Jake Te Hiwi: from captaining Otago's Ranfurly Shield defence to the Crusaders' midfield

On a Tuesday night in June 2026, with most of Otago's Super Rugby players on a break, the Ranfurly Shield was handed to a 24-year-old midfielder from Wānaka to look after. Jake Te Hiwi led Otago out against North Otago at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 16 June 2026, scored a try in a 46-14 win and kept the Log o' Wood in Dunedin. Four months later, after 11 NPC games in a season that took Otago to the semi-finals, the Crusaders signed him for 2027. This is the story of the Otago Boys' centre who learned his trade in blue and gold and is taking it north.

Wānaka to Dunedin

Te Hiwi was born on 2 January 2002, the date given by Wikipedia. He grew up in Wānaka, the Otago Daily Times reported in 2022, and moved to Dunedin at a young age to attend Kavanagh College and then Otago Boys' High School. The Highlanders describe him as raised in Dunedin, and it is the city where his rugby took shape: at Otago Boys', in the Otago academy and at the Green Island club, where he has played in the same backline as his older brother.

Otago Boys' High School

By 2018 Te Hiwi was a Year 11 pupil in the Otago Boys' First XV, playing centre in a backline that also featured his brother at fullback. The ODT described him that August as a midfielder who liked to take the ball into contact and win the collision. Asked about the hallway battles the brothers had growing up, he said with a grin: "I probably won most of them to be fair."

The big game of that season came on 25 August 2018, the Southern Region Top Four final against Southland Boys' High School at Littlebourne in Dunedin. Southland Boys' were led by an openside named Sean Withy, who has since become a Highlanders loose forward, and the visitors pressed hard in the first half, but Otago Boys' held them out to lead 5-0 at the break and then opened the game up with three tries in eight minutes in the second half. The second of them came when Te Hiwi burst clean through a gaping hole in the defence to put wing Michael Manson over. Otago Boys' won 26-7 to book a South Island final against Christchurch Boys' High School. Named on the Otago Boys' bench that day was Oliver Haig, later his team-mate for New Zealand Under 20, Otago and the Highlanders, as well as at Green Island.

The breakthrough year: 2022

Everything arrived at once in 2022. Te Hiwi played for the Highlanders Under 20 side at the Super Rugby Under 20 tournament, then made the New Zealand Under 20 squad for the Oceania Under 20 Championship at Sunshine Coast Stadium in Kawana Waters, Queensland. He started all three games: at centre in the 74-5 win over Fiji on 1 July 2022, and on the wing against Argentina on 5 July 2022 and Australia on 10 July 2022.

He scored in both of those wing starts. Against Argentina he crossed in a 32-9 win, along with Haig, his old school team-mate. Against Australia he did more. New Zealand Rugby's match report described him chasing a well-placed kick so hard that he hurried the retreating Australian first five into deliberately knocking the ball dead, which earned a penalty try, and then scoring one of his own early in the second half. New Zealand won 69-12, a record winning margin against Australia at that level, and took the Oceania title unbeaten. The squad was full of future All Blacks: George Bell, who captained it and scored a hat-trick that night, Wallace Sititi, Peter Lakai, Noah Hotham and Fabian Holland among them.

Te Hiwi called his first appearance in the black jersey "one of the best moments of my life". He had started an applied science course at Otago Polytechnic, but put his studies on hold as the rugby took over.

Otago

Within days of coming home he was named in Otago's squad for the 2022 NPC, one of five newcomers. "It's all kind of popped up out of nowhere," he told the ODT. His first-class debut came on Wednesday 17 August 2022, against Hawke's Bay at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. He came off the bench for Vilimoni Koroi in the 80th minute, and Otago held on to win 18-13. He played three games that season, one on the wing, one at centre and one off the bench.

In 2023 he became a regular, with seven games, six of them at centre. His first provincial try came in the season opener on 4 August 2023, a 27-15 loss to Tasman at Trafalgar Park in Nelson, when a Tasman intercept attempt bobbled into his arms and he muscled his way over from 7m out. His second came on 10 September 2023, when Otago beat Northland 30-15 in Dunedin.

He did not play for Otago in 2024, and 2025 began with a groin injury. He worked his way back through the Tuppy Diack Shield, setting up two tries and scoring one for Otago Metro South in a 52-7 win over Southland Metro, and was named on the bench for his return, against Hawke's Bay in Dunedin on 10 August 2025. Two weeks later, on 24 August 2025, he was picked at second five against Counties Manukau in Dunedin, and Otago won 33-19. Otago coach Mark Brown explained the selection simply: "He's a strong carrier with some really good footwork." The ODT noted that Te Hiwi and Josh Timu had formed a formidable defensive midfield pairing.

