The Hurricanes most capped XV

After 20 years of Super Rugby, the competition is expanding to 18 teams in 2016. As we look forward to the start of this year’s competition that kicks off in mid-February, here is a look back at the some of the Hurricanes players that have lit up Super Rugby thus far.

Club Rugby's 2016 Hurricanes coverage is in association with Les Mills Wellington - more details coming soon

The Hurricanes most capped XV by position is a fair side:

1. John Schwalger
Hurricanes appearances: 84
Career: 2006-2011, 2013-2014
Club: Northern United

John Schwalger made his first-class debut for the Wellington Lions in the white hot atmosphere of 2005’s tour match against the British and Irish Lions. He earned his stripes and won his place in the Hurricanes’ line-up the following year. He played two Tests for the All Blacks in 2007 and 2008 and played his 50th Hurricanes match in 2010. He departed for a stint at Agen in France in 2011 before making a welcome return to the Hurricanes. However illness sidelined him for most of 2014 and all of 2015. Also: Ben Franks (65 caps for the Crusaders and 45 for the Hurricanes).

2. Andrew Hore
Hurricanes appearances: 106
Career: 2002-2011
Club: Maniototo

The second Hurricanes player to reach 100 caps, Hore was a key cog in the side in 2006 when they made the Super Rugby final for the first time. 2008 was a memorable year for Hore, winning both the Super Rugby Player of the Year and the Kelvin R. Tremain Memorial Player of the Year gong at the end of season NZRFU awards. Hore scored 19 tries for the Hurricanes, the most by a forward. He reached the milestone of 200 first-class appearances whilst playing for the Hurricanes in the 2009 semi-final against the Chiefs. He finished off his career at the Highlanders and played 83 Tests for the All Blacks. Also: Dane Coles (80 caps) and Norm Hewitt (66 caps).

3. Neemia Tialata
Hurricanes appearances: 101
Career: 2004 –2011
Club: Petone

Neemia Tialata packed down for his final season in Hurricanes colours in 2011. After reaching the milestone of 100 games during the season, Tialata announced his departure to play in France, where he still is playing for Toulouse. Also a loosehead prop, it was at tighthead where he played much of his best rugby for the Hurricanes and for the All Blacks in 43 Tests. Also an artist and musician, he designed a range of relief tee-shirts following the devastating Tsunami that struck Samoa and wiped out his home village of Lalomanu in 2009. 

4. Jeremy Thrush
Hurricanes appearances: 110
Career: 2008-2015
Club: Hutt Old Boys Marist

In June 2013, Wellington Lions and Hurricanes lock Jeremy Thrush realised his lifelong dream of making the All Blacks. The 28-year old completed a long apprenticeship at Super Rugby and provincial level when he came off the bench to play France at Eden Park in Auckland. Thrush went on to play 11 Tests. He ended his Hurricanes career in 2015 as the franchise’s most capped forward and is currently leading from the front in mid-table Gloucester’s pack in the English Premiership. Also: Paul Tito 84 Hurricanes caps and Dion Waller 65 Hurricanes caps.

5. Jason Eaton
Hurricanes appearances: 89
Career: 2006-2013
Club: Stratford

Jason Eaton was a leading figure in Hurricanes packs for eight straight seasons. But he spent the best part of two of them battling knee injuries and on waterboy duties, preventing him from joining the Hurricanes’ 100-game club. Eaton seemingly burst on to the scene at a great rate of knots. After starting off at Manawatu and then moving to Taranaki, he was selected for the 2005 end of year All Blacks tour before he had played Super Rugby. Also a blindside flanker, eventual 15-Test All Black Eaton left the Hurricanes to play for the NTT Shining Arcs in Japan. He is now captaining French Top 14 club La Rochelle. Also: Luke Andrews (61 caps).

6. Jerry Collins
Hurricanes appearances: 85
Career: 2001-2008
Club: Northern United

Much of Jerry Collins’ early career was spent at No. 8, but from 2004 until his retirement from New Zealand rugby in 2008 he made both the Hurricanes’ and the All Blacks’ blindside position his own. Collins achieved much at a young age. Before his 20th birthday, he had captained the New Zealand Secondary Schools in 1997, played for New Zealand U19s in 1998 and in 1999 (voted player of the tournament in Wales in 1999), captained the Northern United Premiers 1999, played for the New Zealand Colts in 1999 and 2000 and appeared for New Zealand A in 2000.

7. Chris Masoe
Hurricanes appearances: 62
Career: 2003-2008
Club: Johnsonville

Chris Masoe produced one of the most memorable one-off performances by an openside flanker in Super Rugby against the Waratahs in 2005 when he came off the Hurricanes’ bench early in the game and had a blinder. He capped a feverish performance by scoring the match winning try in the Hurricanes’ 26-24 win. A few weeks later whilst playing for Taranaki he took on the British and Irish Lions pack with a similar fiery performance, kick-starting a stellar career that spanned 20 Tests and then morphed into a dominant overseas career in France when he was named the French Top 14 Player of the year in 2012. A decade earlier in 2002 he was the New Zealand Sevens Player of the Year. Also: Jack Lam (53 caps), Kupu Vanisi (43 caps), Karl Lowe (412 caps).

8. Rodney So’oialo
Hurricanes appearances: 101
Career: 2002-2011
Club: Wests Roosters

Rodney So’oialo played his 100th game in 2010 against the Reds. In 2010, becoming the second Hurricanes player and first forward to reach a century of appearances for the franchise, after founding Hurricanes player and midfield back and winger Tana Umaga. So’oialo was a mainstay in Hurricanes teams for almost a decade. He captained the Hurricanes 49 times over four seasons and led the team in their first final in 2006 against the Crusaders. So’oialo’s work-rate and intensity was matched by few of his peers. He also played 62 Tests. Back in Wellington now and coaching club rugby after a post New Zealand playing career at the Honda Heat in Japan. Also: Filo Tiatia (57 caps).

