Super Rugby 2027: all five New Zealand squads, player by player

All five New Zealand Super Rugby Pacific clubs named their squads for 2027 on Wednesday 28 October, and a day later completed their wider training groups through the competition's first live draft. Between them the lists tell the story of the off-season: Ardie Savea at the Blues, Richie Mo'unga back at the Crusaders, Shannon Frizell and Josh Jacomb at the Highlanders, Anton Lienert-Brown home at the Chiefs, and the champion Hurricanes adding an All Blacks No. 8.

The 2027 season is the competition's 31st, it is a ten-team competition after Moana Pasifika's exit (five New Zealand teams, four Australian and the Fijian Drua), and it is played in a World Cup year. It opens on Friday 12 February with the Crusaders against the Reds.

Below is every squad, one player per line by position, with what each club said about who is new, who is back and who is hurt.

Hurricanes: the champions add ten

The Hurricanes won their first title in a decade in June, beating the Chiefs in the final after play-off wins of 66-12, 57-21 and 60-5, and head coach Clark Laidlaw has kept the core together: 28 of the title-winning squad return, joined by ten new signings and one promotion from the wider training group, wing Josh Gray, who debuted at the 2026 Super Round. The club counts 16 players with All Blacks or Test experience and five Super Rugby centurions.

The headline arrival is All Blacks No. 8 Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa, one of three players to come from Moana Pasifika, who are out of the competition in 2027, along with prop Tito Tuipulotu and lock Alefosio Aho. Bryn Hall, a six-time Super Rugby champion, adds a third halfback behind Cam Roigard. Loose forward Oliver Haig comes in from the All Blacks XV, Hunter Morrison from Hawke's Bay, Rohan Wingham after time at the Highlanders, and Waikato lock Dylan Eti and Bay of Plenty midfielder Tāmiro Armstrong earn their first full contracts after seasons in the Chiefs' wider group. Heremaia Murray, formerly of the Crusaders and the Reds, is cover for Ngane Punivai, who ruptured an Achilles tendon in October and is expected to miss the whole season.

"It's good to get the squad done," Laidlaw told the Herald, crediting general manager of rugby Tom Kindley. The non-All Blacks report for pre-season on 26 November. Laidlaw himself has signed only a one-year extension, to the end of the 2027 season.

Blues: Savea arrives, Holland takes over

The Blues finished fourth and lost a semifinal in 2026, and they go into 2027 with a new head coach, Jason Holland, in place of Vern Cotter, and the biggest signing of the off-season. All Blacks captain Ardie Savea joins after Moana Pasifika's exit from the competition. "Ardie is one of the best players in the world," Holland said.

Rieko Ioane is back from his sabbatical at Leinster, and the new faces are first five Cam Millar and halfback Nic Shearer, both from the Highlanders, capped Wallabies wing Darby Lancaster from the Western Force, and North Harbour wing Rory Taylor, a former property valuer on a two-year deal whom general manager Murray Williams called a natural finisher. Midfielder Pita Ahki is in the squad but ruptured an Achilles tendon during the NPC and will be out beyond the start of the season. Prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi, 34 and a veteran of 68 Tests, will spend three months at Clermont in France as injury cover before returning. The squad assembles in late November.

Chiefs: runners-up reload

Beaten finalists again, the Chiefs under Jono Gibbes have lost All Blacks loose forward Samipeni Finau and tighthead Benet Kumeroa, and gained experience in return. Anton Lienert-Brown is back after a year's sabbatical in Japan. Corey Kellow, an NPC winner with Canterbury after four years at the Crusaders, replaces Finau. Tongan tighthead Paula Latu, who played six games for Moana Pasifika in 2026, replaces Kumeroa. Halfback Richard Judd returns to New Zealand after spells with Suntory in Japan and San Diego in the United States, and Bay of Plenty's Charlie Sinton, a New Zealand Under-20 halfback, has a two-year deal.

The most interesting contract belongs to Frank Vaenuku, 21, of the All Blacks Sevens: a long-term deal that releases him for the 2028 Olympics before he returns in 2029. Daniel Lienert-Brown, Tevita Mafileo and Taha Kemara were announced earlier, Jai Knight is promoted from the wider group, and hooker Tyrone Thompson is unavailable for the season through injury. Tupou Vaa'i and Naitoa Ah Kuoi are both closing on 100 games for the club, and Quinn Tupaea returns as the 2026 Super Rugby Player of the Year. "This is a new team and a new season," Gibbes said.

Crusaders: Hansen in charge, Mo'unga home

Scott Hansen, Crusader number 25 as a player and an assistant coach from 2020 to 2023, returns as head coach of the 13-time champions, and the most familiar name in red and black returns with him: Richie Mo'unga is back from Japan at first five. Leicester Fainga'anuku is listed in the midfield and Johnny McNicholl is back among the outside backs. The squad has 16 All Blacks.

The new signings are prop Feleti Sae-Ta'ufo'ou, loose forward Finn McLeod and midfielders Jake Te Hiwi and Corey Evans. Five players are promoted from the 2026 wider group: Xavier Treacy, Oli Mathis, Johnny Lee, Cooper Roberts and Mitchell Drummond. French prop Clément Castets is available until Tamaiti Williams returns from injury. No captain has been named. "There's a lot to look forward to in 2027," Hansen said.

Highlanders: Jacomb, Frizell and two internationals

Jamie Joseph's Highlanders have recruited hard. First five Josh Jacomb, who made his All Blacks debut against the Stormers on the South Africa tour, joins from the Chiefs. Shannon Frizell returns from Japan. Argentina lock Tomás Lavanini and Fiji loose forward Joseva Tamani add Test experience, and Benet Kumeroa, 26, a Māori All Blacks tighthead, comes south from the Chiefs. Fabian Holland is back after missing all of the 2026 Super Rugby season with a dislocated shoulder, and Ethan de Groot has re-signed through 2029.

The club has also tied down its young core: Lucas Casey, Dylan Pledger, Veveni Lasaqa and Mika Muliaina through 2029, and Finn Hurley, Caleb Tangitau, Adam Lennox, Sean Withy, Will Stodart, Josh Tengblad, Jack Taylor and Josh Bartlett through at least 2028. Prop Jermaine Ainsley is out until May with a shoulder injury from the NPC; Southland loosehead Jack Sexton, 25, son of the former Crusaders hooker Matt Sexton, takes his place. Boris Stankovich (forwards), Jimmy Maher and Ben Smith are on the coaching staff. "We don't want players waiting for their turn," Joseph said. The squad assembles on 26 November.

Where the Moana Pasifika players went

Moana Pasifika were ruled out of the 2027 competition in June, and their best players have been shared around the New Zealand clubs: Ardie Savea to the Blues; Semisi Tupou Ta'eiloa, Tito Tuipulotu and Alefosio Aho to the Hurricanes; Paula Latu to the Chiefs; and prop Malakai Hala-Ngatai to the Hurricanes' wider training group.

What comes next

The clubs assemble for pre-season in late November, without their All Blacks, who are on the northern tour. The wider training groups, 57 players chosen partly through a live draft, are covered in a separate RUGBE story, as is the full 2027 draw.

Sources: NZ Herald, 28 October 2026; the Hurricanes, Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders and Highlanders squad announcements, 28 October 2026; Otago Daily Times; super.rugby.