One Highlanders fullback will make a surprise early comeback but another has confirmed\u00a0his status as one of the unluckiest players in New Zealand rugby.<\/p>\n
Star custodian Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens was officially listed last week as being out for another three or four games after injuring an ankle in the game against Moana Pasifika at\u00a0North Shore Stadium on March 27.<\/p>\n
However, he has made spectacular progress in his rehabilitation and will again wear the No\u00a015 jersey for the rematch with Moana Pasifika in the Super Round game in Christchurch on\u00a0Sunday.<\/p>\n
“I think we\u2019ve got a really good medical team who work really hard with the players to get\u00a0them back as fast as possible,” Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“At the time, it (Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens\u2019 injury) looked quite serious in terms of time but\u00a0it\u2019s come back a lot quicker, so it\u2019s nice to have him back.”<\/p>\n
Heading in the opposite direction is luckless fullback Finn Hurley.<\/p>\n
The youngster has been plagued by injuries over the past two years, and after returning from\u00a0a foot problem to play 34 minutes against the Blues, he is out again \u2014 for four to six weeks \u2014\u00a0with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s really frustrated,” Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“You can see what he can do when he enters a game. He\u2019s had limited rugby in the last two\u00a0years but he can come into a big game and make a difference.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s the potential Finn has as a player. It\u2019s just getting him on the track now.”<\/p>\n
There is one more piece of bad news in the backs for the Highlanders.<\/p>\n
Utility Reesjan Pasitoa fractured his ankle in club rugby at the weekend and has been\u00a0scratched for the season.<\/p>\n
Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens replaces Taine Robinson in an all-new Highlanders back three to\u00a0play Moana Pasifika at the new Christchurch stadium.<\/p>\n
Both wingers, Caleb Tangitau (concussion) and Jona Nareki (minor ankle injury), are\u00a0scratched.<\/p>\n
The pair have each had fine seasons and have started all nine games, racking up 659 and 669\u00a0minutes respectively.<\/p>\n
Jonah Lowe, who was in excellent form at centre before missing last week\u2019s loss to the Blues,\u00a0returns from a calf niggle to start on the right wing, and Xavier Tito-Harris earns a first start\u00a0on the left wing after scoring a try off the bench in his debut at Eden Park.<\/p>\n
Tito-Harris, a native Aucklander, showed “energy and hunger” in his first minutes for the\u00a0Highlanders, Joseph said.<\/p>\n
“I thought, when he came on, he created some really good opportunities, scored a try, created\u00a0another opportunity for a try.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s been playing really well for our Bravehearts, and training really well, so he gets\u00a0another opportunity.”<\/p>\n
There are four changes to the Highlanders\u2019 forward pack.<\/p>\n
Tighthead prop Saula Ma\u2019u make his first start of the season after coming back from shoulder\u00a0surgery, and Soane Vikena will get an opportunity to help the Highlanders remedy their lineout\u00a0woes with Jack Taylor benched after 12 straight starts at hooker.<\/p>\n
Oliver Haig replaces Sean Withy on the blindside flank, and Tomas Lavanini is back at lock\u00a0for TK Howden, the only forward apart from Taylor to have started all nine games.<\/p>\n
Hugh Renton reappears on a bench with a 6-2 split.<\/p>\n
Highlanders team to play Moana Pasifika<\/p>\n
Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens, Jonah Lowe, Tanielu Tele\u2019a, Timoci\u00a0Tavatavanawai (co-captain), Xavier Tito-Harris, Cameron Millar, Adam Lennox, Nikora\u00a0Broughton, Veveni Lasaqa, Oliver Haig, Tomas\u00a0 Lavanini, Mitch Dunshea, Saula Ma\u2019u, Soane\u00a0Vikena, Ethan de Groot (co-captain). Reserves: Jack Taylor, Josh Bartlett, Angus Ta\u2019avao, TK\u00a0Howden, Hugh Renton, Lucas Casey, Folau Fakatava, Taine Robinson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One Highlanders fullback will make a surprise early comeback but another has confirmed\u00a0his status as one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-391828","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\/391828","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=391828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}