The Highlanders' franchise was created as one of five New Zealand teams in the Super 12. Originally named the
Otago Highlanders, the Highlanders'
franchise area encompassed the lower South Island of New Zealand, and was formed from the North Otago, Otago, and Southland provincial rugby unions. The 1996 team was captained by
John Leslie and coached by
Gordon Hunter. Their first Super 12 match was against the
Queensland Reds at
Carisbrook on 3 March 1996, whom they defeated 57–17. After three matches the Highlanders were undefeated and leading the competition. However the following week at
Loftus Versfeld Stadium in South Africa they were defeated 59–29 by
Northern Transvaal. They only won two more games that season, against at Carisbrook and against the
Canterbury Crusaders at Lancaster Park, and they finished the season eighth on the table. 1997 was the least successful season ever for the Highlanders. They were now coached by Glenn Ross and captained by
Taine Randell. Following their last place in the 1997 season,
Tony Gilbert was appointed as coach. The Highlanders eventually became the first New Zealand side to defeat all four South African teams in one season. In the semi-final, they faced defending champions the
Auckland Blues at Eden Park. The Blues were leading 20–16 at halftime, and were leading 30–26 before a controversial try to
Adrian Cashmore pushed the Blues to a 37–26 lead. Joeli Vidiri had illegally taken out Highlander Stanley off the ball. The following season in 1999 the Highlanders improved on their 1997 season record by reaching and hosting the tournament final. They opened their season with a 19–13 victory over the Auckland Blues at Carisbrook. This was followed by a victory over the Northern Bulls, the
Stormers at Carisbrook, and the
Cats, before their first loss of the season to the Sharks. They returned to New Zealand to defeat the
Waikato Chiefs and then the Crusaders. After defeating the Reds, the Highlanders lost to the
New South Wales Waratahs at Carisbrook. The next week they defeated the Brumbies at the same venue. In their next match, despite leading the
Wellington Hurricanes 14–3 at half time, the Highlanders lost when Hurricanes
half back Jason Spice scored in the corner to give the Hurricanes a 21–19 victory. Had the Highlanders won they would have finished top of the table and hosted a semi-final at Carisbrook. Instead they then had to travel to South Africa where they defeated the Stormers 33–18. The Highlanders travelled back to Dunedin for the
1999 Super 12 Final, which was against South Island rivals the Canterbury Crusaders, and was billed as "the party at Tony Brown's house" after Highlanders
first five-eighth Tony Brown. The Highlanders scored first, and led 14–9 at half time. However the decisive try was to Crusaders
wing Afato So'oalo, who chipped the ball then out-sprinted
All Blacks winger Jeff Wilson to collect the ball and score. Although the Highlanders scored a try to Isitolo Maka with three minutes remaining, the Crusaders won 24–19. They won their next three matches, against the Sharks, Hurricanes and Cats. However they then lost their following three; against the Crusaders, Brumbies, and Blues. They played the Crusaders at Jade Stadium in their semi-final, and were defeated 37–15 after
Marika Vunibaka scored two tries for the Crusaders in the last 20 minutes. The next season opened with a 23–8 victory over the Blues. Their 39–20 defeat of the Waratahs at Carisbrook on 7 April was the first defeat of New South Wales by an Otago-based side since the Otago provincial team defeated New South Wales 5–0 in 1901. The Highlanders narrowly lost to the Hurricanes in Napier 35–33 before defeating the Brumbies at Carisbrook on 20 April. Although the Highlanders went undefeated at home for a second consecutive season, they finished fifth with six wins that season. Their season started with a narrow 30–28 loss to the Crusaders at Jade Stadium. That year the Highlanders also achieved a win over all four South African teams. The match was played at Eden Park, and the Highlanders were ahead 15–3 at half time, and eventually won 20–13. Their last home match of the season was against the Reds at Carisbrook. The Highlanders' 40–26 win meant that they had gone three seasons undefeated at Carisbrook. The 2003 season started with a 29–16 win over the Chiefs in
Hamilton. They then defeated the Stormers and Bulls before losing to the Cats in Johannesburg. Their second loss occurred when the Crusaders defeated them 17–16 at Carisbrook. The Highlanders had gone three seasons, 2000, 2001 and 2002, and 16 games unbeaten at Carisbrook before that loss. The Highlanders then defeated the Blues 22–11 to retain the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy. In April that year it was revealed a rift had developed between coach Laurie Mains and some of the senior players in the squad. and after their final game of the season Mains resigned and was replaced by his assistant
