There have been better Hurricanes teams on paper. There has never been one that scored like this.

113 tries in 17 matches. The first side in Super Rugby history past 100 in a season. Two players who broke the all-time single-season try record on the same night, in the same match, which happened to be a grand final they won by 55 points.

Here is the whole thing, game by game.

A note on player of the match: SANZAAR did not run a per-match award in 2026, so there is no official man of the match for the regular season. The final is the one exception. Where we name a standout below, that is the match report's read and ours.

The season at a glance

| | | |---|---| | Head coach | Clark Laidlaw | | Co-captains | Jordie Barrett and Du'Plessis Kirifi | | Ladder | 1st, 11 wins 3 losses, 55 points | | Regular season | 562 points for, 298 against | | Tries | 113 across the full season, a competition record | | Finals | Beat Brumbies 66-12, beat Blues 57-21, beat Chiefs 60-5 |

Byes in Rounds 1 and 8. Their home ground was renamed from Sky Stadium to Hnry Stadium on 1 March, mid-season.

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The regular season

Round 2: Hurricanes 52, Moana Pasifika 10 (Wellington, 20 Feb)

Moana struck first, then the wings took the game away: Fehi Fineanganofo two, Josh Moorby three, Peter Umaga-Jensen's outside men running riot. Eight tries to two. Of note: Moorby's hat-trick came on his return from Montpellier. Less happily, Brett Cameron was stretchered off in the 24th minute, with Ruben Love already out injured.

Round 3: Fijian Drua 25, Hurricanes 20 (Lautoka, 28 Feb)

The first loss, in torrential rain on a waterlogged Churchill Park. The Hurricanes led 17-13 at the break before Ponipate Samusamuvodre intercepted a Moorby pass to level it, and Waqa went over with 13 minutes left. Of note: the Drua's first win of 2026, and thoroughly deserved in conditions that suited them.

Round 4: Waratahs 19, Hurricanes 59 (Sydney, 6 Mar)

Nine tries to three, including a Billy Proctor second-half hat-trick. A ninth straight win over the Waratahs. Of note: Joseph Suaalii strained a hamstring in the warm-up, handing George Poolman a Waratahs debut. NSW spent 20 straight minutes with a man in the bin.

Round 5: Hurricanes 31, Western Force 23 (Napier, 13 Mar)

The scare. Trailing 8-5 at halftime and by six early in the second spell, Brad Shields' 48th-minute try triggered four quick ones. Warner Dearns scored off a charge-down while the Hurricanes were down to 14. Of note: Force captain Jeremy Williams afterwards: "That first 20 in the second half we got punched in the face a bit. Really great reply in the end. But only if there was five more minutes."

Round 6: Highlanders 7, Hurricanes 50 (Dunedin, 20 Mar)

Conceded inside ten minutes, then scored eight unanswered tries. Fineanganofo hat-trick, Cam Roigard two, and Lakai after the siren to bring up the 50. A tenth consecutive win over the Highlanders. Of note: Ruben Love's first appearance back from injury, five conversions.

Round 7: Hurricanes 52, Reds 14 (Wellington, 28 Mar)

Punished Reds turnovers to lead 24-14, then Fineanganofo's second hat-trick in two weeks. An 11th successive win over the Reds and a 12th straight at home, a run dating back to 1998. Of note: Kirifi on the defensive effort: "We used our shoulders to do the talking tonight." Reds captain Fraser McReight was blunt: "The scoreboard is the reality of that performance."

Round 9: Hurricanes 42, Blues 19 (Wellington, 11 Apr)

Raced to 14-0 and led 21-12 at the break. Fineanganofo was binned for a high shot and the Blues took advantage, but Harkin's second and a Roigard quick-tap try settled it. Love kicked six from six. Of note: the Blues played with shaved or dyed blonde hair honouring Cam Suafoa, who had retired with cancer.

Round 10: Chiefs 22, Hurricanes 17 after extra time (Hamilton, 18 Apr)

The second loss, and the game of the season. The Hurricanes led 12-3 at halftime and went seven clear, before a Chiefs counterattack levelled it 17-17 at fulltime. Damian McKenzie missed a late drop goal.

Into Super Point, 2026's golden-point extra time. Dearns charged down McKenzie's drop-goal attempt, the ball fell to Wallace Sititi, and he scored four minutes in. Of note: ended a five-game winning run. Losing like that stings, but it is a fair way to lose.

Round 11: Hurricanes 45, Brumbies 12 (Christchurch, 25 Apr)

Calamitous Brumbies kicking gifted a 19-0 halftime lead. Fineanganofo scored four, including a first-half hat-trick, in a sold-out Super Round fixture.

