Caleb Tangitau spent most of the first half at Forsyth Barr Stadium running through the Waratahs. By Saturday morning, Two Cents Rugby was running with him into Dave Rennie's All Blacks selection conversation.
The Highlanders held off a late Waratahs comeback to win 31-26 in Round 13 of Super Rugby Pacific, with Tangitau the centrepiece of the most significant individual performance Two Cents Rugby has put on tape this season.
"Caleb Tangitau, he's got to be in the All Blacks mix, doesn't he?" the Two Cents Rugby host said in his post-match reaction. "If he can stay fit. He beats one, beats two, beats three. You could probably count it as beats four defenders on the road to the try line. And it wasn't just gas like we've seen from him in the past. He was just fending off guys. Bit of footwork. Cracking stuff from Caleb."
The statline does the rest of the talking. The Two Cents host went through Tangitau's box score on tape: "Caleb Tangitau, Dave Rennie, better if you're watching it, man. Twelve defenders beaten, three line breaks, an assist, a try, a 50-22, dude was doing everything."
The broader story of the night was how the Highlanders piled up a 28-7 first-half lead the Waratahs never quite recovered from. "Five-out-of-five entries in that first half for the Landers and four tries — that is clinical, barring that Cam Miller one which was also bloody close," the host said. "Line breaks 8-1, defenders beat 20 to 10. The Waratahs' tackle completion rate at 70%. Seventy. They're missing way, way too many tackles."
The Highlanders' opening 14 minutes were the difference. Tavatavanawai got the back-line moving early, Folau Fakatava kept finding work at nine, and Tangitau finished. "They held out a bit of Waratahs pressure early," the host said. "Basically first chance and they took it. Their conversion rate in the first half in terms of getting into the Waratahs 22 and scoring points was electric."
The Highlanders' second try came off a quick tap by Fakatava that the host believes settles a debate inside Dunedin. "Lennox went with a quick tap. He's getting his chance at nine once again, getting a start. He's looking like the best nine in the Highlanders, isn't he? He is. He is the danger man."
A Tavatavanawai yellow card briefly let the Waratahs back in the game when Lawson Creighton finished off a basketball-style sweep. "It seemed like a little bit of a harsh one on Tavatavanawai," the host argued, "and the Waratahs were able to score pretty much immediately with that 15 against 14 opportunity."
The Highlanders responded with the kind of moment that gets reels made. "Jonah Lowe got one on the break of a Tangitau 50-22 from kind of turnover ball," the host said. "They kicked it and he just grabbed it. 50-22, he was doing everything in the first half, Caleb."
The second half flipped. The Highlanders managed only three points in 40 minutes — Cam Miller's late penalty — and that, the host said, takes a chunk of polish off the win. "Only three points in the second half for the Highlanders," he said, "takes a little bit of the shine off this win, which does keep them absolutely in the race. They are breathing down the necks of the Brumbies at this point."
The Waratahs cut it to five via Andrew Tuala, Halo Holohan and a final-minute Sid Harvey try the host argued was the breakthrough that arrived too late. "Sid Harvey finally went through on what, like 76 minutes," he said. "It was a cracking lineout play. He cut a great line. Saw the mismatch with the man opposite him and finally scored, after being in touch and dropping a real sitter."
Max Jorgensen's earlier knock-on with the line in sight was the moment the Two Cents host marked as the comeback's tombstone. "As Jorgensen tries to flick him the ball, it's a missed chance," he said.
It was Tavatavanawai's late turnover that locked the win down. "Timothy Tavatavanawai wins the turnover, which allows them to get a penalty which Miller slots to make it 31-26," the host said. "It's pretty much curtains for the Waratahs' season now."
The Highlanders finished with 89% tackle completion across 207 attempts. The Waratahs finished on 75% across just 90. The host's view of where that leaves both sides is unsentimental.
"The Waratahs will be away to Fiji next to play the Drua," he said. "That will be a tough ask. And the Highlanders are away to play the Chiefs."
For a Highlanders team that has spent stretches of 2026 outside the playoff window, the Tangitau show is the kind of night that turns a season around. For Dave Rennie, it might also be the night that names a new All Blacks back-three name.
