Reigning champion the Highlanders will be gunning for a fifth straight win when they return home to face the Force tonight.
Success away in Australia against the Waratahs and Rebels has kept the Highlanders’ engine running very nicely through the first five games of the season, and the last time they went on a longer winning streak was in 2005 with six straight wins.
A run of injuries hasn’t stopped the Highlanders from moving up into second in the New Zealand Conference, just a point behind the Chiefs, and they’re happy to be heading back to Dunedin where they so rarely lose.
In fact the Highlanders have won their last seven matches at home.
Meanwhile, Force head coach Michael Foley and captain Matt Hodgson don’t need to remind their squad that a response is necessary, but they are big underdogs in Dunedin.
The Perth franchise has had the upper hand over the Highlanders up until last year.
The Highlanders won their last fixture against the Force in Round 15, 2015 to snap a six-game losing streak, while the Force have won four of their five trips to Highlanders territory, with their last away loss against them coming in Round 9, in 2006.
2016 has been more of a struggle given they sit just a point off bottom spot in the Australian Conference, and no side has scored fewer tries than the Force’s five so far.
The Highlanders play the Force at 6.35 tonight.
Source: Planet Rugby