Greg Cooper. Not only did they have a new head coach, but also thirteen new players in their squad. The Highlanders' 2005 season started with a loss to the Blues at Carisbrook. Following this the side won six games consecutively, the first time the franchise had ever done so. After a draw with the Stormers and a bye, the Highlanders had gone unbeaten for eight weeks. Three weeks from the end of the round robin they were third, but after losing their remaining three matches fell to eighth for the season. The 2007 ended with a similar result to 2006. The Highlanders again finished ninth on the table, and worst of the New Zealand teams. They finished the season with five wins and eight losses from their thirteen matches. stadium in 2007 While the fortunes of the franchise had been declining for a few years, they would bottom out with a player exodus following the
2007 Rugby World Cup. The squad's entire
All Black front row of
Carl Hayman,
Anton Oliver, and
Clarke Dermody left for lucrative contracts in Europe, while star first-five
Nick Evans moved north to Auckland to play for the
Blues, and hugely talented young lock
James Ryan was forced to retire at age 24 due to injury problems. Joining the exodus were several other veteran starters, along with coach Greg Cooper who left the franchise to take up an assistant coaching position with the Blues. The coach for the 2008 season, Glenn Moore, was appointed 28 August 2007. Moore was left with a weak side of young and inexperienced players which would stumble to a franchise-worst record of only 3 wins against 10 losses during the
2008 Super 14 season, and finished as the lowest-placed New Zealand team on the table.
Jimmy Cowan, one of the team's few bright spots through this period, was appointed team captain for 2009, but things would improve little over the following two seasons as the team again limped to the worst record of the New Zealand clubs. When Moore was released as coach following the 2010 season, the franchise had compiled a record of only 10 wins against 29 losses in three seasons under his leadership. Former
All Black Jamie Joseph was hired as coach for the
2011 Super Rugby season, while
Jamie Mackintosh replaced Cowan as team captain. The campaign would prove to be the franchise's most successful in several years, as they raced out to a 3–0 start including a monumental away win over the
Bulls in
Pretoria. They remained in playoff contention for almost the entire season, sitting 8–4 at one juncture, before slumping under an injury cloud at the end of the year to finish 8th on the table. Highlanders won the
2015 Super Rugby season defeating the Hurricanes 21–14 in Wellington.
Phil Gifford called the win the "greatest Super Rugby comeback this century". In 2017, the Highlanders won over the
British & Irish Lions 23–22 at Dunedin, during the
Lions tour to New Zealand. 2018 was a season of ups and downs for the Highlanders. They started their season 3–0 including a win over the defending champions Crusaders in Dunedin and finished their season in 6th place. Despite this, they would suffer a shock loss to the
Waratahs after leading 23–3 at one point, they lost 30–23 in Sydney. 2019 was another up and down season for the Highlanders. At the end of the overall season the Highlanders had won 6, drawn 3 and lost 7, which somehow put them into 8th for the playoffs. However, they would lose to the Crusaders in that game (38–14) After 7 rounds of the 2020 Super Rugby season, the Highlanders were 11th overall and 5th in the NZ conference. They were bound to play the Jaguares in round 7 but the COVID-19 pandemic suspended play of that game and cancelled the rest of the tournament. However, domestic Super Rugby competitions started up, and the one in New Zealand was Super Rugby Aotearoa. The Highlanders finished 4th in Super Rugby Aotearoa 2020 winning only 3 games, 2 of which were against the Chiefs (28–27) and (31–33) and one against the Hurricanes (38–21) The 2021 season of Super Rugby Aotearoa saw the Highlanders finish 4th again, with 3 wins. They beat the Chiefs (23–39), Crusaders (12–33) and the Blues (35–29). After the season of Super Rugby Aotearoa finished, the Highlanders will partake in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (competition between the NZ and Australian teams) in which they won all 5 of their games against Australian opposition, and went to the final against the Blues, which they lost 23–15. 2022 was one of the worst years ever for the Highlanders. The Highlanders were winless until Round 8, when they beat Moana Pasifika 37–17. After two more losses, things began to look up for them, beating the Drua 27–24, the Reds (27–19) and the Force (61–10) which put them in quarter-finals contention, since they had many losing bonus points alongside that. However, they lost their last two games of the regular season, and despite the final round loss to the Rebels (31–30) they only just made it into the quarters thanks to their losing bonus point. They ended up getting heavily beaten by the Blues in the quarter finals 35–6, ending the Highlanders worst season ever, with 4 games won from 14 in the regular season. ==Name and colours==