Finlay Brewis: starting loosehead for Canterbury's back-to-back NPC titles in 2025 and 2026

On 26 October 2026, under the roof at One NZ Stadium in Christchurch, Canterbury beat Northland 43-24 to win the NPC for the second year running. Wearing No. 1, as he had in the 2025 final, was a prop who had come back from shoulder surgery in between. Finlay Brewis, 26, has had two long injury lay-offs, and his career also holds a Super Rugby debut that came out of a front-row crisis and two appearances for the All Blacks XV. He is in the Crusaders squad again for 2027.

Where he comes from

Brewis was born in Christchurch on 10 February 2000, according to his Wikipedia entry and his Crusaders profile, but he went to school in Auckland, at Westlake Boys High School on the North Shore. Canterbury's 2021 NPC media guide lists him with Westlake Boys as his school and High School Old Boys as his Christchurch club, at 1.88 metres and 124 kilograms.

RUGBE could not find a published account of his junior rugby or his First XV years at Westlake, or of any age-grade representative honours.

Canterbury, and a try in a Shield match

Brewis was 20 when he first played for Canterbury. On 28 August 2020 Canterbury defended the Ranfurly Shield against North Otago at Rugby League Park in Christchurch, a pre-season challenge played with no crowd in the ground, and won it 71-7. Wikipedia's record of the match shows Brewis scoring the third try, in the 16th minute.

He played seven NPC games that season, starting with a bench appearance in a 43-29 win over North Harbour at Albany on 11 September 2020, and he started the wins over Wellington in Christchurch on 3 October 2020 and Manawatū in Palmerston North on 9 October 2020. In 2021 he played eight more, the last of them a start at loosehead in the semi-final against Waikato in Rotorua on 13 November 2021, which Waikato won 17-14.

A debut in Hamilton

Brewis was in the Crusaders squad for 2022, and his chance came quickly. With Joe Moody injured and Abraham Pole on his way to the Highlanders, the Crusaders were so short of props for their Round 6 game against the Chiefs that RugbyPass reported the match could have been postponed. Instead the coaches named the 22-year-old to start at loosehead.

On 26 March 2022 at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, Brewis made his Super Rugby debut, packing down beside Brodie McAlister and Oli Jager. ESPN's match data shows him playing the first 46 minutes, and the Crusaders won 34-19. He became Crusader number 262 and played four games that season, which ended with the Crusaders winning the title.

He was back with Canterbury for the 2022 NPC and played eight games, including the final against Wellington in Christchurch on 22 October 2022. He started at loosehead, and Wellington won 26-18.

The All Blacks XV

A fortnight later Brewis was in Europe with the All Blacks XV, coached by Leon MacDonald. On 4 November 2022 the side played the first match under that name, against Ireland A at the RDS Arena in Dublin. Brewis was No. 17 and, as RugbyPass's match commentary records, came on for Aidan Ross in the 59th minute of a 47-19 win. On 13 November 2022 he was on the bench again against the Barbarians at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and came on in the 69th minute; the Barbarians won 35-31.

Two seasons lost to injury

The next three years were broken up by injury. Brewis played twice off the bench for the Crusaders in April 2023, and in May that year RNZ listed him among three props the Crusaders had already lost to injury in their title defence. He did not play in the 2023 NPC. In 2024 he made one Super Rugby appearance, off the bench against the Hurricanes in Christchurch on 15 March 2024.

He was a regular for Canterbury again in the 2024 NPC, with 11 games, and scored his first NPC try on 7 September 2024 in a 34-16 win over Otago in Dunedin. Canterbury reached the semi-finals and lost 32-20 to Bay of Plenty in Tauranga on 19 October 2024.

Then, in the Crusaders' first pre-season game of 2025, against the Blues at Kirwee, he hurt his shoulder. The club said on 12 February 2025 that he needed surgery and would miss the whole Super Rugby season.

Back-to-back finals

He returned for Canterbury's 2025 NPC campaign and played 12 games. He started at loosehead in the 43-19 semi-final win over Hawke's Bay on 18 October 2025, and a week later, on 25 October 2025 in Christchurch, he started the final against Otago. Canterbury won 36-28 for their 15th NPC title.

In January 2026 the Crusaders announced his "long-awaited return from injury" for the first pre-season game in Timaru, and he started the season opener against the Highlanders in Dunedin on 13 February 2026, which the Highlanders won 25-23. He started at loosehead on 24 April 2026 when the Crusaders beat the Waratahs 35-20 in the first game at their new home, One NZ Stadium. A calf injury from late April kept him out for several weeks, but he was back to start the 52-31 qualifying final win over the Blues on 6 June 2026 and the semi-final against the Chiefs in Hamilton on 12 June 2026. He played 11 Super Rugby games in 2026, the most of any season of his career.

The 2026 NPC

Brewis started Canterbury's 19-15 win over Otago in Dunedin on 9 August 2026 that brought the Ranfurly Shield back to Canterbury, and the 33-28 defence against Bay of Plenty a week later. On 26 September 2026 he scored in a 34-21 win over Southland at One NZ Stadium, his second NPC try, and on 26 October 2026 he started the final against Northland as Canterbury retained the title.

He played 11 NPC games and 672 minutes in 2026, according to RugbyPass's figures. In RUGBE's season rankings that was the third-most minutes of any of the 90 props who played in the competition.

Where he is now

Brewis has not played a Test for any country.

The Crusaders named him on 28 October 2026 as one of six props for 2027, with the All Blacks Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell and George Bower, Seb Calder and the new signing Feleti Sae-Ta'ufo'ou, plus the Frenchman Clément Castets as cover while Williams is unavailable. The new head coach is Scott Hansen.

Career at a glance

Canterbury figures combine the 2021 media guide (seven games in 2020), All.Rugby's match list for 2021 and RugbyPass season totals from 2022 to 2026. The three tries are from Wikipedia's match records: 28 August 2020 against North Otago, 7 September 2024 against Otago and 26 September 2026 against Southland.