SANZAAR's inaugural Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year was meant to celebrate the competition's best. Instead it has triggered a trans-Tasman row, with the table-topping Hurricanes reduced to a single representative while Australian sides — including teams knocked out in the opening week of finals — dominated the line-up.
The Hurricanes finished the regular season four points clear of grand final opponents the Chiefs, yet only loosehead prop Xavier Numia made the cut. The Chiefs, in their fourth straight final, managed just two: hooker Samisoni Taukei'aho and the competition's Player of the Year, midfielder Quinn Tupaea.
The numbers behind the rest of the side are what fuelled the backlash. The Queensland Reds, beaten 46-24 by the Chiefs in their qualifying final, placed three players in the team — lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, loose forward Fraser McReight and fullback Jock Campbell. The Brumbies, hammered 66-12 by the Hurricanes in their qualifying final, had halfback Ryan Lonergan selected. The Waratahs were represented by winger Max Jorgensen, the Western Force by first five-eighth Ben Donaldson, and Highlanders winger Caleb Tangitau made the side despite suffering a season-ending Achilles injury last month.
For a Hurricanes outfit that swept aside most opponents through the regular season, names such as Cam Roigard, Ruben Love, Du'Plessis Kirifi, Peter Lakai and Asafo Aumua all missing felt, to many in New Zealand, like a glitch in the system.
The selection method explains much of it. For every regular-season match, 3-2-1 votes are cast by an independent media panellist as well as by the opposing team's captain and coach — a structure that hands a large bank of points to losing teams and rewards players who stand out in defeat. With rosters as deep as the Hurricanes' and Chiefs', votes are inevitably spread thin across a host of stars.
SANZAAR defended the format, saying the "robust voting system" ensures the awards "spotlight the league's top talent while keeping player and coach perspectives at its core."
Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw, speaking at the grand final press conference, refused to be drawn into criticism and instead backed his lone selected player.
"He's played well, he's been an outstanding player for the Hurricanes and Wellington for several years now, so great recognition for him," Laidlaw said of Numia. He was not asked for his view on having just one player in the side.
The pundits were less restrained. ESPN branded the official team "warped" and published its own alternative XI featuring seven Hurricanes, arguing the regular-season pace-setters had been badly under-represented. Nine went further, describing the line-up as a list of "crimes committed" in the team of the season.
There is at least one consolation for the slighted clubs. The Hurricanes and Chiefs, who carved up the regular season between them, settle the only argument that truly counts when they meet in Saturday night's grand final in Wellington — a stage that, unlike the awards ballot, leaves no room for a split vote.
