[2] Taylor played his 50th game for the Crusaders during the 2017 Super Rugby season and earned a start against the touring British & Irish Lions on 10 June 2017.

[5] Taylor was selected for the All Blacks 2015 Squad, having surpassed Ben Funnell as the Crusaders' first-choice hooker during the 2015 Super Rugby season.

[6] His first game for the All Blacks was the opening match of the 2015 Rugby Championship against Argentina, when he came off the bench in the 59th minute to replace the now-retired veteran Keven Mealamu.

Taylor surpassed the injury-plagued Nathan Harris as regular back-up to the All Blacks' starting hooker Dane Coles off the bench in 2016, following Keven Mealamu's retirement after the 2015 Rugby World Cup's conclusion.

Taylor also notably earned a start against Australia in the first match of the 2016 Rugby Championship, but was unfortunately subbed off after three minutes of play for a head injury assessment and was replaced by Coles.

Taylor had notable involvement in the 57–15 win against South Africa in Durban on 6 October 2016, scoring a try off a driving maul and also receiving a yellow card long after the full-time had passed, following a head-high tackle on Springboks fullback Patrick Lambie.

Although the Crusaders managed to beat South Africa's Lions for the second year in a row in the Super Rugby Final, such an effort was not replicated internationally.

Taylor exploited the slow speed of Frans Malherbe and his opposite, Malcolm Marx, to set up Aaron Smith's try and also scored one for himself in the 60th minute.

Although visibly fatigued from a huge workload, Taylor was retained in the starting lineup for the second test against South Africa, which was a late 32–30 win thanks to an Ardie Savea try.

[10] With New Zealand's ranking as the best rugby team in the world on the line during the 2018 end-of-year tour, Head Coach, Steve Hansen, opted to keep Taylor as the first-choice hooker, despite the ageing Dane Coles coming back from a long injury-enforced break.

[11] After a long season in 2018, Taylor was named the Tom French Memorial Māori Player of the Year at the New Zealand Rugby Awards.

Despite praise from fellow All Black Dane Coles, prior to the test, Taylor performed poorly against England, who beat New Zealand and eliminated them from the competition.