Hurricanes announce 2026 Super Rugby Pacific squad

The Hurricanes are proud to announce next year’s Super Rugby Pacific squad.

Featuring 33 players who have been retained from last year’s playing contingent, next year’s squad also includes six new or returning players.

All Blacks vice-captain Jordie Barrett returns to the Hurricanes after taking a sabbatical last season, while Hurricane No. 290 Josh Moorby is back following a season in France with Top 14 club Montpellier.

2025 departee Lucas Cashmore has also returned as cover for playmaker Harry Godfrey, who is expected to miss the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season due to a ruptured ACL.

Among the new faces are Japan captain Warner Dearns, who joins the Hurricanes on a season-long sabbatical from the Toshiba Brave Lupus, as well as hooker Vernon Bason and midfielder Josh Timu.

Bason has secured his first full Hurricanes contract after graduating through the club’s development programme, and Timu arrives with plenty of experience following a strong season with NPC finalists Otago and Super Rugby stints with the Highlanders and Sunwolves.

In total, the squad boasts 13 capped internationals – including 10 All Blacks, plus Grand Slam Tour squad member Tevita Mafileo – and a further 11 players who have represented either the All Blacks XV or Māori All Blacks.

Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw is confident about what next year’s playing group has to offer, citing the experience and cohesion throughout the squad.

"It’s an exciting time of the year when the final squad gets announced and we start to look forward to bringing the players back in,” Laidlaw said.

“We think we have built some really strong depth in the group over the last couple of years and have certainly tried to push hard to get the consistency and cohesion and maturity we now have in our squad.”

Laidlaw added that he expects that cohesion to play a key role both on and off the field heading into next season.

“There’s a lot of shared experiences among the group that we have now – good and bad,” he said. 

“When we get it right, we can play a brand of rugby that can cause other teams trouble, but we’ve not managed to really get that consistency when it mattered.

“Like all teams, we have to start again and get our pre-season right. We feel like we’ve got a strong model for pre-season. 

“We’re transitioning our players back from the NPC, All Blacks XV, and All Blacks over that period – but the cohesion’s not just in the playing group, it’s also with the staff behind the scenes.

“We feel like we’ve got some good processes now around how we get the players back in the building and help them reintegrate to how we do things here, so it’s an exciting period of the off-season as we welcome the players back home and get them ready to start with a solid block before Christmas.”

The Hurricanes will confirm next year’s Wider Training Group on Friday. All players not involved in the current All Blacks and All Blacks XV squads report for the first day of pre-season on Thursday, 27 November.

2026 HURRICANES SQUAD

Props
Siale Lauaki
Tyrel Lomax
Tevita Mafileo
Xavier Numia
Pouri Rakete-Stones
Pasilio Tosi

Hookers
Asafo Aumua
Vernon Bason
Jacob Devery
Raymond Tuputupu

Locks
Tom Allen
Warner Dearns
Caleb Delany
Hugo Plummer
Isaia Walker-Leawere

Loose Forwards
Devan Flanders
Brayden Iose
Du’Plessis Kirifi
Peter Lakai
Arese Poliko
Brad Shields

Halfback
Ereatara Enari
Cam Roigard
Jordi Viljoen

First-Fives
Brett Cameron
Harry Godfrey*
Callum Harkin
Lucas Cashmore

Midfielders
Jordie Barrett
Riley Higgins
Billy Proctor
Jone Rova
Bailyn Sullivan
Josh Timu

Outside Backs
Fehi Fineanganofo
Ruben Love
Josh Moorby
Kini Naholo
Ngatungane Punivai

*Harry Godfrey is expected to miss the 2026 Super Rugby season due to injury

2026 NEW AND RETURNING HURRICANES PLAYERS

Jordie Barrett

Date of Birth: 17 February 1997 (28-years-old)
Place of Birth: New Plymouth
Club: Coastal
School: Francis Douglas Memorial College
Position: Midfielder
Height: 1.94m
Weight: 102kg
Hurricanes Number: #232
Hurricanes Caps: 111
Hurricanes Points: 794 (30 tries, 184 conversions, 92 penalty goals)
Playing History: NZ U20 (2016), Canterbury (2016), Hurricanes (2017-2024), All Blacks (2017-present), South Island (2020), Taranaki (2020), Leinster (2024-2025)
Honours: Oceania U20 Rugby Championship (2016), NPC (2016), NZR Age-Grade Player of the Year (2016), NPC Player of the Year (2016), 8x Bledisloe Cup (2018-2025), 4x Freedom Cup (2018, 2021-2023), 5x Rugby Championship (2018, 2020-2023), 2x Hurricanes Player of the Year (2020, 2023) North v South (2020), United Rugby Championship (2025)

A Hurricanes centurion and two-time Hurricanes Player of the Year, Jordie Barrett returns to the club after taking a sabbatical during the last Super Rugby Pacific season. While on sabbatical, he played for Irish side Leinster, where he won the 2024-25 United Rugby Championship.

