Fabian Holland makes our 30 Greatest Highlanders list — indeed, has the honour of being the player who starts the countdown — and the big man is there on merit.
He has had a giant impact on the team in his short time in the second row befitting his outsized frame.
His workrate, defence, aerial skills and sheer presence have made him such an integral part of the Highlanders so quickly that it is easy to forget he is still just 23.
What will we be saying about ‘‘Fabes’’ in 10 years? Where will he rank in a list of the 40 best Highlanders to mark 40 years?
A young fellow in the Netherlands becomes obsessed with rugby, specifically New Zealand rugby.
He leaves his family behind at the age of 16 to go to school and play rugby on the other side of the world, shortly before a global pandemic brings everything to a screeching halt.
He shines for Christchurch Boys’, for the Dunedin club, for Otago and, most of all, for the Highlanders, and in 2025 he becomes the first Dutch-born All Black.
Holland is a remarkable human, almost frighteningly dedicated to pursuing his dream of being a great rugby player.
He is the 2.04m, 124kg face of the modern Highlanders, and the great shame about the 2026 season is that he will miss it all after undergoing shoulder surgery.
He will be back, and if he can already be acclaimed a great Highlander, you know that does not mean he will be resting on his laurels.
