The Highlanders will kick off their 2026 preseason with a highly anticipated clash against the champion Crusaders at Fraser Park, Timaru, on Friday 30 January.<\/p>\n
A 31\u2011player squad has been confirmed for the annual preseason fixture, which will be contested over four 20\u2011minute quarters. Loose forward Will Stodart will lead the side in the opening spell.<\/p>\n
The match will feature the debut of Argentinian international lock Tom\u00e1s Lavanini, who joins the Highlanders for the 2026 campaign. Supporters will also be eager to see the explosive Stanley Solomon in action, alongside speedsters Xavier Tito\u2011Harris and Caleb Tangitau [pictured], who will combine as a dynamic back three in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
The second half will see Australian playmaker, Reesjan Pasitoa, take control in the No.10 jersey, with last season\u2019s first\u2011five, Taine Robinson, shifting to fullback. Up front, former Blues and All Blacks prop Angus Ta\u2019avao will anchor the scrum, packing down alongside hooker Jack Taylor, who will captain the side in the second half.<\/p>\n
The match will be refereed by Paul Williams and\u00a0is officially sold out with a livestream available on the\u00a0Crusaders Youtube channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Highlanders Squad<\/p>\n
First 40 Team
\n\t1 Josh Bartlett
\n\t2 Soane Vikena
\n\t3 Sefo Kautai
\n\t4 Tai Cribb
\n\t5 Tomas Lavanini
\n\t6 Oliver Haig
\n\t7 Lucas Casey
\n\t8 Will Stodart (C)
\n\t9 Adam Lennox\u00a0
\n\t10 Cameron Millar\u00a0
\n\t11 Xavier Tito-Harris\u00a0
\n\t12 Meihana Grindlay
\n\t13 Tanielu Tele’a
\n\t14 Caleb Tangitau
\n\t15 Stanley Solomon<\/p>\n
Second 40 Team
\n\t1 Rohan Wingham
\n\t2 Jack Taylor (C)
\n\t3 Angus Ta’avao
\n\t4 Josh Tengblad
\n\t5 Tai Cribb
\n\t6 Te Kamaka Howden
\n\t7 Veveni Lasaqa
\n\t8 Nikora Broughton
\n\t9 Nic Shearer
\n\t10 Reesjan Pasitoa
\n\t11 Josh Whaanga
\n\t12 Tayne Harvey
\n\t13 Jonah Lowe
\n\t14 Stanley Solomon
\n\t15 Taine Robinson
\n\t16 Henry Bell\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Crusaders have named their\u00a0 37-man\u00a0squad\u00a0to face the Highlanders.\u00a0The squad features a mixture of experience and some fresh faces who are joining the Crusaders squad for the first time\u00a0for the match.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ethan Blackadder will captain the first half XV that will see midfielder Toby Bell\u00a0feature\u00a0alongside the steady head of Braydon Ennor. Fans will be excited to see Crusaders Academy product James White start in the fullback position after a stellar NPC season with Canterbury.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finlay Brewis will make his long-awaited return from injury to start at loosehead alongside\u00a0Manumaua\u00a0Letiu and Seb Calder in the front row.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Antonio\u00a0Shalfoon\u00a0and\u00a0Tahlor\u00a0Cahill will be paired at lock while exciting newcomer Oli Mathis and Johnny Lee will\u00a0bring power to\u00a0the forward pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kyle Preston and Taha Kemara will start in the 9\/10 combo while\u00a0Wider Training Group member Kurtis MacDonald will be on the left wing, with support from Chay\u00a0Fihaki\u00a0on the right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rivez\u00a0Reihana\u00a0will start the second half in the number 10 jersey and will take over the captaincy from Blackadder for the second half.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The front row will feature two\u00a0new faces\u00a0to the red and black: Wider Training Group members Jack Sexton and Tomasi Maka, alongside\u00a0Kershawl\u00a0Sykes-Martin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Xavier Treacy will be paired with Jamie Hannah at lock,\u00a0while loose forwards Dom Gardiner, Corey Kellow and Xavier\u00a0Saifoloi\u00a0will complete the forward pack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Louie Chapman, who is set for an exciting\u00a0season after earning\u00a0his first\u00a0full contract will start at halfback,\u00a0while\u00a0dynamic back\u00a0Cooper Grant will start at centre\u00a0alongside Dallas McLeod.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Explosive playmaker Maloni\u00a0Kunawave\u00a0will steady the ship at fullback while\u00a0new faces\u00a0Nic\u00a0Sauira\u00a0and Jae Broomfield will bring some flair on the wings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
First 40 Team
\n\t1 Finlay Brewis
\n\t2 Manumaua Letiu
\n\t3 Seb Calder
\n\t4 Antonio Shalfoon
\n\t5 Tahlor Cahill
\n\t6 Ethan Blackadder [c]
\n\t7 Oli Mathis
\n\t8 Johnny Lee
\n\t9 Kyle Preston
\n\t10 Taha Kemara
\n\t11 Kurtis MacDonald\u00a0
\n\t12 Toby Bell
\n\t13 Braydon Ennor
\n\t14 Chay Fihaki
\n\t15 James White<\/p>\n
Second 40 Team
\n\t1 Jack Sexton
\n\t2 Tomasi Maka
\n\t3 Kershawl Sykes-Martin
\n\t4 Jamie Hannah
\n\t5 Xavier Treacy
\n\t6 Dom Gardiner
\n\t7 Corey Kellow
\n\t8 Xavier Saifoloi
\n\t9 Louie Chapman
\n\t10 Rivez Reihana [c]
\n\t11 Nic Sauira\u00a0
\n\t12 Cooper Grant
\n\t13 Dallas McLeod
\n\t14 Jae Broomfield
\n\t15 Maloni Kunawave<\/p>\n
Reserves: Tonga Helu, Nick Hyde, Gus Brown, Jake Frost, Sam Hainsworth-Fa’aofo, Mitch Drummond, Isaac Murray-Macgregor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Highlanders will kick off their 2026 preseason with a highly anticipated clash against the champion Crusaders at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-444269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}