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Crusaders announce 2025 Super Rugby Pacific captain
By Henry Lee
The Crusaders have announced experienced midfielder David Havili as their 2025 Super Rugby Pacific captain this morning, taking the role after being part of the leadership group since being named vice captain in 2020.
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Havili, who has played 128 games for the Crusaders, debuted for the Christchurch-based side in 2015.
The 30-year-old has previously held leadership roles, including being captain of the Tasman Mako during their back to back NPC titles in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
With the first preseason game for the Crusaders being just over two weeks away, Havili will return to Crusaders camp this week to address the 2025 playing group for the first time after being announced captain.
Havili has played 30 Test matches for the All Blacks and has often led the Crusaders when previous captain Scott Barrett was unavailable for selection at any point.
Due to the enforced All Blacks rest periods, Codie Taylor may have been overlooked as he could miss some time during the regular season.
Havili won’t have a shortage of experienced leaders to call upon, with the likes of Tom Christie, Quinten Strange, Scott Barrett and Codie Taylor all part of the 2025 playing group.
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The Crusaders will play the Blues at Kirwee Rugby Club on January 31st, their first pre-season outing for the 2025 season, before they open their official Super Rugby Pacific campaign against the Hurricanes on February 14th.
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I am really pleased for David Havili becoming the Crusaders captain. He looks fit and I believe he will make a real challenge for AB starting position. He and Richie Mo'unga were a great combo. Great leadership group, you have Tom Christie, Codie Taylor, Scott Barrett, Mitchell Drummond , others. This team is going to prove the naysayers wrong.
While I do not believe Havili is big enough or powerful enough to play in the midfield at test level, he is an outstanding Super Rugby player at 12 and 15 when healthy and obviously is very respected throughout the Crusaders and a good choice for captain.
Codie Taylor's goal is to remain a world class level hooker up to and including the RWC 2027. To accomplish this, he must be carefully managed and maybe only needs to play 9-10 of 14 regular season matches in Super Rugby (and a similar number for All Blacks) to reach the RWC. So Taylor would not be an ideal choice as captain for the Crusaders at this point in his career.