Caleb Tangitau: Sevens World Cup finalist at 19, then 13 tries in 18 games for the Highlanders

Before his 20th birthday Caleb Tangitau had won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal and played in a Rugby World Cup Sevens final. Since moving to fifteens he has been joint top try scorer at the 2023 World Rugby Under 20 Championship and has scored 13 tries in 18 games for the Highlanders, who named him their Back of the Year and Players' Player in 2026. An Achilles injury in May 2026 ended his season, but the 23-year-old wing from the North Shore is in the Highlanders' squad for 2027.

Where he comes from

Tangitau was born on the North Shore of Auckland on 19 March 2003. His father introduced him to rugby at the age of four, RugbyPass reported, and the two used to watch sevens together when he was small. "My biggest supporters are my parents and cousins, especially my mum," he told the Rangitoto Observer in 2020.

Westlake Boys High School

He played three seasons at fullback for the Westlake Boys High School 1st XV. In 2020, when the North Harbour schools competition was cut short by Covid-19 with Westlake leading it, the 17-year-old was the only North Harbour player named in that year's Barbarians Under 18 squad and was then picked for the New Zealand Secondary Schools side, the Rangitoto Observer reported. Earlier Westlake old boys to make the national schools team included Luke McAlister and Ben Botica.

He had played little sevens before his final year at school, RugbyPass reported, but after starring for the New Zealand Condor Sevens team in 2020 he was invited to train with the All Blacks Sevens in his first year out of school, and in 2022 he earned a full-time contract, the Highlanders' profile records. His club rugby in Auckland is with Grammar Tech.

The All Blacks Sevens

Tangitau made his World Series debut at the Singapore Sevens on 9 and 10 April 2022, scoring in four matches as New Zealand reached the final, which Fiji won 28-17. He went on to play in Vancouver, Toulouse, London and Los Angeles. When New Zealand named its Commonwealth Games squad on 29 June 2022, allblacks.com noted that the teenager had "lit up the World Series in 2022 with 17 tries across four tournaments". The Highlanders say he finished that season as New Zealand's top try scorer.

At the Commonwealth Games at Coventry Stadium he scored in the 19-17 pool win over Samoa on 29 July 2022 and the 20-0 win over England on 30 July 2022. New Zealand beat Kenya 31-0 in the quarter-final, lost an extra-time semi-final to Fiji 19-14, and then beat Australia 26-12 for the bronze medal. Asked by the Highlanders for his favourite rugby memory, Tangitau chose the Commonwealth Games.

Six weeks later he was in the New Zealand squad for the Rugby World Cup Sevens at Cape Town Stadium. New Zealand, the defending champions, beat Scotland 43-5, Argentina 12-5 and Ireland 17-10 to reach the final on 11 September 2022, where Fiji won 29-12. He played two more World Series tournaments, in Dubai and Cape Town at the start of the 2022-23 series, before turning his attention to fifteens.

The Under 20s and the switch to fifteens

In 2023 Tangitau played for the New Zealand Under 20 team at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in South Africa. He scored in a 27-26 win over Wales at Paarl Gymnasium on 24 June 2023, twice against Australia at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on 9 July 2023 and twice more in a 50-26 win over Georgia at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on 14 July 2023. His five tries made him the tournament's joint top try scorer, level with his team-mate Macca Springer, France's Nicolas Depoortère and Georgia's Basa Khonelidze.

That year he also made his Super Rugby debut for the Blues, off the bench in a 54-17 win over the Rebels at AAMI Park in Melbourne on 8 April 2023, and during the 2023 NPC he and his family decided he would commit to fifteens rather than chase a place at the 2024 Paris Olympics in sevens, RugbyPass reported. He played three Super Rugby games for the Blues across 2023 and 2024.

