{"id":523828,"date":"2026-03-07T03:16:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:16:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/523828\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T03:16:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T03:16:24","slug":"western-force-out-to-continue-new-zealand-tour-success-against-highlanders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/523828\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Force out to continue New Zealand tour success against Highlanders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Western Force are looking to build off their maiden victory of 2026 as they face the Highlanders in Dunedin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Force heads to the South Island full of confidence following their impressive win over Moana Pasifika in Pukekohe. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stan.com.au\/watch\/sport\/rugby\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">Watch every second of the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season live and on demand via Stan Sport.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Wallabies duo Nick Champion de Crespigny and Brandon Paenga-Amosa return to the starting side, gunning for back-to-back wins over the Highlanders for the first time since 2014.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Highlanders return home after a tough defeat to the Queensland Reds in Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">All Black Angus Ta&#8217;avao comes back into the side, with the hosts eager to keep in touch with the top six.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">FOLLOW ALL THE ACTION IN THE LIVE BLOG BELOW OR THE <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugby.com.au\/match-centre\/205\/2026\/949225\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"css-tm001h\">MATCH CENTRE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>HIGHLANDERS v WESTERN FORCE TEAMS<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">HIGHLANDERS (1-15):\u00a0Ethan de Groot (co-c), Jack Taylor, Angus Ta&#8217;avao, Oliver Haig, Mitch Dunshea, Te Kamaka Howden, Veveni Lasawa, Nikora Broughton, Folau Fakatava, Cameron Millar, Jona Nareki, Timoci Tavatavanawai (co-c), Jonah Lowe, Caleb Tangitau, Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Replacements:\u00a0Soane Vikena, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Sosefo Kautai, Will Stodart, Sean Withy, Adam Lennox, Reesjan Pasitoa, Tanielu Tele&#8217;a<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">FORCE (1-15):\u00a0Tom Robertson, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Jeremy Williams (c), Darcy Swain, Nick Champion de Crepsigny, Carlo Tizzano, Vaiolini Ekausi, Nathan Hastie, Ben Donaldson, George Bridge, Hamish Stewart, Divad Palu, Darby Lancaster, Mac Grealy<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Replacements:\u00a0Nic Dolly, Sef Fa&#8217;agase, Misinale Epenisa, Franco Molina, Will Harris, Henry Robertson, Max Burey, Kurtley Beale<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Referee:\u00a0Ben O&#8217;Keeffe<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Assistant Referees:\u00a0Maggie Cogger-Orr, Warwick Lahmert<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">TMO:\u00a0Richard Kelly<\/p>\n<p>HOW TO WATCH HIGHLANDERS v WESTERN FORCE<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">The Highlanders&#8217; clash with the Force will be shown LIVE on Stan Sport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-2425b0\">Coverage will be live and ad-free on Stan Sport, slated to start at 2:00 pm with kickoff expected at 2:35 pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Western Force are looking to build off their maiden victory of 2026 as they face the Highlanders&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,215801,760,85,48013,11229],"class_list":["post-523828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-highlanders","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby-pacific","tag-western-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523828","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=523828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}