Playoff chances on the line, talisman loose forward Adam Thomson's 50th match, the final game for the franchise at Carisbrook, making up for the drab loss to the Lions last week, and revenge against the Force after the shocking defeat to the West Australians last year. The reasons to perform really are endless.
Frankly, coach Jamie Joseph and his assistants should not even have to go into the dressing room before the game tonight.
If the Highlanders do not deliver tonight you wonder whether they ever will.
And that is leaving out all the drama this week which has surrounded the switch to the new playing jersey, which will be revealed tonight.
Highlanders captain Jamie Mackintosh spoke earlier this week of getting out and making up for the loss to Lions and playing more accurately.
"We just need to get back to what we were doing good. We were a team that is expected to win and that is not really our tag. We would prefer to go in under the radar. If we win this week it could be anyone's going into the playoffs," Mackintosh said.
"It is a huge game for us - the biggest game of the year and [a] pretty awesome one for me, too. Captaining the last Highlanders team on to Carisbrook is something that I will be extremely proud of, and the lads will be excited about it, too.
"We were pretty disappointed with the way we played last week. We put ourselves in a pretty good position to make the playoffs and no-one had given us a chance of doing that at the start of the year. We let it slip and people said they expected it to happen like that some time. That really hurt."
But we like to do things the tough way down here . . . in this competition anyone can beat anyone."
Motivation may not be lacking tonight but execution must also be way better than last week. There were far too many dropped balls and poor options by the home side against the Lions.
The Highlanders are not able to leave it up to one or two individuals. Everyone must play well and do the basics right for them to finish in front.
That is why one or two sloppy errors do add up to a loss on the scoreboard. Flanker John Hardie gets his first start since being part of the side which defeated the Crusaders in Nelson at Easter.
He has made a good impact off the bench and will relish the chance to start the game. Thomson's inclusion is vital and the next three weeks will be crucial for the blindside flanker and his All Black ambitions.
Delivering at the end of the season in crunch games, rather than under the February sun, is what is noted by the three wise men.
The Force have won the past three games against the Highlanders and come into the game with some confidence, having run the Hurricanes extremely close last week.
Jonathon White will referee the match at Carisbrook for the second week in a row.
Highlanders v Force
Tonight, Carisbrook, 7.35pm
Referee: Jonathon White (New Zealand)
TAB Odds: Highlanders $1.33, Force $3.10
Highlanders: Ben Smith, Kade Poki, Kendrick Lynn, Shaun Treeby, Siale Piutau, Lima Sopoaga, Jimmy Cowan, Nasi Manu, John Hardie, Adam Thomson, Josh Bekhuis, Jarrad Hoeata, Chris King, Mahonri Schwalger, Jamie Mackintosh (captain). Reserves: Jason Rutledge, Bronson Murray, Tom Donnelly, Nick Crosswell, Aaron Smith, Robbie Robinson, Alando Soakai.
Force: Cameron Shepherd, Alfie Mafi, Patrick Dellit, Rory Sidey, David Smith, James Stannard, Mark Swanepoel, Ben McClaman, David Pocock, Matt Hodgson, Nathan Sharpe (captain), Sam Wykes, Tom Fairbrother, Nathan Charles, Kieran Longbottom. Reserves: Ben Whittaker, Matt Dunning, Tom Hockings, Richard Brown, Chris Cottee, Mitch Inman, Nick Cummins.
