Ruben Love ‘heartbroken’ for injured Caleb Tangitau as Hurricanes push for Super Rugby Pacific top spot
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
What: Super Rugby Pacific round 15, Hurricanes v Highlanders. Where: Hnry Stadium, Wellington. When: 7.05pm Saturday, Sky Sport 2.
The longer Super Rugby Pacific progresses, the shorter the odds of Ruben Love wearing the All Blacks No 10 jersey for the first time in July.
Love deftly fended off any such chatter on Tuesday, as he prepares to marshal his table-topping Hurricanes against the Highlanders in Wellington on Saturday - without tryscoring record-equaller Fehi Fineanganofo who looks likely to be rested.
Love’s thoughts were more with someone on the opposition side who will also be absent from Hnry Stadium, and whose soaring All Blacks hopes took a painful hit last Saturday: Caleb Tangitau.
The Highlanders speedster suffered a ruptured achilles tendon against the Chiefs when in scintillating form, his 2026 rugby year now over as All Blacks coach Dave Rennie rules a line through his name.
Said Love: “I was heartbroken for him, he’s a good mate of mine and one of my favourite players to watch. I feel for him, truly, and his family and I know how hard it is going to be. TJ Perenara had a similar injury a few years ago and I was with him for all of that with my groin (injury rehab).
“Just to see how tedious the rehab can be, you’ve got to learn to walk again, you’ve got to learn to jump, and run, especially with his speed. I feel for him so much and reached out to him straight after… I’m excited to see him come back because he’s a hell of a player and hell of a threat.”
The latter words could be used to describe the Hurricanes pivot, too, as his side bulldozed past the Blues 47-24 for their first win on Eden Park since 2019.
Love proudly recalled it was his first victory on the hallowed Auckland turf, as a late bonus point try saw the Hurricanes build a five-point lead over the Chiefs, who face the Crusaders on Friday.
While everyone at Hurricanes HQ is steely focused on finishing top of the table then making a run at their first title in a decade, the ‘outside noise’, as they say, is around who will don the All Blacks No 10 jersey against France in Christchurch on July 4.
Incumbent Beauden Barrett looked the early favourite, but had a poor game on Saturday and was clearly outpointed by Love, a five-test All Black.
The other main contender Damian McKenzie started at fullback for the Chiefs and suffered concussion which will rule him out of Friday’s match in Christchurch. With McKenzie at test level there is always the nagging feeling he is better value as an impact player rather than a starting No 10.
Then there’s the returning Richie Mo’unga who is unavailable for selection until he’s played NPC for Canterbury.
Rennie was at Hurricanes HQ in Upper Hutt - not far from his former rugby club - last week as part of the All Blacks coaches’ franchise visits. Love said they spoke, but more about their shared Manawatu connection than rugby.
Should the 25-year-old maintain his consistency and cool head and stay error-free, and drive the Hurricanes to the title, it will be difficult for Rennie to resist handing him the black 10 jersey.
“I just want to make sure I’m always putting the group first and we get to the spots we need to be, and be brave in my play calling and make sure it’s what the team needs, not what I need,” Love said.
Of getting one over Barrett last weekend, Love said: “Being an understudy to Beauden and DMac the last few years it’s pretty cool to go head to head with them and I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can for the team… it’s not necessarily me versus someone else, the way we frame it is ‘us versus us’.
“You always want to go against the opposition 10 and show them what you’ve got, but I’m pretty focused on this team winning ball games.”