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The Highlanders will break new ground when they play a Super-14 warm-up game in Fiji later this month.
The Highlanders play a Suva President's XV in an afternoon game at Lautoka on January 30.
"It is a first for us and we think it will be the first time that any Super 14 team has played in Fiji," Highlanders manager Greg O'Brien told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
"We were not able to put a traditional warm-up game in place. We put feelers out and the invitation from Fiji was timely."
The Highlanders will take a squad of 26 to Fiji and it is hoped that some of the Otago All Blacks will make the trip.
"They are not due back until February. It is their recovery period after the northern hemisphere tour," O'Brien said.
Fiji is a rugby-mad country and the All Blacks are their favourite team.
They play on the beaches and all parts of the island.
"They love their rugby," O'Brien said. "I expect a big crowd to watch the game."
The curtain-raiser will be a Sevens match between Fiji and the United States.
The match will be played in the heat of a Fiji summer and comes at an ideal time to get the Highlanders used to playing in hot conditions before they leave for South Africa in the third round of the competition.
The Highlanders begin their pre-season campaign against the Chiefs at Carisbrook on Saturday, January 23 at 2.30pm.
Footnote: The visit is not affected by current New Zealand Government sanctions against sporting contacts with Fiji.
Each sporting contact is treated case by case, with an exception made for the Fijian Sevens team travelling to the Wellington tournamentThe visit by the Highlanders has the approval of both the New Zealand Rugby Football Union and the Fijian Rugby Football Union.
O'Brien said the Highlanders had done their homework and received official approval for the visit to Fiji.
The New Zealand Government travel advisory website yesterday listed the situation in Fiji as posing some risk to travellers' security, and caution was advised.