Fehi Fineanganofo bags second-straight Super Rugby Pacific hat-trick as Hurricanes blow away Reds

Saturday, 28 March 2026

At Hnry Stadium, Wellington: Hurricanes 52 (Cam Roigard try 4min, Josh Moorby try 15min, Fehi Fineanganofo tries 18min, 52min, 55min, Bailyn Sullivan try 28min, Warner Dearns try 44min, Vernon Bason try 74min; Ruben Love 6 con) Reds 14 (Jock Campbell try 7min, Isaac Henry try 37min; Harry McLaughlin-Phillips 2 con). HT: 24-14.

Fehi Fineanganofo’s impending exit to England is looking a bigger and bigger loss by the day, after the blockbusting winger bagged a second-straight hat-trick as the Hurricanes delivered yet another Super Rugby Pacific statement with a thumping of the Reds on Saturday.

In what was roundly considered to be the match of the round, between two in-form teams ‒ both 4-1, with the Canes top of the table and the Reds on a four-game win streak ‒ it instead proved nothing of a contest, as the hosts at Hnry Stadium cantered away 52-14 winners.

In a result that ensures Clark Laidlaw’s side will go into their bye next weekend still atop the standings, it was also another emphatic statement of their incredible attacking potency, with eight tries piled on in front of a crowd of 12,763 who must really be licking their lips at their team’s title prospects in ‘26.

The onslaught was led again by Fineanganofo, the former All Blacks Sevens flyer who was fresh off a three-try haul in the 50-pointer against the Highlanders and has gone top-equal of the competition’s try-scoring charts, in what are his final few games before departing to the Newcastle Red Bulls on a two-year deal.

Before being given the final dozen minutes off, he racked up a game-high 132 metres, made a pair of linebreaks and beat three defenders, as he flew up on the shoulder of a rampaging Devan Flanders for a first-half score, then bagged two in three minutes midway through the second stanza, first off a beautifully-executed lineout maul set play from Peter Lakai, then on a 60-metre intercept from a poor pass from Fraser McReight, who had also been responsible for the drop that saw Flanders on that aforementioned runaway.

They were bad errors from the Wallabies openside, who also coughed up three penalties, on a day that was being earmarked as a tasty loose forwards battle. In the end, two of the combatants (Flanders and Harry Wilson) were early HIA casualties, and Hurricanes co-captain Du’Plessis Kirifi owned the contest.

The 2025 All Black rep notched a game-high 20 tackles (for one miss), as well as winning a turnover, and was also a force with ball in hand, carving out 80 metres on 11 carries and beating a game-high seven defenders, and making two clean breaks, albeit being unable to link with Cam Roigard effectively on either.

Those, along with Ruben Love’s inexplicable conversion shot clock-timeout, were about the only black spots on the performance of the red-hot hosts, who did all this with just 47% of the ball and 42% territory, and also without All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax, who had been slated to return from an ankle injury but was instead a withdrawal.

This was the Reds’ first game against the Hurricanes in New Zealand since 2021, and you would not blame them for wanting it to be another five years before the return to the capital again, given they have not beaten the Canes on this side of the ditch since way back in 1998, with this also their 11th successive loss to a team they have not toppled since 2013.

And it was the Hurricanes flying out of the gates, scoring four tries in the opening half hour, the first inside the first four minutes, as their attack again proved too hot to handle, for a Reds team who, while beating 26 defenders to 23, were not patient or polished with their opportunities, and who at one stage were at walking pace with ball in hand inside their half.

At 24-7 down, it looked like getting even worse before the break when a Harry McLaughlin-Phillips grubber hit the legs of Jordie Barrett and had Proctor race 60 metres then give for Barrett to score, only for Proctor to be found marginally offside from the ricochet.

What could have been 31-7 at halftime was instead 24-14 when the Reds cashed in from a close-range lineout which they opted to spin and had Hunter Paisami pop a nice offload for midfield mate Isaac Henry to juggle and crash over.

However, it was not to matter one bit.