The Highlanders have promoted two more Pasifika players with power and pace to their squad for next season. Otago and Fijian Drua lock Joseva Tamani and Samoan test winger Tuna Tuitama will be joining the southern crew for the third season of Jamie Joseph’s second tenure as head coach. Both are on two-year deals and shape as the kind of powerful, versatile athletes every coach likes in Super Rugby. Tamani, 29, was a late addition to the Otago squad last year and was highly impressive on the charge to the NPC final. He is nominally a lock but has also appeared regularly on the blindside flank for the Drua, playing 40 Super Rugby games across five seasons. “I really enjoyed my time with Otago last year and I have grown to love the place,” Tamani said. “Getting the opportunity to play at the next level with my team-mates is exciting. It’s an awesome feeling to have the chance to play for the Highlanders.” Tamani, who also has two caps for Fiji, shapes as a straight replacement for lock-six Oliver Haig, who is leaving the Highlanders for an unknown destination. The Highlanders hope to have star boy Fabian Holland fully fit next season, have held on to Pumas enforcer Tomas Lavanini and are promoting youngster Josh Tengblad, so are looking well set at lock following Tamani’s signing. They have not yet confirmed whether veteran second-rower Mitch Dunshea will return. New Zealand RugbyTuna Tuitama is trading Moana Pasifika for the Highlanders. Photo: NZ Rugby/Smartframe Tuitama, 26, heads to the Highlanders as another refugee from the defunct Moana Pasifika club. He is perhaps a bit of an unknown quality — he has just nine appearances in Super Rugby, scoring four tries — but he has 13 caps for Samoa (five tries), and the chip-and-chase try he scored against the Hurricanes this year showed his instincts and pace. He also has a fair short-form pedigree, having scored 30 tries in 56 appearances for the Samoan sevens team. “Tuna is a player with genuine X-factor,” Joseph said. “He’s hungry, he’s ambitious, and he fits perfectly with the style of rugby we want to play. We see him developing quickly in our environment and becoming a key contributor over the next two seasons.” Tuitama, lining up for Counties-Manukau in the NPC, can play either wing and will jostle for a starting Highlanders spot next to star man Caleb Tangitau. They are the only two specialist wingers on the books at this point, though it is presumed Jona Nareki and Xavier Tito-Harris will both be back. The Highlanders have at least 30 players already contracted for 2027. Midfield and loose forward are two areas of interest as the contracting period continues.
