Super Rugby 2025
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@Daffy-Jaffy buggar, as I believe they wouldnt release him to come back and play for Northland.
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I've made a stab at the top 23 for each of the Kiwi sides (below), aside from MP. Will be interesting to see what people's thoughts are on where these teams will end up at the end of the year if they can keep most of these players fit. (Apologies for CAPS LOCK).
Personally, both the Chiefs and Blues look to be the squads to beat on paper. The Landers look to be a fair amount stronger than last year, I think the Crusaders will do much better than this year, and the Canes will be there or there abouts once again. 1 or 2 of these sides will likely miss the playoffs due to the new top 6 format.
BLUES
STARTERS: 1. OFA TU'UNGAFASI 2. RICKY RICCITELLI 3. MARCEL RENATA 4. PATRICK TUIPOLOTU 5. SAM DARRY 6. CAMERON SUAFOA 7. DALTON PAPALI'I 8. HOSKINS SOTUTU 9. FINLAY CHRISTIE 10. HARRY PLUMMER 11. CALEB CLARKE 12. AJ LAM 13. REIKO IOANE 14. MARK TELEA'A 15. STEPHEN PEROFETA
RESERVES: 16. KURT EKLUND 17. JOSH FUSITUA 18. ANGUS TA'AVAO 19. JOSH BEEHRE 20. ANTON SEGNER
21. TAUFA FUNAKI 22. BEAUDEN BARRETT 23. ZARN SULLIVANCHIEFS:
STARTERS: 1. AIDEN ROSS 2. SAMISONI TAUKEI'AHO 3. GEORGE DYER 4. AH KOUI 5. TUPOU VA'AI 6. SAMIPENI FINAU 7. LUKE JACOBSEN 8. WALLACE SITITI 9. CORTEZ RATIMA 10. DAMIAN MCKENZIE 11. ETENI NANAI-SETURO 12. QUINN TUPAEA 13. ANTON LEINERT-BROWN 14. EMONI NARAWA 15. SHAUN STEVENSON
RESERVES: 16. BRODIE MCALISTER 17. OLLIE NORRIS 18. JARED PROFFIT 19. JOSH LORD 20. SIMON PARKER
21. XAVIER ROE 22. JOSH JACOMB 23. LEROY CARTERHURRICANES:
STARTERS: 1. XAVIER NUMIA 2. ASAFO AUMUA 3. TYREL LOMAX 4. CALEB DELANY 5. ISAIA WALKER-LEAWERE 6. DEVAN FLANDERS 7. PETER LAKAI 8. BRAYDEN IOSE 9. CAMERON ROIGARD 10. HARRY GODFREY 11. KINI NAHOLO 12. RILEY HIGGINS 13. BILLY PROCTOR 14. KADE BANKS 15. RUBEN LOVE
RESERVES: 16. RAYMOND TUPUTUPU, 17. TEVITA MAFILEO, 18. PASILIO TOSI, 19. ZACH GALLAGHER, 20. DU PLESSIS KIRIFI 21. JORDI VIJOEN, 22. LUCAS CASHMORE, 23. BAILYN SULLIVAN
CRUSADERS:
STARTERS: 1. TAMAITI WILLIAMS 2. CODIE TAYLOR 3. FLETCHER NEWELL 4. SCOTT BARRETT 5. QUINTEN STRANGE 6. ETHAN BLACKADDER 7. COREY KELLOW 8. CHRISTIAN LIO-WILLIE 9. NOAH HOTHAM 10. RIVEZ REIHANA 11. CHAY FIHAKI 12. DAVID HAVILI 13. BRAYDEN ENNOR 14. SEVU REECE 15. WILL JORDAN
RESERVES: 16. GEORGE BELL 17. FINLAY BREWIS 18. GEORGE BOWER 19. JAMIE HANNAH 20. CULLEN GRACE
21. KYLE PRESTON 22. JAMES O'CONNOR 23. LEVI AUMUAHIGHLANDERS:
STARTERS: 1. ETHAN DE GROOT 2. JACK TAYLOR 3. SAULA MA'U 4. MITCHELL DUNSHEA 5. FABIAN HOLLAND 6. OLIVER HAIG 7. SEAN WITHY 8. HUGH RENTON 9. FOLAU FAKATAVA 10. CAMERON MILLAR 11. JONA NAREKI 12. THOMAS UMAGA-JENSEN 13. TANIELU TELE'A 14. TIMOCI TAVATAVANAWAI 15. TAINE ROBINSON
RESERVES: 16. HENRY BELL 17. JOSH BARTLETT 18. SOSEFO KAUTAI 19. TK HOWDEN 20. NIKORA BROUGHTON 21. JAMES ARSCOTT 22. SAM GILBERT 23. MICHAEL MANSON
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@Canes4life Dallas McLeod & Daniel Rona make Saders/Chiefs best 23 - not Leroy Carter & old man O'Connor FFS.