Round 12: Hurricanes 38, Crusaders 31 (Wellington, 1 May)

Led 24-10 at the break, then had to survive. Rivez Reihana's impact off the bench brought the Crusaders within a converted try and Gardiner scored with three minutes left, before Havili's cross-kick after the siren ended it. Of note: Fineanganofo's 15th try of the season, one short of the all-time record.

Round 13: Hurricanes 50, Moana Pasifika 17 (North Harbour, 9 May)

Josh Moorby scored four. Kini Naholo got two on his return from an ankle injury. 19-5 up at halftime in the rain.

Round 14: Blues 24, Hurricanes 47 (Eden Park, 16 May)

Seven tries at Eden Park, and a milestone. Fineanganofo scored his 16th of the season to equal the all-time Super Rugby single-season record, held by Joe Roff and Ben Lam. Of note: Ere Enari, deputising for Roigard, had three try assists. Dearns scored off a charge-down of Beauden Barrett.

Round 15: Hurricanes 45, Highlanders 28 (Wellington, 23 May)

Moorby scored inside two minutes and it was 21-0 before long. Ruben Love got his first try of the year. Of note: a sour moment, with Highlanders prop Daniel Lienert-Brown red-carded for a high shot to the neck that forced Devan Flanders from the field. Flanders would have the last word in June.

Round 16: Crusaders 47, Hurricanes 14 (Christchurch, 29 May)

The heaviest defeat of the season, and the least important. With their finals fate already locked in, the Hurricanes made double-digit changes and were 26-7 down at halftime. Of note: Sevu Reece played his 100th game for the Crusaders and scored twice.

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The finals

Qualifying final: Hurricanes 66, Brumbies 12 (Wellington, 5 Jun)

On a wet, windy Wellington night they led 31-0, and 38-7 at the break. Ngane Punivai came on in the 54th minute and scored a hat-trick. Roigard two, Dearns two. Ruben Love was flawless: nine conversions and a penalty, ten from ten. RECORDS: the biggest finals defeat ever inflicted on an Australian team in Super Rugby, and the Brumbies' heaviest defeat in their history. Australian sides are now nought from 22 in New Zealand finals. Laidlaw stayed level: "We'll not get too greedy around what that looks like tonight. We'll enjoy the win." Kirifi: "We are where we need to be, but we're also aware that we need to improve."

Semi-final: Hurricanes 57, Blues 21 (Wellington, 13 Jun)

Tighter than the score suggests. The Blues led for much of a first half that ended 19-14, before three tries in ten minutes after the break broke it open. Nine tries in all. THE MILESTONE: Moorby's 47th-minute try was the Hurricanes' 100th of the season, making them the first team in Super Rugby history to reach 100 tries in a campaign.

GRAND FINAL: Hurricanes 60, Chiefs 5 (Wellington, 20 Jun)

34,500 in, sold out in 15 minutes, and a Wellington gale that the Hurricanes handled and the Chiefs did not. Moorby scored inside seven minutes, Love stepped the cover for a second, and it was 29-0 at halftime, the biggest halftime lead in Super Rugby final history. Nine tries to one.

Man of the match: Ruben Love, with 25 points: two tries, six conversions and a penalty. The only published award of the whole season.

THE RECORDS, all in one night:

• The 55-point margin is the biggest in any Super Rugby final, beating the Bulls' 61-17 over the Chiefs in 2009.
• Fineanganofo's 24th-minute try was his 17th of the season, breaking the all-time single-season record.
• Moorby's two tries took him to 17 as well. Two players, one record, one night.
• Devan Flanders scored, returning from the concussion he suffered against the Highlanders.

Laidlaw, honestly: "We wouldn't have dreamt of being able to win a final by 60 points. There's a lot that we trained that came off, but if you'd told me we'd win like that, we'd have probably doubted you."

On Love: "He's really starting to grow into his role as a first-five, isn't he? He's maturing nicely, starting to make good decisions."

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The season in the round

Ruben Love finished as the top points scorer in the entire competition with 138. Fineanganofo and Moorby tied on 17 tries and 85 points each. Roigard added nine tries from halfback.

Discipline was excellent: no red cards all season, and seven yellows.

One oddity worth recording. For a side that broke this many records, only Xavier Numia made the Team of the Year, and no Hurricane won an individual season award. Player of the Year went to the Chiefs' Quinn Tupaea on a countback.

A note on the points record. You will see 685 points quoted as a Hurricanes record. That figure was published before the final and was never updated. Their actual full-season total, with the final's 60 added, is 745.

Ten years after 2016, the title is back in Wellington. On the evidence of 113 tries, they did not just win it, they rewrote what a Super Rugby season looks like.