Josh Moorby produced a four-try masterclass at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday night as the Hurricanes blew Moana Pasifika away in sheets of Albany rain, running out 50-17 winners to reclaim sole ownership of the Super Rugby Pacific summit with three rounds of the regular season still to play.
The fullback crossed in the 11th, 22nd, 52nd and 69th minutes, his quartet of tries punishing every gap Moana Pasifika left as the home side tried to play their way out from deep in greasy conditions. Kini Naholo, returning to the run-on side after an ankle injury, finished off two tries within sixty seconds of each other early in the second half. Skipper Du’Plessis Kirifi grabbed the third Hurricanes try shortly before the break, and replacement Jone Rova capped a polished performance at second five-eighths in Jordie Barrett’s absence with a late try of his own.
Tuna Tuitama scored twice for Moana Pasifika and Israel Leota crossed once, briefly giving the home crowd in Albany something to cheer through the rain. Moana Pasifika held the visitors to 19-5 at the break and largely matched the Hurricanes for spirit, but they had no answer to the visiting team’s accuracy at the breakdown or the pace Moorby and Naholo brought every time the ball reached the back three.
The win was the Hurricanes’ ninth from eleven outings and lifts Clark Laidlaw’s side to 45 points, five clear of the Chiefs in second and a couple of points ahead of the Blues, who they meet next weekend in what now shapes as a top-of-the-table dress rehearsal for the play-offs. The Crusaders, fresh off their 36-20 win over the Blues at Te Kaha on Friday night, sit just behind in fourth and remain very much in the home semi-final hunt.
Hurricanes captain Du’Plessis Kirifi told Sky Sport after the match that the scoreboard mattered less to him than how the Hurricanes had started in trying conditions. “The score line’s nice and scoring tries is amazing, but I loved the way we started that game,” he said, before being asked about the knee complaint that forced him from the field at half-time. He played down its severity but did not return after the break.
Laidlaw was without Barrett, Bailyn Sullivan and TJ Perenara among others, and tinkered with a brand new halves combination of Cam Roigard’s understudy alongside young Riley Higgins. The Hurricanes coach had said earlier in the week that the squad had earned the right not to stress about combinations at this stage of the season, and the performance backed him up. Billy Proctor, slotting in at centre, set up three tries with cute short-side passes and offloads as Moana Pasifika’s defensive line struggled to read the second-phase attack.
For Moana Pasifika, the loss was another body blow in a season already weighed down by the news that the franchise is unlikely to be retained beyond 2026 in its current form. Head coach Tana Umaga, speaking to RNZ in the build-up, acknowledged the toll the off-field uncertainty had taken. “These things hang over us quite heavy,” Umaga said. “There’s a little bit of light, a glimmer of hope, but we have to be realistic.” His side started seven debutants in Albany as injuries and contract churn continued to bite, and they finished the night with a much-changed bench having tried to keep their first-choice forward pack on the pitch as long as possible.
That makeshift edge showed at scrum time, where the Hurricanes won three tightheads in the second forty and used the resulting platform to put away the bonus-point victory. Replacement loose forward Devan Flanders carried hard around the fringes, and Naholo’s two tries came directly from quick taps inside the Moana Pasifika 22 after penalties had given the Hurricanes momentum.
Moana Pasifika’s positives were narrow but real. Tuitama’s footwork in the wet was outstanding, his second try a beautifully timed cut-back against the grain, and rising lock Israel Leota’s score off the back of a maul suggested the kind of set-piece grunt the side has lacked in the middle third of the season. Captain Ardie Savea was steady in his return from a corked thigh, although his trademark turnovers were largely smothered by Hurricanes accuracy at the ruck.
The Hurricanes now turn their attention to the Blues at Sky Stadium next Friday in what looms as a defining match for both top-four claims and home-quarter-final seeding. Moana Pasifika travel to Hamilton to take on the Chiefs, who have won six on the bounce and will see the visit from a depleted side as a chance to lay down a marker of their own.
For Albany, where dwindling crowds have been one of the season’s quieter stories, Saturday’s drenching did not help the gate. Whether Moana Pasifika get the chance to make North Harbour their home into 2027 and beyond remains, on every rugby Saturday now, the question that no result on the field can answer.
What did you make of the Hurricanes’ performance, and what do you think the future holds for Moana Pasifika? Have your say in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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