James O'Connor is one of the new faces in the Crusaders squad

With less than 100 days until the start of the Super Rugby Pacific season, the Crusaders are thrilled to unveil its 38-strong squad for the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition, featuring eight players earning full-time contracts for the first time and a powerful lineup of returning Crusaders and All Blacks.

The club and fans are gearing up for a huge season at Apollo Projects Stadium, our last full season there before shifting to One New Zealand Stadium, our brand-new central city home. Make sure you’re part of history as we farewell the home that helped us deliver seven titles on the trot.

Under the leadership of Head Coach Rob Penney, the team is set to come back stronger after a challenging 2024 season.

“We’ve got a great group, and all the coaches are looking forward to getting our hands on them and preparing together here at Rugby Park,” said Rob Penney, Crusaders Head Coach.

“There is fantastic depth there, and a great mix of experience and youthful energy coming through.

“We’re excited to see what this group can do and build off our 2024 season.”

Penney also confirmed Scott Barrett would not captain the side in the coming season, with an announcement on his replacement set to be made later in the year.

Key new signings include James O’Connor at 10, bringing a huge wealth of experience from his nearly 20 years in the saddle. Eyes will also no doubt be on Kyle Preston who recently helped the Wellington Lions to Bunnings Warehouse NPC glory as starting halfback.

It’ll be hard to miss the impact of Aki Tuivailala who joins the outside backs. The 20-year-old’s been cutting his teeth with Waikato in the NPC and with the NZ U20s for the past two seasons. Expect huge running metres from this youngster.

Xavier Saifoloi joins the loose forwards, set to play alongside the likes of All Black Ethan Blackadder and All Black XV player Christian Lio-Willie. The 21-year-old also travels down from Waikato.

Kershawl Sykes-Martin, Antonio Shalfoon, Seb Calder and Fletcher Anderson have all made their Super Rugby debut in the red and black, and impressed enough to earn the fulltime call up this season – proof of the effectiveness of the Crusaders Academy talent pathway.