Cam Millar kicked a penalty from 48 metres with 90 seconds left in the first match of the season to beat the defending champions. It was a fine way to start and, in a sense, the whole season in miniature: the Highlanders were never far away in 2026. They just kept losing the moment.

Ninth of eleven, five wins from fourteen. But four of those nine losses came down to one incident, and three of their players made the competition's Team of the Year. This was not a bad side.

Here is all of it, game by game.

A note on player of the match: there was no Player of the Match award at any Super Rugby Pacific match in 2026.

The season at a glance

| | | |---|---| | Head coach | Jamie Joseph | | Co-captains | Timoci Tavatavanawai and Hugh Renton | | Ladder | 9th of 11, 5 wins 9 losses, 24 points | | Points | 327 for, 424 against | | Team of the Year | Ethan de Groot, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Caleb Tangitau |

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The regular season

Round 1: Highlanders 25, Crusaders 23 (Dunedin, 13 Feb)

The upset that opened the competition. Caleb Tangitau burned three defenders for the season's first try, Jonah Lowe put Angus Ta'avao over and then scored himself, and after Taha Kemara nudged the Crusaders ahead with nine minutes left, Millar landed the winner from 48 metres. Of note: Ta'avao scored with his first touch on debut for the club, off the bench. 15,170 in.

Round 2: Highlanders 23, Chiefs 26 (Dunedin, 21 Feb)

A hard week and a harder night. Before kickoff the ground paid tribute to Leo, the son of prop Angus Ta'avao, who had died that week. Jona Nareki scored inside three minutes, but the Chiefs edged clear, and late tries to Tangitau and Veveni Lasaqa only secured a bonus point. Of note: two missed conversions were the difference between a bonus point and a famous win.

Round 3: Reds 31, Highlanders 14 (Brisbane, 27 Feb)

On the wrong end of a try-of-the-year contender, Harry Wilson throwing a no-look pass between his legs in the buildup. The Highlanders closed to five behind Tavatavanawai before the Reds pulled clear.

Round 4: Highlanders 39, Western Force 31 (Dunedin, 7 Mar)

The lead changed hands six times. Trailing at the break, the Highlanders were dragged forward by Tavatavanawai bumping off half a dozen defenders in two enormous midfield surges. Tangitau's second and a late Pasitoa penalty sealed it. Of note: this was the week Jamie Joseph missed out on the All Blacks job to Dave Rennie. He coached his side to their best performance of the season days later.

Round 5: Crusaders 29, Highlanders 18 (Christchurch, 14 Mar)

The 50th South Island derby, and a painful one. Ahead 18-12 early in the second half, they then watched Crusaders debutant Johnny Lee score twice in six minutes. Of note, and it hurt: the Crusaders had three players yellow-carded. The Highlanders scored nothing during any of it and did not even take a losing bonus point.

Round 6: Highlanders 7, Hurricanes 50 (Dunedin, 20 Mar)

The low point. Only 7-19 down at halftime before conceding five second-half tries. The ODT called it the club's heaviest defeat in 30 years, and columnist Hayden Meikle's verdict was blunt: the Highlanders were "a fair way off the pace."

Round 7: Moana Pasifika 19, Highlanders 39 (North Harbour, 27 Mar)

Their most complete performance, 27-0 up at halftime, and the strangest night of the season. The stadium lost power around the 60th minute and the broadcast died for the final quarter. Play resumed with a light tower still out, and anyone not at the ground could only follow it on Moana Pasifika's Instagram. Of note: Nic Shearer's first Super Rugby try. Moana finished with 13 men.

Round 8: bye

Round 9: Highlanders 10, Brumbies 14 (Dunedin, 10 Apr)

Another one by a moment. Nareki chipped and regathered his own kick on 63 minutes to put them ahead. Hooker Henry Bell was then binned, and Luke Reimer crashed over on 75 to win it. The Brumbies made 18 turnovers and still won.

Round 10: Blues 47, Highlanders 40 (Eden Park, 17 Apr)

Thirteen tries, and they nearly stole it. Down 33-14, they scored four of the last five and were inside the Blues 22 with a chance to force extra time before a knock-on ended it. Of note: Tangitau was knocked unconscious by a high tackle around the 32nd minute, and his long pass still put Tanielu Tele'a in for the try. Xavier Tito-Harris finished an 80-metre movement on debut.

Round 11: Highlanders 27, Moana Pasifika 17 (Christchurch, 26 Apr)

An ANZAC weekend fixture at the new One NZ Stadium, opened with Moana's Tau Moana answered by the Highlanders' Hautoa Kia Toa. Ta'avao and Adam Lennox got them out to 24-10. Of note: a bloodied Millar kicked a penalty after the siren to deny Moana a bonus point.

Round 12: Fijian Drua 24, Highlanders 14 (Ba, Fiji, 2 May)

The Drua's first ever win over the Highlanders, after four straight defeats. Ahead 14-12 at the break, they then conceded twice and, with a Drua player in the bin, raided repeatedly without scoring. The finals were effectively gone.

Round 13: Highlanders 31, Waratahs 26 (Dunedin, 9 May)

21-0 inside twenty minutes, Tangitau beating four defenders for the second. Then it got hard: Nareki was red-carded on 58 minutes and they held on with 14, Millar's penalty after the siren finishing it. Of note: a 13th consecutive Waratahs loss in New Zealand.

Round 14: Chiefs 42, Highlanders 12 (Hamilton, 15 May)

The scrum was dominant early and they turned down easy shots at goal. Then a yellow card flipped it and the Chiefs scored six tries. Of note, and the saddest moment of their year: Caleb Tangitau suffered a non-contact knee injury after the siren and was carted off distraught. Their most dangerous back, gone.

Round 15: Hurricanes 45, Highlanders 28 (Wellington, 23 May)

Seventy-four minutes a man down. Prop Daniel Lienert-Brown was red-carded in the sixth minute for a high shot to Devan Flanders' neck. They still scored four tries.

Round 16: bye. Season over.

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The season in the round

Ninth, 5-9, 24 points. Ten short of the top six. But look closer and it is a season of margins: a knock-on in the Blues 22, a yellow card against the Brumbies, three Crusaders sin-binnings they could not punish.

Joseph put his finger on it precisely afterwards: "There was moments in games where we created a winning opportunity, and for whatever reason, be it a yellow card, or a red card, or a penalty at the wrong time, the opportunity went." He also named the fix: more experience and composure at 9, 10 and 13.

Cam Millar top-scored with 91 points, sixth in the whole competition. Tangitau and Jonah Lowe led the try-scoring on 7 each.

The individual honours tell you the talent was real. Three Highlanders made the inaugural Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year: Ethan de Groot, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Caleb Tangitau. And Tavatavanawai finished level with Quinn Tupaea on 43 votes for Player of the Year, losing only on a countback of three-vote scores. That is as close as it gets.

Depth was the problem. Fabian Holland and Dylan Pledger missed the entire season, and Tangitau's knee ended the year of the man who had just been named the competition's best fullback.

Context matters, though. This side won the wooden spoon in 2025 with three wins. In 2026 they beat the defending champions, the Force, Moana twice and the Waratahs, and produced three of the best fifteen players in the competition.

Millar heads to the Blues and Lowe to Japan, with Shannon Frizell and Josh Jacomb arriving for 2027. Not a finished job. But a good deal further along than it was.