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The Highlanders have beaten the Chiefs 39-23 at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton.

Fijian Jona Nareki was simply outstanding tonight, as the Highlanders learned from last weekend that they needed to earn the right to go wide.

His three tries came through a combination of speed and power.

The home side had the lead for a large period but the Highlanders stormed back into it and they weren’t going to give up the lead from then on.

The Chiefs will have to look for their first win next week.

Fiji born Jona Nareki was in impressive form scoring a hat-trick in the Highlanders win over Chiefs in the Super Rugby Aotearoa at FMG Stadium in Hamilton today.

The 23-year-old stormed through the Chiefs try line to help his side to a brilliant 39-23 comeback win.

The Highlanders winger’s pace and trickery cut the hosts apart to hand new Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan a loss in his first match.

This is the Chiefs 10th consecutive defeat, with the Highlanders now on the board with a bonus-point win in Super Rugby Aotearoa after going down to the Crusaders last Friday.

The Highlanders lost Sio Tomkinson and co-captain Ash Dixon in the first half to yellow cards .

The Chiefs led in the first half with 20-6 over the visitors.

The Highlanders had their much needed break when Nareki’s intercepted the score to save the visitors from falling behind by more than 20 points.

Nareki added another in the right corner for their third try in seven minutes to give the southerners a 12-point lead.

He sealed his hat-trick with another outstanding finish, this time in the left corner, and a third successive win for the Highlanders.