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New All Blacks and Perenara replacement headline 2025 Hurricanes squad

Xavier Numia of the Hurricanes celebrates the try. Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images

The Hurricanes have revealed their 2025 DHL Super Rugby Pacific squad with nine new signings along with seven All Blacks.

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The club is of course without international stars like Ardie Savea and TJ Perenara, who have moved on from their home team while Jordie Barrett is also absent from the squad naming as he takes a sabbatical with Leinster.

Samoan international Ereatara Enari joins the squad for 2025, bringing Super Rugby championship experience to the team in the iconic Perenara’s absence. Perenara is the Hurricanes’ most capped player.

“We’ve been really intentional in seeking out players that tie into our team model and how we want to play the game. These are men that have a great deal of maturity on and off the field. They’re coming into our environment and they’re ready to play Super Rugby,” Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw said.

“Kade Banks and Lucas Cashmore are the perfect example of this. They might be young players, but they’re coming in from the Blues with experience in a Super Rugby environment. They’ve both had cracking NPC seasons, and they fit how we want to play the game.”

A notable omission is Patrick Tuifua, the recent France U20 star who has been involved in the Hurricanes’ development pathway.

Riley Hohepa returns to the club to help cover the impending injury absence of first five-eighth Brett Cameron, heading north from the Crusaders along with promising lock Zach Gallagher.

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All Blacks Sevens powerhouse Fehi Fineanganofo is locked in for his first Super Rugby Pacific season, bringing X-factor to a squad missing both of their starting wingers from 2024 in Salesi Rayasi and Josh Moorby.

Taranaki Bulls loose forward Arese Poliko has made the squad off the back of a bruising NPC campaign.

Player Tackles Won

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Arese Poliko
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2
Jesse Parete
21
3
Josh Lord
20

“Arese is one of those players with an incredible mindset, not only has he proven that he’s a high performer on the field, but he’s also shown a real sense of gratitude and a hunger to get stuck in and attack the coming season,” said Laidlaw.

“We’ve seen a bit of player movement but we’re realistic about what it means to have an open market. I’m confident with the depth that we’ve got in our squad. We’re in a good spot with guys like Peter Lakai, Ruben Love and Harry Godfrey locked in for the next two or three years. They’re going from strength to strength, and that consistency will help us continue to build our depth over the next few seasons.”

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“We’re extremely fortunate that we’ve found players who can come into our environment and be ready for round one if we need them. Look at Ere Enari, a Samoan internationalist with more than forty super rugby games under his belt. He’s 27, and he’s playing some of his best rugby right now. He’s going to have an incredible few years ahead of him.”

Hurricanes 2025 Squad:

Tom Allen – Hawke’s Bay

Asafo Aumua – Wellington

Kade Banks – North Harbour

Brett Cameron – Manawat?

Lucas Cashmore – Bay of Plenty

Tjay Clarke – Wellington

Caleb Delany – Wellington

Jacob Devery – Hawke’s Bay

Ereatara Enari – Hawke’s Bay

Fehi Fineanganofo – Bay of Plenty

Devan Flanders – Hawke’s Bay

Zach Gallagher – Canterbury

Harry Godfrey – Hawke’s Bay

Riley Higgins – Wellington

Riley Hohepa – Counties Manukau

Brayden Iose – Manawat?

Du’Plessis Kirifi – Wellington

Peter Lakai – Wellington

Siale Lauaki – Wellington

Tyrel Lomax – Tasman

Ruben Love – Wellington

Tevita Mafileo – North Harbour

Kini Naholo – Taranaki

Xavier Numia – Wellington

Arese Poliko – Taranaki

Billy Proctor – Wellington

Ngatungane Punivai – Canterbury

Pouri Rakete-Stones – Hawke’s Bay

Cam Roigard – Counties Manukau

Brad Shields – Wellington

Daniel Sinkinson – Waikato

Bailyn Sullivan – Waikato

Josh Taula – Manawat?

Pasilio Tosi – Bay of Plenty

Will Tucker – Otago

Raymond Tuputupu – Manawat?

Peter Umaga-Jensen – Wellington

Jordi Viljoen – Manawat?

Isaia Walker-Leawere – Hawke’s Bay

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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