Hurricanes v Chiefs: Five takeaways as Damian McKenzie’s ‘disasterclass’ emphatically punished by All Blacks hopefuls to end Canes’ 10-year Super Rugby title wait
Jordie Barrett lifts the Super Rugby Pacific trophy and inset of Damian McKenzie.
Following the Hurricanes’ record-breaking 60-5 victory over the Chiefs in the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific Final, here are our five takeaways.
The top line
It’s been 10 years, but the Hurricanes are Super Rugby champions yet again, humiliating the Chiefs in the 2026 final to clinch just their second title. Nine tries, six conversions and a penalty goal meant that the ‘Canes racked up 60 points in what was a truly dominant thrashing of the second-best club in the tournament this year, who managed just five points in reply.
A gulf in class is an understatement as the Hurricanes bossed every single facet of the game with their attack ripping the Chiefs to shreds and their defence ensuring that this one was never in doubt.
Josh Moorby got the scoreboard ticking in the fifth minute, and the hosts would lead from then on with Ruben Love following eight minutes later before Fehi Fineanganofo broke the record for the most tries in a second season in the 23rd minute. Callum Harkin scored the fourth and final try of the first half with Love adding the extras and a penalty as the ‘Canes led 29-0 as the two sets of players headed to the sheds.
Moorby joined Fineanganofo on 17 tries in 2026 when he crossed for the fifth try of the match just three minutes into the second half, with departing flanker Devan Flanders making it six five-pointers soon after. The Chiefs had no answer for what the Hurricanes threw at them as Jordie Barrett got in on the tries, with Love doubling his tally after the hour-mark.
Naitoa Ah Kuoi got one back for the Chiefs, which only ensured that the visitors didn’t end the final with a doughnut, but the champions would have the final say of the match, showpiece and the season with Jone Rova slamming down the exclamation mark on an incredible team performance.
Damian McKenzie disasterclass
Undoubtedly a world-class player, Damian McKenzie produced one of his worst-ever performances in a Chiefs jersey with a truly horrendous first-half showing that hamstrung his team and gifted ascendancy to the Hurricanes time and time again.
He butchered three restarts, threw a pass directly into Harkin’s clutches in a threatening attacking position, and was charged down a couple of times.
After Moorby grabbed the opener, McKenzie gifted the hosts possession on the halfway line, slamming his restart into the in-goal with no pressure on Harkin, who forced it down for a scrum. Two minutes later, he made another error, missing touch with his penalty kick, again relieving pressure. Not too long after, the Hurricanes were in again through Love with the Chiefs under pressure in their own half.
McKenzie further compounded his errors as right after Love’s try, he thumped the restart hard low, and the Hurricanes let it roll over the try line and for another scrum on halfway. With the Chiefs desperately looking to hit back, Norris tucks and carries in centre field, as does Dyer, stopped 18 metres out. McKenzie then drifted into space in the 35th minute but forced the attack and threw his pass straight to Harkin. Two minutes later, Harkin was in for the Canes’ next score, opening up a 26-0 lead.
The ensuing restart, McKenzie attempted to go short, the wind caught it and gifted the Hurricanes a scrum again. There they won a penalty, and Love made it 29-0 at the break.
Matters didn’t get much better for the All Blacks playmaker in the second half as he was held up in contact, with the Hurricanes awarded another scrum. Moorby doubled his tally after another lovely attacking move from the set-piece.
In the 54th minute, McKenzie spilled the ball, undoing all his great cover work in the backfield, and the Hurricanes ruthlessly pounced with Barrett crossing the whitewash.
Frankly, as good a player as McKenzie clearly is, tonight was not his night, and the mind boggles as to why the Chiefs’ coaching team did not act and put him out of his misery. Surely it couldn’t get much worse? In the words of Mick McCarthy: ‘It can!’ And it did. So often McKenzie has been the heart-beat, fulcrum of this team, but today he was a hindrance, a liability.
Most dominant Super Rugby champions of all-time?
The 2009 Bulls. The 2012 Chiefs. The 1996 Blues. The 2018 Crusaders (or just about any of Scott Robertson’s teams). And now the 2026 Hurricanes have entered the conversation.
The men from Wellington have waited 10 long years to add a second Super Rugby Pacific title and did so in a manner we have only seen a handful of times in this tournament’s history.
