Joseph targets mental consistency and backline depth as Highlanders plan 2026 rebuild

Jamie Joseph has identified in-game mental consistency, backline experience, and leadership as the primary areas requiring improvement after the Highlanders finished ninth in the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season, winning five of their 14 matches and missing the playoffs by 10 competition points.

The result was nonetheless a step forward from 2025, when the Dunedin side finished last with just three wins, two of which came in the opening three rounds. The 2026 campaign began promisingly — the Highlanders beat the Crusaders in round one and came close to defeating the Chiefs in round two — but the team could not sustain that momentum through the back half of the season.

“We started off really well after a tough preseason where we lost Dylan Pledger and Fabian Holland,” Joseph told Sport Nation’s Millsy and Guy. “Both are really young guys, but have massive potential. One’s an All Black, and I think the other bloke is going to become an All Black, having shown some real ability during the NPC and the under-20 campaign, and that got everyone excited.”

Joseph pointed to recurring five-to-ten-minute lapses within games as a pattern that cost the side in several close contests. “There was a wee bit of poor rugby played by us at times. We seem to have a bad period in games — mental soft moments that allow the opposition to come back into the game and then get on top of us. So that’s clearly a work-on for us.”

Fatigue also became a factor as the season wore on. Joseph noted that loosehead prop Ethan de Groot played almost every game, and that heavy workloads on key forwards left the squad depleted when facing top sides late in the campaign. A difficult trip to Fiji for the Super Round, combined with red and yellow cards in crunch matches against the Chiefs and Hurricanes, compounded the problem.

“When you’re playing those quality sides at the end of the season and you’re losing guys to red cards and yellow cards, it becomes difficult,” Joseph said. “Our athletes were pretty exhausted.”

With a young squad that Joseph believes has genuine potential, the coach views the forward pack as more advanced in its development than the backline at this stage. Addressing that imbalance, alongside building greater experience and leadership across the group, is expected to shape the club’s off-season recruitment and planning ahead of the 2027 campaign.