Ash Dixon hits 100 for Highlanders

The Highlanders have named an unchanged matchday squad for their clash against the Blues in the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final in Auckland on Saturday.

The game will be a momentous occasion for the Dunedin-based outfit’s co-captain and hooker Ash Dixon, who will make his 100th appearance for the 2015 Super Rugby champions.

Big week for Dixon

Dixon made his debut in 2015 after a few seasons with the Hurricanes. The inspirational leader was also named captain of the Maori All Blacks earlier this week.

Highlanders’ management have kept faith with the team that has produced the results over the last few weeks and two players with injury concerns, Pari Pari Parkinson and Jona Nareki, have been included in the starting line-up.

Highlanders: 15 Josh Ioane, 14 Patelesio Tomkinson, 13 Michael Collins, 12 Scott Gregory, 11 Jona Nareki, 10 Mitch Hunt, 9 Aaron Smith (cc), 8 Kazuki Himeno, 7 Billy Harmon, 6 Hugh Renton, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 Pari Pari Parkinson, 3 Siate Tokolahi, 2 Ash Dixon (cc), 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Liam Coltman, 17 Ayden Johnstone, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Josh Dickson, 20 James Lentjes, 21 Kayne Hammington, 22 Sam Gilbert, 23 Teariki Ben-Nicholas

Date: Saturday, June 19
Venue: Eden Park
Kick-off: 19:05 local (08:05 BST, 07:05 GMT)
Referee: Mike Fraser
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Paul Williams
TMO: Brendon Pickerill