Close, but no cigar. Once again the Highlanders have fallen short in a close Super Rugby Pacific encounter, this time at the hands of the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
The Highlanders fought back after halftime, having been behind, with in-form speedster Caleb Tangitau continuing his scintillating form by scoring another double on Friday night.
It’s the same story for Jamie Joseph’s men, as the loss on Friday night against the Brumbies marked their fourth close defeat of the season. All of their 2025 losing margins has been seven points or below.
Despite the defeat, Joseph was pleased with the way his team bounced back from a slow start to wrestle the momentum back in favour of the Dunedin-based side.
“I think our players play really good rugby, I’m not sure of the stats, but I think we just made too many errors, really a lot of unforced errors that actually put a lot of pressure on the team,” Joseph said to media post-match in Canberra.
“What I’m proud about is the way that we defended and the way that we got ourselves back into the game, it was 15-5 at halftime, and then we worked our way back into the match, and then put ourselves in the winning position.
“When I look at the game, and in terms of summarising it all, we played well together. We tackled together, we defended together and they played well for each other.”
Joseph said it’s tough to pinpoint where the game got away from them, but he says the momentum switch at set piece time was a factor.
“Then these momentum changes could have been a penalty for us at the scrum, but it was a penalty against us. Next thing we know, but in terms of coaching, pretty proud of my guys, we’ve got a young side.”
Highlanders captain Timoci Tavatavanawai was quick to mention their execution errors, saying that they will need to improve these for next weekend’s matchup against the Force in Perth.
“We work together as a team and in the end we didn’t get didn’t get the results today, but just like I said earlier, just those little skills execution there, we need to sharpen up as individuals,” Tavatavanawai said post-match.
Tangitau admitted his teammates were disappointed with the result, especially after losing the last couple of games.
“Yeah, really disappointed, we had a tough loss last week, so we wanted to bounce back this week,” Tangitau told Stan Sports broadcast on Friday evening.
“But on to the next we go.”
Tangitau has been electric for the Highlanders in 2025, saying that he’s enjoying the game time at the Highlanders.
“Yeah I love it, I love being out here with my Highlanders boys, especially the game time, growing my confidence each game.
“I’m enjoying it so far here.”
