 At the time there was some controversy about this selection as Randell was quite young and inexperienced and it is not clear that he himself wanted to be captain.In 1999, Randell captaining the Otago Highlanders to an 8–3 regular season record and subsequently to the 1999 Super 12 Final where they lost to the Canterbury Crusaders in a closely fought match 24–19.Randell captained the Highlanders for seven years from 1997 to 2003.