'He responds well to responsibility': Hurricanes coach's verdict on co-captain's All Blacks chances

In a frustrating start to the season for the Hurricanes, their triumph against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Friday night came at exactly the right time.

Clark Laidlaw’s side defended for long periods of time in the second half, particularly in the last 15 minutes where the Highlanders forced the Hurricanes to make over 80 tackles.

Despite the Highlanders having the chance to win the game at the death, Laidlaw was proud of the way his team pushed through to get the victory.

“The discipline and the ability to hang in there and create a way, that’s probably the most pleasing thing,” Laidlaw told media post match in Dunedin.

“We were quite emotional in the box trying to stay calm. But as I say, when we defended for so long and we’ve got the penalty and then give away the not straight at the line out, that was probably where the stress levels went up a touch.

“But just the way we tackled, stayed on our feet, didn’t roll in, super proud of that part of the game.”

The Hurricanes coach was impressed with his co-captain’s performance on the night, saying that Du’Plessis Kirifi just needs to continue what he’s doing to get picked for the All Blacks.

“He’s playing like the Hurricanes captain,  super proud of Dupes (Kirifi), he’s playing how we expect him to play as the Hurricanes captain and some.

“I’m not on the All Black selectors notebook, but he just needs to keep playing like that and showing what it means to lead this team.

“He’s a man that responds well to responsibility.”

Kirifi has continued his impressive form in 2025, after an inspirational campaign for Wellington in the Bunnings NPC competition that saw him lead his team to a championship victory against Bay of Plenty.

The Hurricanes co-captain believes he’s playing some of the best rugby of his career, but is focused at the job at hand.

“I feel like i’ve been building really consistently over the last few seasons, there’s always plenty to work on, but I feel really lucky to be surrounded by coaches and players who, challenged me to be better and hold me accountable,” Kirifi told media post match.

“Like Clark said, there’s four of us leading the team, and I feel like for each of us, the responsibility is bringing the best out of us at the moment and has done for the last few seasons.

“So just really enjoying my time playing with this group. I know we’ve been digging ourselves a little bit of a hole, but the challenge that we face as a team to always be better and and win games at the moment is one that we’re really enjoying and we’re embracing wholeheartedly.”

The Hurricanes have a bye in round six of the competition, something that Kirifi says the players will relish after a tough encounter against the Highlanders.

“So we will try to not look too far back and too far forward, just trying to stay present and pick up one or two things that I can work on each week and try and be as accurate as possible.”