“It’s a chaos week for us, but feel for our coach and we’re grateful that we have him for the next few years.
“We have Gus [Ta’avao] back in the team [to] bring a lot of excitement and energy to the team. We owe it to him and to get the win today and it’s special.”
The Highlanders dominated the opening exchanges and eventually opened the scoring in bizarre fashion when Western Force halfback Nathan Hastie’s box kick bounced backwards into the hands of Cam Millar. That allowed the hosts to launch a break, with Folau Fakatava putting Veveni Lasaqa over in the corner.
The Highlanders kicked a penalty goal to extend their lead, but there was a quick momentum swing and the Force got on the board when New Zealand-born backrower Vaiolini Ekuasi dived over close to the line.
The Highlanders were finding plenty of space on the edges and an attack down the right by Lowe saw the Highlanders claim their second.
The hosts looked set to head in the break in control, but they were left shellshocked with the Force scoring two tries in four minutes to silence the crowd.
Firstly, Jeremy Williams crashed over from close range, before Ben Donaldson made a mid-field break to find Hamish Stewart who scored near the posts which saw the Force lead 21-17 at the break.
The Highlanders then regained the lead in the 54th minute when Lowe ran onto an excellent grubber from Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens to score his second before Caleb Tangitau was left unmarked on the wing to score their fourth of the match.
The Force refused to budge and regained the lead with two quick tries through Carlo Tizzano scored off a rolling maul, followed by former All Black George Bridge finding his way over in the corner.
The Highlanders responded immediately through a counterattack which started with a chip and chase by Jonah Nareki which he regathered and was stopped just short of the line. Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens then chipped to the corner to find an unmarked Tangitau for his second.
A late penalty goal from Reesjan Pasitoa sealed the win for the Highlanders.