HIGHLANDERS MOMENT

No one was predicting that the Highlanders would win Super Rugby in 2015. In fact, not many forecast they would even make the playoffs. But after they qualified fourth to earn a home knock-out game against the Chiefs, they were suddenly a serious contender. When they won that and headed to Sydney for a semi-final there was still a sense of them being the outsider in the last four. That all changed when they gave a tactical masterclass in kicking against the Waratahs that was driven by supremely good performances from Lima Sopoaga and Ben Smith. The killer blow was struck by Sopoaga five minutes before full-time when he landed a huge dropped goal to push the score out to 30-17. A Kiwi side winning a knockout game with a dropped goal – brilliant.