Queenstown-bound: Highlanders' player Folau Fakatava in action during his team's 'bubble' match in Queenstown against the Chiefs earlier this year. PICTURE: GETTY

Let’s try this again.

The Highlanders will play Moana Pasifika in a Super Rugby pre-season game in Queenstown on February 17, after the scheduled clash between them this February was scuppered due to Covid.

It’ll be the Dunedin-based franchise’s second and final hit-out before their season kicks off against the Blues just eight days later, so expect all the stars to come out.

‘‘It’ll be an exciting game of footy,’’ Highlanders CEO Roger Clark says, ‘‘it will be taken seriously by both sides.’’

It’s again scheduled for the Queenstown Recreation Ground.

‘‘It’s a great place to play, and it will be televised so it’s great for the town because the views from everywhere around there are fantastic,’’ Clark says.

The Highlanders will be under their new coach, Clark Dermody, while there are also a couple of Southern connections with Moana Pasifika — their coach, Aaron Mauger, formerly had the Highlanders, and their assistant coach, Dale MacLeod, has been the Southland Stags coach.

As in 2018, when the Highlanders last played a pre-season fixture here, the game’s being underwritten by local realtor Bayleys, which is also giving 500 free tickets for kids to attend.

Group operations manager Stacy Coburn says there’ll also be an opportunity to raise money for children’s health research charity Cure Kids at an auction rugby dinner the night prior.

Clark says the Highlanders had tried to stage a Super Rugby game at the Queenstown Events Centre next April, but it clashed with plans for a Black Caps versus Sri Lanka one-day cricket international.

Ironically, the Highlanders did play at the Rec Ground early this year, against the Chiefs, when all Super teams were briefly based here in Covid ‘bubbles’ .

However, that was played behind fencing due to restrictions on gatherings.

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