Super Rugby Pacific: Ardie Savea provides Hurricanes a boost on return with Moana Pasifika

Wednesday, 28 May 2025

Moana Pasifika captain Ardie Savea celebrates a try against his former team at North Harbour Stadium in March.

What: Super Rugby Pacific round 16, Hurricanes v Moana Pasifika. Where: Sky Stadium, Wellington. When: 7.05pm Saturday, live on Sky Sport 1.

Ardie Savea’s much-awaited return to Wellington on Saturday offers the Hurricanes something of a parting gift: their biggest home crowd of 2025 amid increasingly sparse attendances.

Super Rugby Pacific’s player of the year and his older brother, Julian, return with Moana Pasifika amid what should be an electric atmosphere to face their former team needing an upset win to reach the playoffs for the first time.

The Hurricanes are assured of a top-six spot and victory will cement fourth place which carries a second life into next weekend’s qualifying finals. Barring a series of upsets, the Hurricanes will be on the road for as far as they progress in the playoffs.

For a regular season match it’s a marketer’s dream, 10 months after Savea announced his shock departure from the team he first played for in 2013 and made 131 appearances in all.

Hurricanes chief executive Avan Lee was reluctant to revisit Savea’s departure, when both parties could not agree to terms.

“Ardie is going great at Moana and he’s always going to be a special part of the Hurricanes… but life moves on.”

Lee predicted a crowd of 16,000 for the return of the Savea brothers, and other former Hurricanes Jackson Garden-Bachop, Danny Toala and Jonathan Taumateine. That would comfortably top the Hurricanes’ season-best attendance of 13,242, when they lost 31-24 to the Crusaders on April 11.

Ruben Love tries to spark an attack during the Hurricanes’ loss to Moana Pasifika in March.

They are unbeaten ever since, including a 35-17 win over the table-topping Chiefs - minus Damian McKenzie - which drew 12,145 to Sky Stadium, and away wins over the top-two Australian sides the Brumbies and Reds.

Savea inspired his new side to the brink of the playoffs - including an upset win over the Hurricanes in Auckland in March - and will likely receive a hero’s welcome despite wearing the visiting team’s strip.

“It will be a pretty unique atmosphere with a lot of Pasifika fans coming in to support their team,” Lee said.

Heart-warming occasion aside, there’s no hiding from the falling crowd figures which in recent seasons nudged 20,000 for big-ticket visitors like the Crusaders and Blues. This year’s average attendance at Sky Stadium is just 11,262.

Lee said crowds were a challenge across the country but the economic climate in the capital after vast public sector cuts was a factor. “Obviously Wellington has had a tough time in terms of job losses and interest rates… I’m sure that’s part of it. But we’ve got to do our work and find the specific reasons and see what we can do about it. It’s nice to have a good crowd coming up.”

The Hurricanes drew a tick over 10,000 to Sky Stadium for their 24-20 win over the Highlanders.

A year ago the Hurricanes topped the table, beat the now-departed Rebels in a home quarterfinal then lost their semifinal to the Chiefs. That cost them a windfall from a home final which instead went to eventual champions the Blues.

Last year saw a financial loss of $700,000 which prompted the Hurricanes board to request a $1 million capital injection from its shareholders: Wellington Rugby Football Union, Y11 Sport and Media, Richard Mansell and the Horowhenua Kapiti Rugby Football Union. That was “fully subscribed,” chair Iain Potter told The Post in April.

Said Lee of their finances: “We’re fine, I’m happy that we are at the right end of the table, that’s always good. We’ve got great people. You could always have more money coming in but you’ve just got to work hard, do your best and things will be fine.”

The new top-six playoff format in the 11-team competition got the seal of approval, too, even if it meant the Hurricanes would have to win the title the hard way on the road.

“We’re totally fine with it. We could have been higher than fourth, but we’re fourth and we’ve done bloody well to get there the last 4-5 weeks. It’s been a really good run.

“If you’re the Chiefs and you qualify first you are obviously in the box seat. But this year has shown that everyone can beat everyone. I feel for the Highlanders, they’ve had a tough year on paper but they’ve lost most of their games by a handful of points.

“It’s a tough competition, but we will back ourselves against anyone.”

Hurricanes home crowds in 2025

February 22 v Fijian Drua*: 11,381 (won 38-34)

March 1 v Blues: 11,546 (lost 29-33)

March 28 v Waratahs: 9202 (won 57-12)

April 11 v Crusaders: 13,242 (lost 24-31)

May 3 v Chiefs: 12,145 (won 35-17)

May 16 v Highlanders: 10,169 (won 24-20)

* Played at McLean Park, Napier (all other matches at Sky Stadium, Wellington)