Help me out here people – why have the Highlanders garnered so little attention ahead of the new season?

Seriously, this is the defending champions we are talking about.

A team that has 28 of the 38 players returning from last year’s championship winning squad.

A team that lost co-captain Nasi Manu and John Hardie and recruited Liam Squire and Luke Whitelock as their replacements.

A team that has the same high quality coaching staff and a very favourable draw to boot.

All those factors add up to the Highlanders having the best continuity of all of the New Zealand franchises (comfortably so) and arguably on par with the Brumbies for the best in the competition.

To answer my own question; they’ve garnered so little attention because that’s how they prefer it.

The Highlanders love the underdog tag, embracing it all the way to the 2015 title.

And that to me is the biggest challenge this group faces this season.

They have to accept the fact that as the current champs, they will be the favourites for at least the first half of the season and should the play to expectation, most of the second half as well.

For a team that has thrived on having a chip on their shoulder to the point of being ingrained into their rugby playing DNA, that’s going to be a massive shift in mind-set to make.

They are going to have to do this without Richard Buckman and the popular second five’s absence cannot be understated.

Aside from that, there is little else to say about this team.

They have the players, they have the coaches, they have the belief and they should have the confidence make a strong run at back-to-back Super Rugby titles.

Prediction: 1^st in NZ conference; 2^nd in Australasian Conference; 3^rd overall

This team will win 13 games this season, breeze through the first week of the playoffs in delightful fashion under the roof in Dunedin, face and repel a stiff challenge in the semi-final from the Jaguares before succumbing late to the Brumbies in Canberra to fall agonising short of a second successive championship

•          Shane Christie will maintain fitness for the entire season and play his way into the first All Blacks squad of the year
•          Waisake Naholo will break the single season try scoring record by dotting down 17 times, thus erasing the names of Joe Roff & Rico Gear from the record books
•          Ben Smith will continue to be the epitome of understated awesomeness, Aaron Smith will go the whole hog and grow a beard and Joe Wheeler will serenade a referee while the match is in progress, busting out a little David Bowie tribute at the breakdown.

2015 Regular Season Record

Won 11 Lost 5 (4^th overall; 2^nd New Zealand conference)

Scored 450 points (3^rd best)   

Conceded 333 points (5^th best)

2015 Playoff Record

QF – Won 24-14 vs. Chiefs at Dunedin

SF – Won 30-18 vs. Waratahs at Sydney

FIN – Won vs. Hurricanes at Wellington

Finished: 2015 Super Rugby Champions

Coaches

Coach: Jamie Joseph

Assistants: Tony Brown & Scott McLeod

2016 Squad

Props: Brendon Edmonds, Ross Geldenhuys, Josh Hohneck, Daniel Lienert-Brown, Siosiua Halanukonuka

Hookers: Liam Coltman, Ash Dixon

Locks: Alex Ainley, Tom Franklin, Mark Reddish, Joe Wheeler

Loosies: Shane Christie, Elliot Dixon, Gareth Evans, James Lentjes, Dan Pryor, Liam Squire, Luke Whitelock

Halfbacks: Aaron Smith, Josh Renton

First fives: Marty Banks, Hayden Parker, Lima Sopoaga

Midfield: Richard Buckman, Jason Emery, Matt Faddes, Malakai Fekitoa, Rob Thompson

Back Three: Waisake Naholo, Patrick Osbourne, Ben Smith, Ryan Tongia

Wider Training Group: Jackson Hemopo, Craig Millar, Greg Pleasants-Tate, Fumiaki Tanaka, Patelesio Tomkinson, Teihorangi Walden

Schedule Breakdown

7 games – BYE (Round 8) – 4 games– BYE (Round 13) – 1 games - INTERNATIONAL WINDOW – 3 games

Home Games                                                      Away Games

Sat 5 March vs. Hurricanes (Dunedin)               Fri 26 February vs. Blues (Auckland)

Sat 12 March vs. Lions (Dunedin)                     Fri 18 March vs. Waratahs (Sydney)

Fri 1 April vs. Force (Dunedin)                          Sat 26 March vs. Rebels (Melbourne)

Fri 22 April vs. Sharks (Dunedin)                      Sat 9 April vs. Reds (Brisbane)

Sat 30 April vs. Brumbies (Invercargill)             Fri 7 May vs. Chiefs (Hamilton)

Fri 13 May vs. Crusaders (Dunedin)                  Fri 27 May vs. Hurricanes (Wellington)

Sat 16 July vs. Chiefs (Dunedin)                       Sat 2 July vs. Kings (Port Elizabeth)

                                                                            Sat 9 July vs. Jaguares (Buenos Aires)

** Do not play Stormers, Bulls, Cheetahs & Sunwolves in regular season **

Pre-Season Results

Sat 6 February – lost 45-38 vs. Racing 92 at Hong Kong

Thurs 11 February – drew 19 all vs. Crusaders at Waimunu

Fri 19 February – won 40-35 vs. Waratahs at Queenstown

NIGEL YALDEN IS THE RUGBY EDITOR FOR NEWSTALK ZB & RADIO SPORT