An unexpected new face will be pitched into battle as the Highlanders attempt to rescue\u00a0their season on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Southland halfback Nic Shearer has made an almighty leap and will make his Super Rugby\u00a0debut when he starts in the must-win game against Moana Pasifika at North Harbour Stadium.<\/p>\n
Shearer was initially only a member of the wider training squad \u2014 effectively making him\u00a0the fourth-string halfback at the Highlanders \u2014 but he was upgraded to a full contract when\u00a0rookie sensation Dylan Pledger suffered a season-ending injury in January.<\/p>\n
The Christ\u2019s College old boy, who made his NPC debut for Canterbury in 2024 before\u00a0impressing with the Stags last year, has played well for the Highlanders development team in\u00a0recent weeks.<\/p>\n
“Every game Nic has played for the Bravehearts, he\u2019s really taken it by storm, and he\u2019s been\u00a0in outstanding form,” Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s playing without any mental stress. He\u2019s just wants to play the game, and he\u2019s a young\u00a0fellow. I think he\u2019ll get into the game and show what he\u2019s like.”<\/p>\n
Adam Lennox, who has one start at halfback this season, remains on the bench.<\/p>\n
Former All Blacks halfback Folau Fakatava, who will stay with the Highlanders as a non-playing reserve, has started five games but been in mixed form.<\/p>\n
“I think Folau is not playing as well as he can, and sometimes that\u2019s because there\u2019s a lot of\u00a0pressure he feels he\u2019s been put under from the opposition,\u2019\u2019 Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“A break away from the game will do wonders for Folau.”<\/p>\n
Shearer will combine with Reesjan Pasitoa, who remains at first five with Cameron Millar\u00a0sidelined with a head knock.<\/p>\n
Jonah Lowe is at centre for his 50th Super Rugby game, and the back three remains\u00a0unchanged, but there is a big change at second five.<\/p>\n
Tanielu Tele\u2019a replaces rampaging co-captain Timoci Tavatavanawai, who is “rested” \u2014 he\u00a0is on the bench \u2014 as a form of load management.<\/p>\n
“Jim\u2019s [Tavatavanawai] got a really sore foot,” Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“He can hardly walk. But he\u2019s a tough old battler.”<\/p>\n
Similarly, hard-working flanker Sean Withy has battled ankle and knee niggles and is getting\u00a0a minor freshen-up with a seat on the bench.<\/p>\n
Veveni Lasaqa gets a second start of the season in place of rookie Lucas Casey at openside,\u00a0TK Howden moves from lock to blindside, and Pumas veteran Tomas Lavanini is fit to make a\u00a0second appearance at lock.<\/p>\n
Despite the issues plaguing the Highlanders\u2019 lineout, young hooker Jack Taylor keeps his\u00a0place in an unchanged front row.<\/p>\n
There is an all-new set of forwards on the bench with Henry Bell, Daniel Lienert-Brown,\u00a0Rohan Wingham and Will Stodart ready for battle.<\/p>\n
Highlanders team to play Moana Pasifika<\/p>\n
Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Caleb Tangitau, Jonah Lowe, Tanielu Tele\u2019a,\u00a0Jona Nareki, Reesjan Pasitoa, Nic Shearer, Hugh Renton (captain), Veveni Lasaqa, TK\u00a0Howden, Tomas Lavanini, Oliver Haig, Angus Ta\u2019avao, Jack Taylor, Ethan de Groot. Reserves:\u00a0Henry Bell, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Rohan Wingham, Will Stodart, Sean Withy, Adam Lennox,\u00a0Andrew Knewstubb, Timoci Tavatavanawai.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An unexpected new face will be pitched into battle as the Highlanders attempt to rescue\u00a0their season on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346969,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-346968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}