Auckland

Tangitau's provincial rugby has been with Auckland. He scored in his first NPC game, a 32-30 win over Bay of Plenty at Tauranga Domain on 6 August 2023, and added tries against North Harbour at Onewa Domain in Takapuna on 19 August 2023 and Manawatū at Eden Park on 30 August 2023. In 2024 he scored twice in a 36-32 win over North Harbour at Eden Park on 7 September 2024 and once in a Ranfurly Shield challenge against Tasman at Trafalgar Park in Nelson on 2 October 2024. In 2025 he scored five tries in six games, including two in a 52-29 win over Manawatū at Eden Park on 14 September 2025 and one in a 29-21 win over Tasman at Lansdowne Park in Blenheim on 7 September 2025. In three seasons he has scored 12 tries in 19 games for Auckland.

The Highlanders

On 3 July 2024 the Highlanders announced that Tangitau would join them on a two-year contract from 2025. On his debut, against the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on 14 February 2025, he scored twice in a 37-36 loss. A week later, in the 29-21 win over the Blues in Dunedin that ended a run of eight straight defeats against them, his long run down the touchline set up Finn Hurley's second try. He scored against Moana Pasifika on 28 February 2025, against the Hurricanes on 14 March 2025 and twice against the Brumbies at GIO Stadium in Canberra on 28 March 2025: six tries in seven games before a groin injury ended his season.

In May 2025 the club re-signed him through to the end of 2028. "Getting an opportunity to play regularly was a big factor in my coming South," Tangitau said. Head coach Jamie Joseph called him and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens "game-changers" who "can turn a match in an instant". The ODT's Adrian Seconi wrote that Tangitau "certainly knows his way to the line".

The All Blacks XV

Back to full fitness for the NPC, Tangitau was named in the All Blacks XV squad for three matches in Europe at the end of 2025. Against the Barbarians at Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford on 1 November 2025, with the All Blacks XV 19-0 down, he scored in the corner just before half-time, then intercepted for a second try in the 58th minute to level the scores in a 33-19 win. A week later he scored the opening try against England A at the Recreation Ground in Bath on 8 November 2025, set up by Chay Fihaki, in a 31-14 win. The tour finished unbeaten after a 45-21 win over Uruguay in Béziers.

Back of the Year

Tangitau scored in the first match of 2026, a 25-23 win over the defending champion Crusaders at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 13 February 2026, and again against the Chiefs a week later. He scored twice in a 39-31 win over the Western Force on 7 March 2026 and twice against Moana Pasifika at North Harbour Stadium in Albany on 27 March 2026, and on 9 May 2026 he scored in the first half of a 31-26 win over the Waratahs in Dunedin that the club said had helped build a 28-5 half-time lead.

In the closing minutes of the match against the Chiefs at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton on 15 May 2026, he ruptured his Achilles tendon. At the Highlanders' awards evening four days later he won three awards: Back of the Year, the fans' Player of the Year and the Players' Player. He had seven tries from 11 games, which the club said made him "the joint leading try scorer for 2026".

Style and standing

The Highlanders' awards release described a season of "consistent brilliance", and a year earlier the club said his blend of power and pace had quickly made him a crowd favourite. His favourite player is Israel Dagg, and the best thing about rugby, he told the club, is "the game itself and the friendships".

Where he is now

Tangitau has not played a Test for any country. His Achilles injury means a long rehabilitation, and the Highlanders' profile says he will be looking to bounce back stronger. He was named among the seven outside backs in the club's 2027 squad on 28 October 2026 and is contracted through 2028. The Highlanders assemble on 26 November 2026 and open the 2027 season against the Fijian Drua in Fiji on 13 February 2027.

Career at a glance

Highlanders figures are from Wikipedia's list of Highlanders players (last game 15 May 2026) and match the club's season totals of six tries in 2025 and seven in 2026. Blues figures are RugbyPass's match records and agree with the Highlanders' profile total of 21 Super Rugby games; Wikipedia's infobox gives five Blues games. Auckland and Under 20 figures agree across Wikipedia and RugbyPass.