
They are even up in the coaches box and crunching the numbers.
Not since the halcyon days of the late 1990s when the southern franchise was riding high have there been so many members of the Highlanders in the national squad.
There are five of them in the starting side and another two in the reserves.
One has to go back nearly 20 years, to when there were nine Highlanders picked for the 1999 World Cup, to find so many players from this neck of the woods in the national side.
Ben Smith starts at fullback, Waisake Naholo is on the wing, while Aaron Smith is in at halfback. Loose forwards Shannon Frizell and Luke Whitelock make up two-thirds of the loose forward trio.
In the reserves are hooker Liam Coltman and lock-loose forward Jackson Hemopo.
This representation is a long way from the dark days of 10 years ago when just two Highlanders — halfback Jimmy Cowan and loose forward Adam Thomson — were in the side.
Up in the coaches box are former Highlanders assistant coach Scott McLeod, who is now the All Blacks defence coach, while Hayden Chapman is a performance analyst, and long-time physio Peter Gallagher continues his work.
Best of all for the Highlanders brigade is that they are coming together on the home track as the All Blacks run out at Forsyth Barr Stadium tonight, a place where the side is yet to taste defeat.
