“Good things happen to those who wait.”
Those are the words of the Highlanders General Manager Roger Clark as he praised his side who is about to host their first playoff game in 16 years.
Clark first got involved with the Highlanders in late 2010 as project manager, overseeing a complete overhaul of the business.
His opening moves were to appoint Jamie Joseph as coach and separate the organization from the Otago Rugby Football Union.
He said when he joined in 2010, the Highlanders were effectively broke and a place in the playoffs appeared a million miles away.
He added that the Highlanders have also become a home for strays and misfits where players who do not fit in at one franchise like Malakai Fekitoa and Waisake Naholo come to mind and have grown to be the best.
The Highlanders will host the Chiefs at 7.35pm Saturday while the Brumbies will take on the Stormers at 3.05am Sunday.
Chiefs:
1 Pauliasi Manu 2 Hika Elliot 3 Ben Tameifuna 4 Matt Symons 5 Brodie Retallick 6 Michael Fitzgerald 7 Sam Cane 8 Liam Messam © 9 Brad Weber 10 Andrew Horrell 11 James Lowe 12 Sonny Bill Williams 13 Tim Nanai-Williams 14 Bryce Heem 15 Damian McKenzie
Reserves: 16 Quentin MacDonald 17 Siate Tokolahi 18 Jamie Mackintosh 19 Mitchell Crosswell 20 Michael Leitch 21 Kane Hammington 22 Marty McKenzie 23 Seta Tamanivalu
Highlanders:
15 Ben Smith © 14 Waisake Naholo 13 Malakai Fekitoa 12 Richard Buckman 11 Patrick Osborne 10 Lima Sopoaga 9 Aaron Smith 8 Nasi Manu 7 Dan Pryor 6 Elliot Dixon 5 Mark Reddish 4 Alex Ainley 3 Josh Hohneck 2 Liam Coltman 1 Brendon Edmonds
Reserves: 16 Ash Dixon 17 Daniel Lienert-Brown, 18 Ross Geldenhuys 19 Joe Latta 20 Gareth Evans 21 Fumiaki Tanaka 22 Marty Banks 23 Shaun Treeby.
Source: nzherald.com