A foot injury ruled him out of the game against Taranaki on 13 September 2025, and he did not add to his five appearances that season. Otago went on to win the Ranfurly Shield in Christchurch on 20 September 2025 and reach the NPC final, which Canterbury won 36-28 in Christchurch on 25 October 2025.

Captain of the Shield

Otago's first defence of the Shield in 2026 came against North Otago in Dunedin on 16 June 2026, outside the NPC season. With most of the union's Super Rugby players resting, the selectors gave Te Hiwi the captaincy. He scored Otago's last try, in the 71st minute of a 46-14 win, and his fellow Highlanders midfielder Josh Whaanga scored twice.

The 2026 NPC was his most complete provincial season. He played 11 of Otago's 12 games, and RugbyPass's statistics have him with one try, four try assists and 111 tackles. His try came on 11 September 2026 in a 57-33 win over Tasman in Dunedin. When RugbyPass picked its team of the NPC season, it chose Te Hiwi at No 12, noting that he ranked inside the competition's top ten for defenders beaten and singling out his games in a 61-22 win over Wellington on 23 August 2026, a 50-21 win over Counties Manukau in Pukekohe on 17 September 2026 and a 45-42 win over Auckland on 1 October 2026, along with both meetings with Hawke's Bay.

The second of those Hawke's Bay games was a 50-14 quarter-final win in Dunedin on 10 October 2026. Otago's season ended a week later in the semi-final, on 16 October 2026, when Northland won 38-19 at Semenoff Stadium in Whangārei. Te Hiwi started at second five that night. In the Northland midfield was Corey Evans, who will be one of his new team-mates at the Crusaders.

His provincial record stands at 26 NPC games and three NPC tries for Otago, plus the try in the Shield defence against North Otago.

The Highlanders

Te Hiwi's first taste of Super Rugby came in 2023, when the Highlanders called him into the squad as injury cover for round three. He made his debut on 10 March 2023 against the Chiefs at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton, where the Chiefs won 28-7. He played twice that season.

In 2024 he signed his first full-time Super Rugby contract. The Highlanders called him "the explosive youngster" when they named him at second five against the Western Force at Forsyth Barr Stadium on 27 April 2024, his first game of the season and his third for the club. The Highlanders won 7-6, and he kept the No 12 jersey for a piece of history a week later: the first Super Rugby Pacific match played in Tonga, against Moana Pasifika at Teufaiva Sport Stadium in Nukuʻalofa on 4 May 2024. The Highlanders won 28-17. Te Hiwi started six games that year, four at second five and two at centre.

He played three more games in 2025, one of them a start. He was first named in a match-day 23 that season for the 31-29 win over Moana Pasifika at North Harbour Stadium in Albany on 28 February 2025, and his start came in the southern derby against the Crusaders in Dunedin on 26 April 2025, alongside his Otago midfield partner Thomas Umaga-Jensen. The Crusaders won that night 43-10.

He was named in the Highlanders' 2026 squad, with the club listing him and Whaanga as challengers to Timoci Tavatavanawai and Tanielu Tele'a in the midfield, but he did not play a Super Rugby game that season. His Highlanders record is 11 games, with no tries.

Style and standing

Te Hiwi is listed at 1.84m and 100kg, and the words used about him are about power. The Highlanders have called him explosive and "hard charging"; the ODT's school rugby writer saw a centre who wanted to win the collision as a 16-year-old; and the Otago coach pointed to his carrying and footwork. He is a natural midfielder who has also played wing, for New Zealand Under 20 and for Otago, and he has said he will wear whatever jersey he is given.

He has not played Test rugby for any country.

The Crusaders

The Crusaders named their 2027 squad on 28 October 2026 and listed Te Hiwi as one of two new midfield signings, with Corey Evans, joining Leicester Fainga'anuku, Toby Bell and Cooper Roberts. The red and blacks are rebuilding in the centres: David Havili, Dallas McLeod and Braydon Ennor have all left, and new head coach Scott Hansen told Sport Nation that it was great to bring Te Hiwi in from Otago. Richie Mo'unga returns to the squad at first five.

The 2027 Super Rugby Pacific season starts on Friday 12 February 2027, when the Crusaders host the Reds at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch.

Career at a glance

NPC figures by season: 2022, 3 games and no tries; 2023, 7 games and 2 tries; 2024, none; 2025, 5 games and no tries; 2026, 11 games and 1 try. Super Rugby: 2023, 2 games; 2024, 6; 2025, 3; 2026, none. Figures are from Kerry Geertson's NZ Rugby History records to 2025 and RugbyPass for 2026, checked against the try-scorers in the published match records; the two sources agree for every season they share.