{"id":398305,"date":"2026-04-26T10:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/398305\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:22:14","slug":"super-rugby-pacific-highlanders-heap-more-misery-on-moana-pasifika-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/398305\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby Pacific: Highlanders heap more misery on Moana Pasifika"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Xavier<\/p>\n

\nXavier Tito-Harris in action for the Highlanders against Moana Pasifika.
\nPhoto: Andrew Cornaga\/Photosport\n<\/p>\n

The Highlanders have held off a spirited Moana Pasifika 27-17 in their first appearance at Christchurch’s Te Kaha Stadium.<\/p>\n

Both sides opted to play enterprising rugby under the roof, producing some pulsating moments across a highly competitive 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

It took 25 minutes for the first points, the Highlanders freeing up Jonah Lowe outside to waltz over for the opener.<\/p>\n

Moana Pasifika struck back in style, a rampaging run from Semisi Tupou Ta’eiloa taking them into the 22, before Willy Havili sent a towering cross over for Israel Leota to soar into the sky and score a stunner.<\/p>\n

They would then take the lead as Glen Vaihu was put one on one with Cam Millar and skinned him to give Moana Pasifika a 10-7 halftime advantage.<\/p>\n

Things were squared up shortly after the break through the boot of Millar before Angus Ta’avao rumbled over from close range.<\/p>\n

Adam Lennox, moving from halfback to wing, showcased his gas as he latched onto a Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens grubber and skinned the cover.<\/p>\n

Replacement Augustine Pulu gave Moana Pasifika a sniff after running a superb line and getting flipped into the in-goal.<\/p>\n

However, more Moana Pasifika mistakes would hand it to the Highlanders, Millar knocking over the final points right on the siren.<\/p>\n

See how things went down in RNZ’s liveblog below.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n

\"Highlanders<\/p>\n

\nPhoto: Liam Swiggs \/ RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xavier Tito-Harris in action for the Highlanders against Moana Pasifika. Photo: Andrew Cornaga\/Photosport The Highlanders have held off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-398305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-audio","tag-current-affairs","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398305","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=398305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}