Jack Taylor: the teenage hooker whose 50-metre try beat the Crusaders, now the Highlanders' first-choice No 2

With 90 seconds left in a pre-season match at Weston Park near Oamaru on 10 February 2023, the Highlanders trailed the defending champions, the Crusaders. Their 19-year-old hooker took an offload from Josh Dickson, ran into space, grubber-kicked past two defenders, won the race to the ball and scored the try that completed a 35-33 comeback. Rugby World ran the clip under the headline "Hookers shouldn't score tries like this." Jack Taylor has since become the Highlanders' first-choice hooker, an All Blacks XV tourist and one of the young Southlanders the club has signed through to at least 2028.

From Waimumu to Southland Boys'

Taylor was born on 25 June 2003, and the Highlanders describe him as Southland-born. The Southland Tribune places his roots in Waimumu, just out of Gore, and the Highlanders list his home club as Southern.

His junior rugby was played in Gore. In 2015 he was part of what the Southland Tribune called a dominant group of Albion Excelsior players in Southland's under-13 country competition, alongside a future Highlanders first five, Cameron Millar. He came up through the Southland age-group system, the Southland Tribune records, and was a key figure in the Southland Boys' High School First XV. In September 2021, while he was still a teenager, Stuff reported that he had signed with both the Highlanders and the Southland Stags. Before he made the full Super Rugby squad he was part of the Highlanders' high performance programme, which the club says paved his way into Super Rugby, and in 2022 he trained with the Stags without yet playing NPC rugby for them.

Asked by the Highlanders what he would do if he were not playing rugby, his answer was short: "I'd be a farmer."

The try at Weston Park

That pre-season match, the 2023 Farmlands Cup, was played in front of what the Crusaders called the biggest crowd ever at Weston Park, at least 4,000 by the estimate of the local club president. The two sides used different line-ups in each half, and the Crusaders led 27-6 at half-time.

Taylor changed the game in the second half. He scored twice, 1News reported, and the second try came in the last minutes, from the offload, the chip through and the chase. It happened in the same week that Dane Coles announced his retirement, which Rugby World noted alongside the clip.

A month later, on 7 March 2023, he re-signed with the Stags for the 2023 and 2024 NPC seasons. "He has shown tremendous growth and development since joining us," said Matt Saunders, Rugby Southland's director of rugby. Taylor said the Stags were "a team I've grown up watching my whole life".

Super Rugby debut

His first competitive game for the Highlanders came in round five of the 2023 season. Called into the squad with a long list of Highlanders injured, he was named on the bench against the Fijian Drua at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on 25 March 2023, and he replaced Leni Apisai in the 63rd minute, ESPN's match commentary shows. The Highlanders won 57-24. He became Highlander number 338.

New Zealand Under 20

Taylor went to the 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship in South Africa with New Zealand Under 20. He played five matches, Wikipedia records, and scored a try against Australia at Athlone Stadium in Cape Town on 9 July 2023. New Zealand finished the tournament with a 50-26 win over Georgia at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on 14 July 2023. Several of his team-mates from that side are now Super Rugby regulars, among them Caleb Tangitau, Peter Lakai, Noah Hotham and Taha Kemara.

The Stags

Taylor made his NPC debut for Southland later in 2023 and, the Southland Tribune wrote, finished the season as the Stags' frontline hooker. He has been part of every Stags squad since. By the Highlanders' count he has played 19 games for Southland and scored 20 points. When the Stags named their squad for the 2026 NPC, head coach Matt Saunders listed him with Mitch Dunshea and Sean Withy as the experienced campaigners in the pack, at the age of 23.

Earning the No 2 jersey

In 2024 Taylor was in the full Highlanders squad for the first time and, the club says, played 11 more games, most of them off the bench. His first Super Rugby start came against the Brumbies at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 16 March 2024, and the Gore connection was hard to miss: Millar started at first five, and the loosehead beside Taylor was another Gore product, the All Black Ethan de Groot.

In 2025 he was used mainly as a replacement again, and Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph spoke about what he brought. "Jack has always created some impact for us," Joseph told the Southland Tribune in May 2025, adding that the young hooker "creates some energy for the forward pack and the team in big moments." Joseph, who had taken over as head coach that season, started him against the Hurricanes in Wellington on 16 May 2025, his second start of the season, both of them against the Hurricanes.

His first Super Rugby try came on 12 April 2025 against the Fijian Drua at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Off the bench in the second half, he scored from a lineout drive, the Otago Daily Times reported, and the Highlanders won 43-20 to end a four-game losing run.

The Highlanders profile describes 2025 as an impressive Super Rugby and NPC season, and it earned him a black jersey.

The All Blacks XV

On 14 October 2025 New Zealand Rugby named Taylor as one of three hookers in the All Blacks XV squad for a three-match tour of Europe, alongside Brodie McAlister and Bradley Slater, under Joseph as head coach.

He started the opening match, against the Barbarians at the Gtech Community Stadium in Brentford, London, on 1 November 2025, packing down between Xavier Numia and George Dyer. It was, allblacks.com noted, the first time he had worn the black jersey at senior level. The Barbarians fielded a heavy, largely South African pack including the World Cup-winning Springboks hooker Bongi Mbonambi, and they led 19-0 after 26 minutes. The All Blacks XV scored 33 unanswered points to win 33-19.

A week later, on 8 November 2025, he was on the bench for the 31-14 win over England A at the Recreation Ground in Bath, his second appearance, and the side finished the tour unbeaten with a 45-21 win over Uruguay at the Stade Raoul Barrière in Béziers on 15 November 2025. He did not score on the tour. In its tour wrap allblacks.com wrote that Taylor "is promising with his bustling approach".

First choice

In 2026, under Joseph again, Taylor became the Highlanders' regular starting hooker, the club's profile says, praising his set-piece work and his play on both sides of the ball. RugbyPass described the season as his breakthrough: he took over the starting minutes from Henry Bell and packed down in a front row with All Blacks Ethan de Groot and Angus Ta'avao.

On 19 June 2026 the Highlanders announced that 15 players had committed their futures to the club. Taylor was one of eight young players signed through to at least 2028, alongside Finn Hurley, Caleb Tangitau, Adam Lennox, Sean Withy, Will Stodart, Josh Tengblad and Josh Bartlett. "What excites us about this group is the mix of experience, youth and leadership," said the Highlanders chief executive, Roger Clark.

Where he is now

Taylor is one of three hookers in the Highlanders' 2027 squad, with Henry Bell and the newcomer Ioane Moananu, and the Otago Daily Times expects him to have to hold off Moananu's challenge for the No 2 jersey. The squad assembles on 26 November 2026, and the 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season opens on 12 February 2027.

He has not yet played a Test for the All Blacks, so he has no Test tries yet. What representing the Highlanders means to him, he told the club, is "living my childhood dream".

Career at a glance

Southland and Highlanders figures are from the Highlanders' player profile; under-20 figures are from Wikipedia. Taylor has not played a Test for the All Blacks: no Test tries yet.