Overview
- Tangitau, who went down without contact late in Friday's 42-12 loss to the Chiefs, has a full rupture of his left Achilles and will need surgery.
- The club says the recovery window is six to nine months, which rules him out of the rest of Super Rugby Pacific and July’s Nations Championship fixtures in South Africa.
- He had been pushing for a first All Blacks call-up under new coach Dave Rennie after scoring seven tries in 11 matches for the Highlanders this season.
- The 23-year-old posted an emotional note on Instagram thanking supporters, and he was helped off the field on a medic cart after the injury.
- In the same match, Chiefs playmaker Damian McKenzie entered head-injury protocols and faces a mandated 12-day stand-down under rugby’s concussion rules.