Kieran Read: What Leicester Fainga’anuku is ‘missing’ from his game to compete for All Blacks flanker role despite being ‘the Crusaders best’

Although Leicester Fainga’anuku has been the Crusaders’ best player during their 2026 Super Rugby Pacific campaign, he isn’t ready to play on the flank for the All Blacks yet.

That is the word from former All Blacks captain and number eight Kieran Read, who admitted to being impressed by how easily Fainga’anuku has made the transition from the backline to the forwards.

Earlier this year, Crusaders head coach Rob Penney sprung a surprise for his side’s Super Round fixture against the Waratahs by naming Fainga’anuku, who usually plies his trade on the wing or at centre, in the number seven jersey.

Penny’s gamble paid off as the Crusaders sealed a 35-20 victory with Fainga’anuku delivering a fine all-round performance and he crossed for one of his team’s tries.

That was the first time that the All Blacks star lined up amongst the forwards in New Zealand, although he had enjoyed cameos in that position during his time with Top 14 outfit Toulon between 2023 and 2025.

In fine form for the Crusaders

Following the Waratahs clash, Fainga’anuku retained his position on the openside flank for most of the Crusaders’ subsequent Super Rugby Pacific matches and gave a good account of himself in his new role.

Former All Blacks skipper and number eight Read said Fainga’anuku’s transition from the backline to the pack has been a successful one and is delighted that it’s worked out, as the player struggled with his form during the early stages of the season.

“It’s been good. I think at the start of the season, Leicester couldn’t find his feet. And so it was interesting, right? He’d come back in from France,” he told The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast.

“He’s probably one of our better wingers at the World Cup in ’23 but just didn’t find his feet at the start of the season. He was dropping balls.

“He wasn’t having an impact. He’s not a centre that’s going to create space and use vision and great voice and everything, which is what you need here in New Zealand. We need a centre to be able to do that for us.

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“So that limits him there. Okay. Put him into the loose forwards. Let him play exactly how he’s been playing for the last wee while. And he’s having great impacts. I think it’s great.”

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Not ready to play on the flank for the All Blacks

Read, who represented New Zealand in 127 Tests between 2008 and 2019, feels Fainga’anuku’s best positions are either openside flanker or on the wing but said he is not ready to compete for an All Blacks spot in the former position.

“I think loosie, or potentially on the left wing, I think are great positions for him,” he said. “Is he an All Black seven? No, I watch him and you see these things that he does in his game as a seven.

“At the top level, (that) he’s missing. Getting off the scrum, being able to work around the corner and put himself in positions to be able to have impacts. There are things there that he’ll need to work on.

“And saying that, he’s been the Crusaders’ best on the field. And it probably doesn’t matter what number, but I like a loose forward number or a left wing where he doesn’t play like a winger. If you’re an All Black coach, you go, ‘Okay, you need this guy on the field somehow to be able to do what he does’.

“So, I’ve been really impressed. And it works for the Crusaders, for him, that seven (role). I’m not sure if you go to the next level, it’s totally different whether he could do the same thing.

“Because you might just miss a couple of key things around breakdown and stuff. That’s pretty important.”

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