The livewire halfback has been named to start ahead of All Blacks great Aaron Smith for the Super Rugby Pacific match against the Hurricanes in Wellington tomorrow.
The 22-year-old has made an impact coming off the bench for the first two rounds, but gets his chance to stamp his authority on the game from kick-off this time.
He is an X-factor player, and the Highlanders could do with a bit of that.
Do not read that as a slight on Smith, but Fakatava’s strength is in his exciting running game.
His ability to slip past a defender or bust a tackle certainly cannot hurt.
The Highlanders have been creating opportunities on attack.
They are the joint leaders for offloads and in the top four for metres carried in the competition.
They are doing a lot right but they have only scored two tries in two games.
Highlanders first five and co-captain Mitch Hunt is a paid-up Fakatava fan and is looking forward to seeing what he can offer the attack.
"He’s a great runner and he is also great defensively," Hunt said.
"We’ve got to stick with him [when he’s got the ball]. He can make a break or make a play out of anything so, while Aaron is great in all aspects, we’ve just got to be able to be reactive to Folau sometimes because he can make something out of anything."
The other notable change in the backline sees debutant Liam Coombes-Fabling replace the injured Josh Timu.
Timu picked up a knee injury in the 34-19 loss to the Crusaders last week and has been ruled out for six weeks.
He had been in good form as well. But Highlanders coach Tony Brown has been impressed with Coombes-Fabling’s work rate since he joined the squad as cover three weeks ago.
"It is just his ability to work — he has a huge work-rate and also has a little bit of X-factor there.
"We are still working on [Vereniki Tikoisolomone and Mosese Dawai] and getting them up to speed on their ability to maintain their workload right across the 80 minutes."
That will be important this week considering the Hurricanes finished strongly to pip the Blues 33-32 on Saturday.
The Highlanders pack is pretty settled. Bryn Evans starts ahead of Manaaki Selby-Rickit.
Both Ethan de Groot and James Lentjes have been cleared to play after they picked up niggles.
And man mountain Saula Ma’u has been named on the bench. The prop will be making his Super Rugby debut.
The Hurricanes have moved former All Black Julian Savea from second five to the right wing. Billy Proctor gets the start at second-five instead.
Ruben Love is rewarded for a good performance from the bench and replaces Jackson Garden-Bachop at first five.
In the forwards, Caleb Delany debuts at lock and Du’Plessis Kirifi returns from injury and will start on the openside.
Super Rugby, Wellington, tomorrow, 7.05pm
Highlanders: Connor Garden-Bachop, Sam Gilbert, Fetuli Paea, Thomas Umaga-Jensen, Liam Coombes-Fabling, Mitch Hunt (co-captain), Folau Fakatava, Gareth Evans, James Lentjes (co-captain), Shannon Frizell, Josh Dickson, Bryn Evans, Jermaine Ainsley, Liam Coltman, Ethan de Groot. Reserves: Rhys Marshall, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Saula Ma’u, Manaaki Selby-Rickit, Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Aaron Smith, Marty Banks.
Hurricanes: Jordie Barrett, Julian Savea, Bailyn Sullivan, Billy Proctor, Salesi Rayasi, Ruben Love, Jamie Booth, Ardie Savea (captain), Du’Plessis Kirifi, Reed Prinsep, Caleb Delany, James Blackwell, Tyrel Lomax, Asafo Aumua. Reserves: Siua Maile, Xavier Numia, Tevita Mafileo, Devan Flanders, Brayden Iose, Richard Judd, Jackson Garden-Bachop, Peter Umaga-Jensen.