Sure, they had their hiccups along the way, losing three regular season matches, but when it came to the crunch, the team that so often collapsed thrived, hammering the ACT Brumbies 66-12, a record score in Super Rugby knockouts. The Blues caused them a bit of trouble for 40 minutes in the semi-final, but once they started changing gears, they cruised to a 57-21 win. Then, they made it a hat-trick of 50+ point performances today with a mesmerizing showing where they completely outplayed the second-best team in the tournament. Tonight was the eighth occasion this season that ‘Canes racked up over 50 points in a match. The next best such tally this season? Four.
The numbers behind their season are simply insane. They weren’t just the best points-scoring team during the regular season (562, including 86 tries), but they were also the most astute defence, conceding 298 points and 44 tries. Once they entered the knockout stages, the records continued to tumble, becoming the first team to score 100 tries in a single Super Rugby season, and they absolutely smashed their 2017 record of 97, finishing on 113! After crossing for nine tries in the final, the only issue Clark Laidlaw will have with the performance today was not keeping the Chiefs scoreless, but that won’t keep him sleepless at all as the ‘Canes claimed the biggest-ever Super Rugby final victory.
Record-breaking wingers primed for All Blacks duty
New Zealand is never short on classy outside backs and wings in particular, but as Dave Rennie finalises his All Blacks squad ahead of Monday’s team announcement, two names surely have to feature: Fineanganofo and Moorby. The duo were sublime all season to break Joe Roff and Ben Lam’s try records and didn’t slip when it mattered most; in fact, during the play-off stages, they got even better.
Moorby offers the benefit of being able to cover full-back too, which could be pivotal during the July Tests with Will Jordan sidelined, but considering how underwhelming the All Blacks’ wingers were as a collective last season, throwing uncapped players into the mix can’t be the worst idea. Fineanganofo’s situation is a bit trickier considering that he signed for the Newcastle Red Bulls before the start of the season, but selecting him in the squad should be non-negotiable. That can spark discussions around getting him out of that contract.
The performances of Cam Roigard, Love, Barrett, Harkin, Billy Proctor and so many others made life easier for the free-scoring outside backs both today and throughout this season, but there is still so much value in having wingers who are in red-hot form and ruthlessly take opportunities that come their way.
Where are they now? First Hurricanes team to win Super Rugby in 2016
Unheralded Hurricanes stars and sensational All Blacks
After falling short of European glory with Leinster last season, Barrett was not going to let the opportunity to win the southern hemisphere’s premier club competition slip as he added a Super Rugby title to his URC winner’s medal from the last 12 months. The All Blacks midfield was otherworldly today, producing a nigh-on perfect performance in all facets of the game. He was yet again the ideal foil for Love in the number 12 jersey, taking on a lot of the playmaking duties, carrying strongly and seemingly always making the correct decision. He finished the game with 13 carries, 52 metres, five defenders beaten, four linebreaks, and pitched in with a try and an assist.
Barrett was not alone, with Roigard and Love both producing arguably their best performances of the season, in stark contrast to their All Blacks teammate McKenzie on the other side of the pitch. Love claimed the man of the match award for his 25-point haul, which included two tries while he assisted another too. Roigard departed proceedings having controlled the insanely effective Hurricanes’ attack, throwing two try-assist passes but ultimately bossing the tempo from start to finish.
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Whilst the Hurricanes backs absolutely deserve the praise that will come their way, All Blacks assistant coaches Jason Ryan and Neil Barnes will be most pleased with what they saw up front. Hooker Asafo Aumua was a one-man wrecking ball once again and won his personal head-to-head with Chiefs star Samisoni Taukei’aho, despite both lineouts faltering at times.
Aumua was also part of a ‘Canes pack that had the upper hand at scrum time, though wasn’t properly rewarded for their dominance, while Xavier Numia and Pasilio Tosi were extremely destructive in just about everything they did during their cameos. In the back-row, Flanders was superb in his final outing for the ‘Canes as were his partners in crime Du’Plessis Kirifi and Peter Lakai.
The Hurricanes’ attack and backline brilliance stole the spotlight all season and again in the final but so much of their success was rooted in the performances in the forward pack, which certainly deserve their flowers. A team simply cannot score a record-breaking 114 tries in a season if the pack isn’t firing and firing on all cylinders and today, much like it has all season, the Hurricanes pack produced the goods.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just the starters as the likes of Tyrel Lomax, Jacob Devery, Siale Lauaki and the first-ever double Hurricanes’ Super Rugby winner Brad Shields picked up from where the starters left off to complete the Chiefs’ embarrassment.