Josh Fusitu'a: Super Rugby champion off the bench in 2024, Blues Player of the Year in 2025

In 2024 Josh Fusitu'a played 15 of the Blues' games in their first title-winning season for 21 years, most of them off the bench, including the final. A year later he was a starting loosehead and the club's Player of the Year. In July 2025 he packed down against the British and Irish Lions in Adelaide, and in November 2025 he toured Europe with the All Blacks XV. The 25-year-old West Aucklander, the younger brother of league international David Fusitu'a, co-captained Auckland in the 2026 NPC and is one of six props in the Blues squad for 2027.

West Auckland and Grammar

Joshua Fusitu'a was born on 1 May 2001 and grew up in West Auckland. He went to Auckland Grammar School and came through the Auckland Academy and the Blues development programme, the Blues' profile records, and he plays his club rugby for Grammar TEC.

His family was already known in New Zealand sport. His older brother David played rugby league for the Warriors and the Leeds Rhinos and represented both New Zealand and Tonga. "My brother has always been a big role model in my life," Josh said when he signed his first Blues contract in September 2022, adding that David had set the benchmark for him to reach.

He was selected for the New Zealand Under 20s in 2021, although the Covid-19 pandemic limited the team to a domestic programme that year.

The Blues: from replacement to regular

Fusitu'a first came into the Blues as a replacement player in 2022. His debut came off the bench against Moana Pasifika in Auckland on 29 March 2022, a match that had been postponed from the opening round because of Covid-19 cases in the Moana squad. The Blues won 32-19.

That September the Blues gave him a three-year contract. "I'm lost for words, I can't believe it happened so fast," he said. Head coach Leon MacDonald said the young loosehead "didn't take a backward step", even against the club's international props, and that "you can tell he has a real inner drive to succeed". Fusitu'a offered his own summary: "I don't have much 'razzle dazzle' but I know how to work hard."

He played five games in 2023. Then the experienced props Nepo Laulala and Alex Hodgman left the club, and in 2024 Fusitu'a was asked to step up, the Blues' profile records.

Champions in 2024

He started the opening game of 2024, a 34-10 win over the Fijian Drua in Whangārei on 24 February 2024, in a front row with Kurt Eklund and Angus Ta'avao. Across the season he played in all but two of the Blues' matches, 15 games, 13 of them wins, though only two were starts. Along the way he earned his 20-game Blues blazer.

On 22 June 2024 the Blues met the Chiefs in the final at Eden Park. Fusitu'a came off the bench in the 42nd minute to replace Ofa Tu'ungafasi, and the Blues won 41-10 for their first Super Rugby title since 2003.

Player of the Year

In 2025 he became the Blues' first-choice loosehead, starting 12 of his 16 games. He scored his first Super Rugby try in a 34-5 win over the Fijian Drua at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva on 9 May 2025.

At the club's awards on 22 May 2025 Fusitu'a was named Player of the Year, the Blues' top award. The club praised him as "a model of professionalism, discipline, and growth" and said he had cemented his place in the starting XV. The Blues reached the semi-finals, where the Crusaders beat them 21-14 in Christchurch on 13 June 2025.

Against the Lions, then the All Blacks XV

When the British and Irish Lions toured Australia in 2025, they played an invitational side drawn from Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide on 12 July 2025. Fusitu'a was on the bench for the AUNZ Invitational XV and came on in the 50th minute; the Lions won 48-0.

That October he was named in the All Blacks XV squad for a three-match tour of Europe under coach Jamie Joseph, and he played in all three wins. He came off the bench in the 33-19 win over the Barbarians in Brentford on 1 November 2025 and the 31-14 win over England A at the Recreation Ground in Bath on 8 November 2025, and started at loosehead in the 45-21 win over Uruguay in Béziers on 16 November 2025.

Auckland

Fusitu'a made his NPC debut for Auckland in 2022, playing four games off the bench, and was a regular starter in 2023 with ten games. He played seven games in 2024 and six in 2025.

For 2026 Auckland named him co-captain with former All Black Stephen Perofeta. Waatea News reported that the province wanted to combine homegrown leadership with top-level experience, and called the captaincy the culmination of a journey that had begun in Auckland schools and clubs. He started the season opener against Canterbury in Christchurch on 1 August 2026 and played all ten of Auckland's games, equalling his most in a season for the province. He has 37 NPC games for the province.

A stop-start 2026

The 2026 Super Rugby season started well for him. He started at loosehead in the opening game against the Chiefs at Eden Park on 14 February 2026, and a week later scored the first try of the match in a 42-32 win over the Western Force in Perth on 21 February 2026. But he suffered a bicep injury in that game that needed surgery, RugbyPass reported, and then a hamstring strain on his return, and those two games were his only Super Rugby appearances of the year. His Super Rugby record stands at 39 games and two tries by RugbyPass's count; Wikipedia's list of Blues players gives 40 games.

Style and standing

The Blues have described Fusitu'a as a hard-working, physical loosehead whose impact lifted their scrum in 2025, and their awards citation highlighted his "tireless preparation and attention to detail". He is listed at 183 centimetres and 118 kilograms.

Where he is now

Fusitu'a has not played a Test for any country. On 28 October 2026 the Blues named him in their 2027 squad, one of six props with Ofa Tu'ungafasi, Marcel Renata, Ben Ake, Mason Tupaea and Flyn Yates. New head coach Jason Holland's release named Fusitu'a, Tu'ungafasi and Renata as the three leading the front row. The squad assembles at Blues headquarters in late November 2026.

Career at a glance

Blues and Auckland figures are RugbyPass's season records and agree with rugbyhistory.co.nz to the end of 2025. Wikipedia's list of Blues players counts one more Blues game.