Hurricanes pound the Chiefs in Wellington to win their first Super Rugby title in a decade

Saturday, 20 June 2026

At Hnry Stadium, Wellington: Hurricanes 60 (Josh Moorby tries 7min, 44min, Ruben Love tries 14min, 67min, Fehi Fineanganofo try 24min, Callum Harkin try 38min, Devan Flanders try 48min, Jordie Barrett try 54min, Jone Rova try 78min; Love 6 con, pen) Chiefs 5 (Seuseu Naitoa Ah Kuoi try 75min). HT: 29-0.

The high-flying Hurricanes have sealed the deal, capping a super season with the Super Rugby Pacific title.

And, boy, in some sort of style.

In what had the makings of a blockbuster final, against the Chiefs in Wellington on Saturday night, the Canes were instead simply unbelievable and untouchable, as they ran away to a 60-5 victory that delivered them their first title in a decade.

Brutal, brilliant, breathtaking, as the sold-out 34,500 crowd at a wind-smacked Hnry Stadium delivered an electric atmosphere and had so much to sing and dance about, in yet another attacking masterclass from this remarkable outfit of Clark Laidlaw’s.

On the other side of the equation, the Chiefs were left to lament a fourth-straight final defeat, and fifth in six years. This, though, was something else, eclipsing their 2009 shocker (61-17) against the Bulls in Pretoria for biggest-ever margin in a decider.

Their title-drought will continue into a 14th year, and even the presence of their only title-winning coach, Dave Rennie, in the grandstand, was hardly a good omen.

Instead, the new All Blacks coach was given a little bit of late pondering ahead of his first squad naming of the year on Monday, as uncapped wings Fehi Fineanganofo and Josh Moorby went over for record-breaking tries, and Ruben Love completely outclassed Damian McKenzie in the much-anticipated No 10 battle.

Love in the end finished with a hefty haul of 25 points, named the official man-of-the-match, as everything he, and his mates, touched turned to gold, highlighted not only by a 50-metre penalty goal on the stroke of halftime, but by a ridiculously brilliant diving finish for his second try that brought up the half century.

No top seed had ever gone on to win the title in the previous four Super Rugby Pacific finals, while each of those four winners had enjoyed the eight-day turnaround from the semifinals, rather than the seven.

Those curses were blown away big-time, as the Hurricanes, in what were awful conditions ‒ not wet but with nor'westers gusting 120km/h ‒ started in style and never, ever looked like being slowed down.

McKenzie was terrorised by the wind, having an early up-and-under go backwards, a couple of restarts go into in-goal to be dotted down for midfield scrums, then another not go the 10 metres, as the Canes raced out to a 19-0 lead after 25 minutes and put the writing on the wall.

Moorby opened the account with a classy finish in the seventh minute, in what was the start of a terrorising time on defence for fullback Liam Coombes-Fabling and his outsides.

With prop Sione Ahio off for an HIA he did not return from, then Cortez Ratima knocking on with a ball still in a scrum, the Hurricanes smelt blood and duly pounced, with Callum Harkin bursting away in a left-side attack that put Fineanganofo in, big swan dive and all, to celebrate what was his 17th try of the season, to break the records of Ben Lam (Hurricanes, 2018) and Joe Roff (Reds, 1997).

The Chiefs crossed the line on the half-hour, but Ollie Norris was held up by Harkin, Cam Roigard and Billy Proctor, and then Love duly sent the goal-line dropout 70 metres with the wind assist, as even lock Isaia Walker-Leawere showed off his kicking skills too, with the hosts taking a 29-0 lead to the sheds.

When Tupou Vaa’i then lost a ball forward in the first attack wave of the second half, and Walker-Leawere was able to hold up McKenzie to force a maul turnover, there was to be absolutely no hint of a comeback.

Moorby soon after, thanks to scooping up a low pass, then hooning away, went on to match Fineanganofo by scoring his 17th try of the season, too, in a match where he topped metres (155), line breaks (5), and defenders beaten (10).

The visitors only got a consolation try back in the 75th minute, with McKenzie then even declining the conversion to sum up the severity of the situation.

But, fittingly, the Canes, even went on to have the final say.