Rob Penny pulled the selection surprise of the Super Rugby Pacific weekend, naming Leicester Fainga'anuku at openside flanker for the Crusaders' maiden match at the new 1NZ Stadium against the Waratahs. It was the first time the 26-year-old powerhouse, long established as a wing and outside centre, had started a match in the forwards at any level of senior rugby — and Penny made it clear the moment and the opposition had shaped the call.
"Lester's been keen to explore that opportunity," Penny said of the switch. "This stadium felt like the right place to do it. He loves big environments, loves pressure moments, and we feel he'll add real value against this opposition."
Penny sent Fainga'anuku out in a loose trio alongside Dom Gardner and Christian Lio-Willie, asking him to shoulder breakdown work and defensive pressure against a Waratahs pack built around captain Jake Gordon and a refreshed front row. The Crusaders had come into the fixture off consecutive defeats in Australia, and Penny leaned heavily on the theatre of the occasion. "It's been a long wait, but it's been worth the wait," he said of the 1NZ opening. "Training's been crisp, there's a real buzz about the place, and that usually tells you the boys are looking forward to unleashing."
On Rugby.com.au's Rugby Heaven panel, the conversation quickly turned to the label that should attach to players like Fainga'anuku. Matt Burke reached all the way back to the late 1990s for his term.
"He could easily be that old-school Rod McQueen 'four-ex'," Burke said. "A forwards and backs combination. Four-ex. That was the old days." The panel agreed the idea — coined by McQueen in 1999 when he was obsessed with hang passes, offloads and playing above the ground — described exactly what Penny was asking of his wing. One panellist pointed to former Wallaby openside George Smith as the spiritual forerunner. "He was Rusty before Rusty," the panel joked. "He's spot on."
The Crusaders coach framed the switch as a long-term strategic test rather than a gimmick for a stadium launch. Fainga'anuku had already been used in short spells within the pack earlier in the season, and during his stint in France with RC Toulon he'd featured in hybrid roles. But starting in the back row for a full match gives Scott Robertson and the All Blacks selectors a very different data point to consider ahead of the 2026 Test window under Razer.
Fainga'anuku himself embraced the symbolism of running out first at the new Christchurch ground. "It's really beautiful and a great representation of our region," he said of 1NZ Stadium. "This place has become the heart of the city, and it's something our people deserve. From the moment we heard about the new build and what it means to us and our people, it gets you excited. Now it's finally here, we're just ready to get into it and put on a good show."
Panel pundits noted the parallel with South Africa's deployment of André Esterhuizen in hybrid forward roles under Rassie Erasmus, though Fainga'anuku's case is more radical — he's starting in the back row rather than being slid across off the bench in the last quarter. As the modern game narrows the distance between backline and forward skill sets, Penny's call doubled as a long-term audition. "It's already a special place," he said of the stadium. "Once it's full, and people feel the experience of being in there, that can carry the boys a long way."
With Cody Taylor scoring in the opening exchanges and Fainga'anuku adding his own try from a carry over the line, Penny's bold forward punt was rewarded. Whether the openside experiment survives past the stadium-opener remains the more interesting question — and one the All Blacks selectors will now have filed away.
