Jeff Wilson rarely hands out generational endorsements, but on Sky's The Breakdown this week the former All Black did exactly that. Asked which of the Hurricanes, Chiefs, Crusaders or "the field" would lift the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific trophy, Wilson made his pick — and loaded it with cultural weight.
"I desperately want them to win Super Rugby. I really do, because they're saving the game in this country," Wilson said of Clark Laidlaw's Hurricanes. "They are. Because they're playing the style of football that we should be playing and should have been playing for the last few years."
The Hurricanes have led the Super Rugby Pacific ladder for most of the season, dominated the Blues at Eden Park, and clinched the round-15 derby that all but locks in the top seed. Wilson's case is that they have done it not with structure but with skill.
"They don't play structured football. They have a plan, and then they adapt to whatever opportunities are presented in front of them," Wilson said. "And the players are playing with a skill set that I haven't seen for a long time across the board. And it's not just broken play — but it's manipulating the opposition."
He used Kini Naholo's lineout-strike try as the case study.
"The try that Kini Naholo scored was just simply remarkable: how to manipulate and create space, and then the timing of everything in place. Everyone was running in the right spots at the right time. How often do you see that go wrong? But it was the first part — the manipulation from the lineout, to drag the forwards away to create that space, and then to run players into it and execute it. They are the best team to watch in Super Rugby for a long, long time."
Mils Muliaina backed the call. "If you had to put the house on it, who wins Super Rugby in 2026? Hurricanes for me. They just look so good. The ability to be able to rotate a lot of players throughout the season. They're healthy. They've got a first five that's come in that was out last week and is controlling the game. They're going to be too hard to beat."
That first-five — Ruben Love — has become the Hurricanes' quiet weapon. With regular halfback Cam Roigard often pulled early, Love has been steering games with maturity rather than flash, exactly the profile incoming All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has signalled he prizes.
"His decisions right now, they're at another level," Stephen Donald said of Love. "You've got a Hurricanes side that are dominating. He's not being flash. There was an opportunity last night where the Blues kicked, they went to counter-attack, but he knew there was an opportunity to go. He put the ball in behind them again. Because he's building that sort of momentum, building pressure. I've seen another side to Ruben Love that seems really calm and collective. I think right now he's your first five."
The numbers reinforce the eye test. The Hurricanes' loose-forward trio has led the competition in offloads and clean breaks. "Their loose forward trio — they had 16 offloads on the weekend. They beat 39 defenders. They've made 13 clean line breaks. That's actually their averages this season the way they're playing," Donald said. "They've done something different. This coaching staff — Clark Laidlaw, Jamie McIntosh, Cory Jane — they've encouraged these guys to do things in the off-season, to go out and play some footy. It's wonderful to watch."
Wilson's parting case for the Hurricanes was about future All Blacks identity as much as silverware. "Counter-attack's the new set piece — that's the way that we're seeing the Hurricanes play, the way we're going to see the All Blacks play under Dave Rennie," he said. "If we can get a team of All Blacks playing close to the speed and the ambition to not be stuck in structure, then geez — we've got the athletes to do it."
Two rounds remain. The Hurricanes go to Wellington next week with the No. 1 seed all but theirs.