9. Piri Weepu
Hurricanes appearances: 84
Career: 2004-2011
Club: Hutt Old Boys Marist/Wainuiomata

Like others on this list, some of Piri Weepu’s appearances were in other positions, in this case first five-eighth. But the majority were at halfback where he established himself as one of the side’s most valuable players over the course of his eight- year career Weepu enjoyed a rapid rise to fame. Noted for his sweet pass early in his career and his sniping running later on, he started 2004 as back-up halfback for the Hurricanes behind Jason Spice and ended it starting for the All Blacks at Millennium Stadium on the back of a standout NPC for the Wellington Lions. His career often entered turbulent waters, but winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup and earning this 100th Super Rugby cap in 2012 for the Blues after being cut by the Hurricanes were rich rewards for the popular Weepu. The 71-Test All Black is currently playing for Oyonnax in France. Also: Spice (64 caps), TJ Perenara (61 caps).

10. David Holwell
Hurricanes appearances: 76
Career: 1998-2004, 2006
Club: Poneke

The only non-All Black on this list and until last year (when Beauden Barrett surpassed his tally), the highest Hurricanes points scorer with 676 points. Barrett (64 caps) is on track to surpass Holwell as the most capped first five-eighth, but for now Northlander turned Wellingtonian Holwell flies the flag as the side’s most experienced pivot. Holwell’s Hurricanes career also spanned two stints. The first was for seven seasons between 1998-2004 – after he had scored a record 283 points in 14 matches for Northland in 1997. The second was in 2006, when he returned for one season after a stint at Irish club Leinster. It was no coincidence that Hurricanes made their maiden Super Rugby final the year Holwell returned to the side.

11. Tana Umaga
Hurricanes appearances: 122
Career: 1996-2007
Club: Petone

The first man to play 100 games for the Hurricanes, Tana Umaga played the second half of this career at centre and as such aisle 13 at Westpac Stadium is named after him. But Umaga played his first 51 Super 12 matches on the wing, scoring 27 tries (scoring 47 tries for the Hurricanes overall). He ran in three Super Rugby hat-tricks, against Northern Transvaal and the Highlanders in 1997 and against the Reds in 2000. He was Hurricanes captain between 2003-05 and he once marked his brother Mike in a test match. Umaga also played 11 matches for the Chiefs in 2011, played 100 matches overall for Wellington, 74 Tests for the All Blacks and over 300 first-class games overall. Blues coach in 2016. Also: Julian Savea (72 caps), Hosea Gear (70 caps)

12. Ma’a Nonu
Hurricanes appearances: 126
Career: 2003-2011, 2015
Club: Oriental-Rongotai

Ma’a Nonu’s second coming to the Hurricanes in 2015 proved a successful one for the all-action midfielder. In 2015 the bustling Nonu returned from three years at the Blues and the Highlanders to lead the Hurricanes to their second final. He subsequently went on to win the Rugby World Cup a second time in October and win the Kelvin R. Tremain New Zealand Rugby Player of the Year in December. Amassed 160 Super Rugby caps in total, 61 for Wellington and 103 for the All Blacks. Now playing for Toulon in France. Also: Jason O’Halloran (54 caps).

13. Conrad Smith
Hurricanes appearances: 126
Career:
Club: Old Boys University

Conrad Smith left school in New Plymouth and came down to Wellington to attend law school and play some rugby. A decade and a half later he left to play some rugby in France but this time armed with a law degree and with 126 Hurricanes caps and 94 All Blacks caps under his hood. Smith’s rise to the top was meteoric, shooting from the Wellington Bs to the All Blacks in a little of 18 months. Smith earned one cap off the bench in his debut Hurricanes season in 2004, shone for Wellington in the NPC that followed and scored a try with his first touch of the ball in Test rugby against Italy at the end of that season. Hurricanes captain in 2015. Also: Alama Ieremia (42 caps).

14. Cory Jane
Hurricanes appearances: 94
Career: 2007 -
Club: Upper Hutt Rams

Cory Jane is set to become the next player to reach 100 caps for the Hurricanes during the 2016 season. Left out of the 2015 All Blacks RWC squad, Jane checked in for Wellington Lions NPC duty where his silky skills and class touches from fullback were to a fore. A former Sevens flyer, Jane first played for the Hurricanes in 2007 at fullback, before making the All Blacks as a wing and moving there permanently throughout the back half of his career. Jane has played 55 Tests and was Player of the Match in the All Blacks’ 2011 RWC semi-final win over Australia. One of the best in the business under the high ball.

15. Christian Cullen
Hurricanes appearances: 85
Career: 1996 – 2003
Club: Northern United

An excitement machine in his heyday, these days Christian Cullen can be found with his feet up behind a rugby commentary microphone. After making the New Zealand Secondary Schools side for the second year running in 1994 the Paekakariki Express, burst on to the senior international stage for the New Zealand Sevens team at the 1995 Hong Kong Sevens - scoring 18 tries in the tournament. His selection in the first Hurricanes side was a formality, and he was the side’s top try scorer in 1996. Later that year, still only 20, he made his All Blacks debut, scoring seven tries in his first two tests against Samoa and Scotland. Channelling Bert Cooke, Cullen scored 46 tries in 58 Tests and 56 tries in 85 matches for the Hurricanes.