Five Highlanders questions worth pondering
Have the Highlanders gone backward in 2025? And did the Highlanders have a recruitment shocker? Some Highlanders questions that are worth pondering.
With four games to play the Highlanders look long-shots at being part of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific playoffs. Tribune editor Logan Savory offers up five questions that are worth pondering.
Have the Highlanders gone backward in 2025?
Yes…. It’s hard to argue otherwise.
The Highlanders finished sixth in 2024 with a six-win-eight-loss record. To date in 2025 the Highlanders have a three-win-seven-loss record and sit 10th with just the Fijian Drua below them.
There has been a narrative that the Highlanders are a young team, and that probably explains the 2025 campaign. In comparison to many other teams, that might be a fair discussion point.
But the reality is the 2025 squad is a very similar squad to 2024. Most of them are a year older and a year more experienced in 2025, yet they have gone backwards as a group.
Should Clarke Dermody feel hard done by?
Possibly… Dermody had two seasons as head coach of the Highlanders before being demoted to an assistant coaching role following the 2024 campaign.
The then Highlanders Head of Rugby Jamie Joseph, and Highlanders CEO Roger Clark, sat Dermody down and explained that there were areas Dermody needed to work on as a coach. Dermody agreed.
However, it felt like the whole situation was more about Joseph wanting to be the head coach than Dermody not being up to it.
They might as well re-label the Head of Rugby, or Director of Rugby, role at various organisations as the “coach in waiting” job.
Steve Hansen took on the Director of Rugby job at Toyota Verblitz in Japan, but the frustration got too much, and he is now the head coach.
Rugby Southland employed Matt Saunders as a Director of Rugby, and a year into the job, he ended up as the Stags’ head coach.
The thought that someone with Joseph’s coaching experience and lust for coaching was going to be employed to watch someone else coach the Highlanders was fanciful.
Have the Highlanders had a recruitment shocker?
Yes… The inability to snap up 21-year-old No 8 Semisi Tupou Taeiloa, when he was right under the noses of the Highlanders decision-makers, is a shocker.
There are sure to be some red faces whenever the name Semisi Tupou Taeiloa gets a mention at the moment.
Tupou Taeiloa was one of the Southland Stags’ best in 2024, and Stags coach Matt Saunders urged the Highlanders to include him in their mix.
The strong ball-carrying No 8 is the sort of player the Highlanders need right now, but on top of that, at 21, he would have provided a long-term Nasi Manu-type option for the Highlanders.
Even a wider contract would have been enough to lock him in when the Highlanders had their chance, but instead it was the sound of crickets from Highlanders HQ.
They showed no interest in the powerhouse loose forward.
Saunders and Rugby Southland then turned their focus to Moana Pasifika to try to find Tupou Taeiloa another Super Rugby opportunity.
It was initially just a short-term training opportunity, but the Moana Pasifika decision makers quickly loved what they saw.
The Southland Stag hasn’t just remained in the Moana Pasifika setup beyond the preseason but has turned out to be one of their best players to date.
Unfortunately for those at the Highlanders, the horse - or should we say the Stag - has now bolted. The Tribune understands Moana Pasifika has locked in Tupou Taeiloa long-term.
The good news for Stags fans is the 21-year-old will be back in maroon for the 2025 NPC, starting with Stag Day in Invercargill on August 2.
Are the Highlanders physically cooked?
I have no idea… but it could well be a possibility with the Highlanders appearing to fade as their 2025 campaign rolls on.
There was much talk about Jamie Joseph’s brutal preseason and how fit the team was heading into the start of the 2025 season.
You could understand the method behind that as the Highlanders looked to catch a jump on the rest of the field at the start of the season.
Jamie Joseph-coached teams have traditionally had less firepower than others, whether that was during his previous championship-winning stint with the Highlanders or with Japan at the international level.
His teams’ point of difference has often been their fitness levels and ability to take the opposition teams deep into games and outwork them.
But has this 2025 Highlanders team now fatigued?
I’ll leave that to others to share their views on that and come up with an answer.
Is Sean Withy the Highlanders’ best player?
To be fair Timoci Tavatavanawai possibly holds that tag with some of his plays in 2025, but I can put up a good case for Sean Withy.
The Southland looseforward’s work rate is sublime, and he is growing into a true leader in the Super Rugby setup. He has captaincy material written all over him, and don’t be surprised if that is where the Highlanders head to in 2026.
Withy has the attributes of a player that coach Jamie Joseph loves.
The beauty is - writing this with a maroon eye-patch in place - Withy will be back in a Stags jersey come the 2025 NPC season.
