captain Ash Dixon and centre Rob Thompson re-joining the fray as well.
This is the fifth consecutive year the Highlanders have made the playoffs, finishing in 6th position at the end of the round robin stage. They are in the not unfamiliar position of being on the road having played only two playoff games at home since the inception of Super Rugby (1999 and 2015).
Mauger is excited by the opportunity.
“These are the opportunities the guys work hard all year for and there are no second chances," he said. "It’s simply about putting our best performance on the field on Saturday."
"The Waratahs are a quality side playing at home which presents an awesome challenge for our guys, but like I said, these are the games we love to play”
The Highlanders are coming off a thrilling 43-37 home victory over the Melbourne Rebels in what may have been club legend Lima Sopoaga's final game at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Last weekend's win snapped a two-game losing streak heading into the playoffs.
HIGHLANDERS
15. Ben Smith (CC), 14. Waisake Naholo, 13. Rob Thompson, 12. Teihorangi Walden, 11. Tevita Li, 10. Lima Sopoaga, 9. Aaron Smith, 8. Luke Whitelock, 7. James Lentjes, 6. Liam Squire, 5. Tom Franklin, 4. Jackson Hemopo, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 2. Liam Coltman, 1. Daniel Lienert-Brown.
Reserves: 16. Ash Dixon (CC), 17. Aki Seiuli, 18. Kalolo Tuiloma, 19. Shannon Frizell, 20. Elliot Dixon, 21. Kayne Hammington, 22. Josh Ioane, 23. Matt Faddes.
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Latest Comments
Thats exactly the criticism Ed, that it has already been done for generations. A strong SA, in many respects, should certainly help African rugby develop. You'd have to think they'd acclimatize much better being drawn to a pro SA club than say a European. Hopefully the fact theyve gone private (is that right Graham?) should enable this sort of change.
Go to commentsPerofeta came back and was available for the eoyt right? Or was that why Love was in the squad (but got injured in the last week)?
It was such a frustrating year. Perofeta looked a service stop gap until Jordan was fit, but then got injured. Plummer was selected because of Pero's injury and dmac shat the bed in the second half in Australia but Clarke (?) got himself binned at the 65 min mark so Plummer couldn't come on (at least with the risk adverse Razors thinking) when he was planned to.
So many other exciting opportunities that could have happened without injuries, but then theyre probably balanced by knowing Sititi probably wouldn't have been given a chance without multiple injuries happened.
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