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The Chiefs could go with a 6:2 bench and use Carter as the backup 9. Rona as the outside back cover otherwise.
I'd start Lord and bring Ah Kuoi off the bench. O'Neill ahead of Proffit as the latter is also a LH. I would not be surprised if Brown is in the no.20 jersey as he provides better cover at 7 than Parker.
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@darylmitchell said in Super Rugby 2025:
@Canes4life Dallas McLeod & Daniel Rona make Saders/Chiefs best 23 - not Leroy Carter & old man O'Connor FFS.
Some of the selections are obviously debatable. Who covers Reihana at the Saders then? Havili? We all saw how that turned out this year.... not good at all.
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@Bovidae said in Super Rugby 2025:
I would not be surprised if Brown is in the no.20 jersey as he provides better cover at 7 than Parker.
nah, McMillan rates Parker and has played him at 7 plenty before, he was also on the AB XV tour - he will be in the 23 for sure.
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@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2025:
RESERVES: 16. HENRY BELL 17. JOSH BARTLETT 18. SOSEFO KAUTAI 19. TK HOWDEN 20. NIKORA BROUGHTON 21. JAMES ARSCOTT 22. SAM GILBERT 23. MICHAEL MANSON
I am glad you slipped Manson in there in 23, can’t forget that promised bench spot he’s been given.
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@Canes4life Nice work, but in the Blues front, Ta'avao will start ahead of Sheck.
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@African-Monkey said in Super Rugby 2025:
@Canes4life Nice work, but in the Blues front, Ta'avao will start ahead of Sheck.
Nice, I knew I was forgetting one of the Blues props.
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@Canes4life good work - that's impressive
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One player I was super impressed with when he finally got back on the field during the NPC was Harry Godfrey his touch line conversion against Auckland from the wrong side of the field was sensational and his individual try against Bop in the quarter final was box office
Would love to see Godfrey given a run in the 10 jersey first five for the Canes pre season for me he looks more of a 10 than a 15 where as Ruben Love looks more of a 15 than a 10 imo -
@Steven-Harris said in Super Rugby 2025:
One player I was super impressed with when he finally got back on the field during the NPC was Harry Godfrey his touch line conversion against Auckland from the wrong side of the field was sensational and his individual try against Bop in the quarter final was box office
Would love to see Godfrey given a run in the 10 jersey first five for the Canes pre season for me he looks more of a 10 than a 15 where as Ruben Love looks more of a 15 than a 10 imoHe's definitely has x-factor written all over him, it will just be whether the Canes want a more conservative 10 running the show in Cashmore, or someone like Godfrey who has that real attacking mindset.
I vote for Godfrey, the Canes play an attacking brand of footy anyway, so why not have a 10 to complement that style of rugby.
A playmaking axis of Roigard, Godfrey and Love would be fun to watch.
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@African-Monkey We'll see, Ta'avao is getting old and has already been surpassed by Reneta.
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@Canes4life 💯..it’s quite an irony that when Godfrey was on the field for HB they looked more threatening.
I have just that got that feeling that he’s got another ceiling -
@Steven-Harris said in Super Rugby 2025:
@Canes4life 💯..it’s quite an irony that when Godfrey was on the field for HB they looked more threatening.
I have just that got that feeling that he’s got another ceilingHe was great after he came back into the side at 15 after we'd been running that non tackling Welsh dude, but as this discussion is about 10 let's not pretend he was good there in the game he played in that position.
Jury is still out on him as a 10, cracking fullback though.
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@Tim said in Super Rugby 2025:
@African-Monkey We'll see, Ta'avao is getting old and has already been surpassed by Reneta.
I'd still have him ahead of Sheck though. He kind of gets a bench spot by default to start the season anyway.
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@Nepia said in Super Rugby 2025:
@Steven-Harris said in Super Rugby 2025:
@Canes4life 💯..it’s quite an irony that when Godfrey was on the field for HB they looked more threatening.
I have just that got that feeling that he’s got another ceilingHe was great after he came back into the side at 15 after we'd been running that non tackling Welsh dude, but as this discussion is about 10 let's not pretend he was good there in the game he played in that position.
Jury is still out on him as a 10, cracking fullback though.
Yeah in that game against North Harbour I think it was, he was pretty disappointing in the 10 jersey.
If the Canes persist with him at 10 he’s going to have a few shockers but hopefully his performances will get more consistent over time. They just have to back him and ride the waves. No better player to play outside than Roigard.
Heremaia Murray Signs for Queensland Reds
