Hardie returns to pack

Southland flanker John Hardie returns to the Highlanders forward pack for tomorrow night’s game against the Chiefs in Hamilton.

Hardie, who missed the win over the Blues last weekend, replaces Shane Christie on the openside flank, while Joe Wheeler returns from a broken finger to replace Brad Thorn at lock, with Thorn ruled out for a month due to a rib injury.

Patrick Osborne’s ankle injury has forced a reshuffle, with Malakai Fekitoa moving from centre to the left wing and Winston Stanley preparing to make his Highlanders debut in the midfield after playing for the Western Force for the past two years.

Brayden Mitchell and Matias Diaz, who has now received a transfer from the Argentinian rugby union, come onto the bench, along with Trent Renata.

Meanwhile, Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph was full of praise for the 21-yearold Fekitoa, who will be a key player tomorrow night.

‘‘He was very good [against the Blues]. He’s very young and hasn’t had a lot of opportunity and I guess playing against his old mates really motivated him internally to put out a big performance,’’ Joseph said.

‘‘He was very accurate, he didn’t make any mistakes, made all his tackles and scored a great individual try.

‘‘For a 21-year-old he’s going to go places if he can get consistency, and that will be the biggest challenge for Malakai, if he can come up with those performances week in and week out.’’

Fekitoa scored in his Highlanders debut, showing the sort of blistering speed which saw him star for the Auckland sevens team in Queenstown a couple of years ago, giving the Blues cover defence no chance after he ran through a gap in the line.

‘‘I was in the right place at the right time, I got through and I was just looking at the tryline.

‘‘I was lucky enough to get there,’’ he said.