Vernon Bason

Date of Birth: 10 October 2004 (21-years-old)
Place of Birth: Vava’u, Tonga
Club: College Old Boys
School: Feilding High School
Villages: Mangia, Toula, Neiafu, Ofu
Position: Hooker
Height: 1.80m
Weight: 106kg
Playing History: NZ U20 (2023-2024), Manawatū (2023-present)
Honours: U20 Rugby Championship (2024)

A top young prospect, hooker Vernon Bason has signed his first full Hurricanes contract after featuring in last season’s Wider Training Group. He has previously represented NZ Schools and NZ U20, and has played for Manawatū since his 2023 NPC debut as an 18-year-old.

Lucas Cashmore

Date of Birth: 25 August 2002 (23-years-old)
Place of Birth: Tauranga
Club: Tauranga Sports
School: Tauranga Boys’ College 
Iwi: Whakatohia
Position: First-Five
Height: 1.76m
Weight: 86kg
Playing History: Bay of Plenty (2021-present), NZ U20 (2022), Blues (2024)
Honours: Oceania Rugby U20 Championship (2022), Super Rugby Pacific (2024)

A member of last season’s Hurricanes squad, Lucas Cashmore has returned to the club following Harry Godfrey’s long-term knee injury. Cashmore was a standout for Bay of Plenty in this year’s NPC and was part of the title-winning Blues squad from the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season.

Warner Dearns

Date of Birth: 11 April 2002 (23-years-old)
Place of Birth: Wellington
Club: Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo
School: Ryukei Kashiwa High School
Position: Lock
Height: 2.03m
Weight: 124kg
International Team: Japan
Test Caps: 29
Test Points: 45 (9 tries)
Playing History: Japan (2021-present), Toshiba Brave Lupus (2022-2025)
Honours: 2x Japan Rugby League One (2024, 2025)

Towering lock Warner Dearns has signed with the Hurricanes on a season-long sabbatical deal from Japan Rugby League One club Toshiba for the 2026 campaign. Born in Wellington, Dearns is a two-time League One champion, and is the youngest-ever captain of Japan at the age of just 23.

Josh Moorby

Date of Birth: 11 July 1998 (27-years-old)
Place of Birth: Te Awamutu
Club: Te Awamutu Sports
School: Hamilton Boys’ High School
Iwi: Ngāti Maniapoto
Position: Outside Back
Height: 1.88m
Weight: 96kg
Hurricanes Number: #290
Hurricanes Caps: 38
Hurricanes Points: 105 (21 tries)
Playing History: Southland (2019-2021), Hurricanes (2022-2024), Māori All Blacks (2022-2024), Northland (2022-2023), Waikato (2024-present), Montpellier (2024-2025)
Honours: Hurricanes Rookie of the Year (2022), Ranfurly Shield (2025)

Outside back Josh Moorby has returned to the Hurricanes for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific campaign following a season-long spell in France with Top 14 club Montpellier. He scored 21 tries in his 38 Hurricanes matches between 2022 and 2024, and was named Hurricanes Rookie of the Year in his debut season three years ago. 

Josh Timu

Date of Birth: 6 July 1997 (28-years-old)
Place of Birth: Caringbah, Australia
Club: Southern RFC
School: John McGlashan College
Iwi: Ngāti Kahungunu
Position: Midfielder
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 94kg
Playing History: Otago (2017-2020, 2022, 2024-present), Sunwolves (2019), Highlanders (2022-2024)
Honours: Ranfurly Shield (2018-2019, 2020, 2025)

Former Highlanders and Sunwolves utility back Josh Timu joins the Hurricanes for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season. The son of ex-All Blacks and Kiwis international John Timu, Josh is a centre who can play wing, and was a key part of the Otago squad that claimed the Ranfurly Shield and made this year’s NPC final.