Highlanders coach lays outwelcome mat for naughty boys

All may not be forgiven, but there is clearly a path back for the half-dozen misbehaving Highlanders who earned themselves a firmslap on the wrist last week from coach Tony Brown, and subsequentlymissed their team’s best performance of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season.

Two of the Highlanders’ suspended six have been called back into the lineup to face the Chiefs tomorrow night (7.05pm kickoff) in Dunedin as Brown’s side looks to back up on its monumental 33-12 upset of the Crusaders in Christchurch last Friday.

After last week leaving the halfdozen offenders out of the squad because they had broken team protocols (revealed to be staging late-night parties that disturbed local residents), Brown has shown he is prepared to allow at least some of the miscreants to re-prove themselves on the field.

Of that group not considered to face the Crusaders, Patelesio Tomkinson comes in at centre in a midfield shuffle, while occasional All Black Josh Ioane returns to the playing squad via the bench, which again has a 6-2 forwards-backs split.

From the other four players identified for breaching team protocols, prop Daniel Lienert-brown is out with a long-termarm injury, while Marino Mikaele-tu’u, Teariki Ben-nicholas and Sionemisiloi are not required for duty this week.

Brown said last week the six players had ‘‘let the whole organisation down’’ and ‘‘broken the code’’ the Highlanders lived by and had to ‘‘earn the right to get selected again’’.

‘‘They’re quality rugby players,’’ Brown told media yesterday. ‘‘They were disappointed with what happened last week, but that’s in the past. They’re going to go out and play good rugby on Saturday night and prove to everyone else they’re meant to be there.’’

Asked whether the duo had proven themselves, as challenged, Brown replied: ‘‘They got punished, mate, don’t worry about that. They had to do a bit of extra fitness. Most guys who don’t make the 23 have got to work pretty hard to keep their fitness standards high and they were the same.’’

With last week’s second fiveeighth Thomas Umaga-jensen out for the season with a wrist injury, Brown has moved Scott Gregory from wing to No 12, and brought Tomkinson in at centre to replace the experienced Michael Collins. Ngatugnane Punivai, now over his hamstring issue, takes Gregory’s spot on the right wing.

The other backline change sees All Black Aaron Smith replace Folau Fakatava as starting halfback, after it was revealed the rising star had gone down with a season-ending knee injury. Fakatavasuffered a full tear of the ACL in his right knee last Friday, ruling him out of rugby for between 9-12 months.

Up front Josh Hohneck rotates with Siate Tokolahi at tighthead prop and James Lentjes likewise with Billy Harmon at No 7.