highlanders are assembling a very strong squad for 2013, i only hope that colin slade comes right with his injury, cos the flyhalf for the last few season has been an area of concern for the highlanders.
nonus and woodcocks inclusion to the squad is vital as it will help give the deep south warriors a lot more mental toughness, which they have been lacking at the latter end of the stages, but all in all they have the makings of a great team with a great coach in jamie jospeh.
the highlanders full strgenth team is one i cant see too many teams beating except for the top teams, with strong quality players everywhere.
my highlanders team if everyone was available would be,,,,,
1 t woodcock, 2 a hore, 3 c king, 4 b thorn, 5 j bekhuis, 6 j hoeata, 7 a thomoson, 8 n manu, 9 a smith, 10 c slade, 11 h gear, 12 m nonu, 13 t ellison, 14 k poki, 15 b smith
16 b mitchell, 17 j mackintosh, 18 j hardie, 19 d tietjens, 20 (only 1 halfback in the squad so far), 21 l sopoaga, 22 b popoalii/j emery
emery was in the NZu20 team and has played amazingly well in the ITM, but i would have to imagine that buxton popoalii would get the nod ahead of him on the bench.
IMO this is one of the greaest highlanders team ever and are real finals contenders, even with them playing in the hardest conference of the entire spXV and i for one cant wait to see the play next year.
