Super Rugby Pacific: One Player To Watch At Every Club In The 2025 Season
Super Rugby Pacific: One Player To Watch At Every Club In The 2025 Season
Discover the key players to watch in the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season, as all 11 clubs reveal their X-factors aiming for the ultimate championship glory!
We’re a few weeks from the opening kickoff of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season, and as the offseason dust has settled and squads have been confirmed, all 11 clubs have players who can make a difference for their sides this year.
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Former sevens and rugby league stars, a World Rugby Player of the Year and more were on the move as transfers, whereas some established names at other clubs are pushing to get their teams to the top of the table and eventually the Super Rugby Pacific title.
It’ll be another thrilling season of Super Rugby, and with the opening round coming closer, let’s dive into which player will be tipped to be an X-factor for each club.
Here’s a look at one player to watch at every Super Rugby Pacific club ahead of the 2025 season:
Blues: Hoskins Sotutu
Last season’s joint-top try scorer and reigning Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year is as interesting of a man as he is talented of a player for the Blues, who are aiming to defend their Super Rugby title this season.
That interest nowadays lies in the fact that Hoskins Sotutu (capped 14 times by the All Blacks) might be on his way out to England to switch international allegiances, where he is eligible with an English mom, and could switch in November, provided he does not play again for the All Blacks.
Brumbies: Tom Hooper
In his final season (for now) in Australia, the 10-time capped Wallaby will be looking to leave Super Rugby on a high note this season.
Tom Hooper, a 23-year-old second-rower, officially signed this week with the Exeter Chiefs of England’s Premiership, who Hooper will join following the conclusion of the upcoming Super Rugby campaign.
It’ll be a big loss for the Brumbies, but they’ll at least get another few months of his time before he jets overseas.
Chiefs: Leroy Carter
Wallace Sititi also is a fair shout here, having won the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award after great performances for both club and country, but we’ll go with Leroy Carter, who was nominated for the World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in 2023 and played with All Blacks Sevens at last summer’s Paris Olympics.
Carter will be making his Super Rugby debut this season after previously playing 15s with provincial side Bay of Plenty.
Crusaders: James O’Connor
The Crusaders need a pick-me-up after a disastrous 2024 season in which they missed the playoffs entirely, and a Super Rugby veteran from across the Tasman Sea has arrived to try and right the ships.
James O’Connor, capped 64 times by Australia, still has quality at fly-half that can help direct the Crusaders forward, and with a squad full of backs who still have devastating abilities (Sevu Reece, Will Jordan), the 34-year-old JOC’s leadership will help matters.
Fijian Drua: Peni Ravai
Back-to-back knockout-round appearances this past two years have made for a remarkable achievement for the Drua, who only began play in Super Rugby in 2022.
Some muscle like Peni Ravai, a Flying Fijian prop who is returning to his home country after time in both the Top 14 (Bordeaux-Begles, Clermont) and in Australia (Queensland Reds), can help Fiji’s top professional club stay among Super Rugby’s upper echelon of squads.
Highlanders: Folau Fakatava
The standout player of the Highlanders squad, the Tonga-born Folau Fakatava (capped twice by the All Blacks) has successfully locked down the starting scrum-half role at age 25, proving his worth last year after All Blacks legend Aaron Smith left the club following the 2023 campaign.
Fakatava looks to make more impacts with the Dunedin-based side as he begins to enter the prime of his career, hoping to avoid the injury bug that has slowed him down in prior seasons.
Hurricanes: Ruben Love
A freshly-capped All Black who made his senior international debut in New Zealand’s dominant win in Japan last October, Ruben Love immediately made his mark as a name to watch in 2025 by coming off of the bench to score two tries in the final 10 minutes in that test in Yokohama.
Already a standout player for the regular season table-topping Hurricanes last season, Love will miss the start of the 2025 campaign as he recovers from ankle surgery, but once he returns, watch out.
Moana Pasifika: Ardie Savea
The obvious choice for Moana, the all-Pacific Islander club has never had a player of Ardie Savea’s quality in its history.
The All Black and past World Rugby Player of the Year joins the squad to play with brother Julian in perhaps the most stunning transfer in Super Rugby history.
The type of player who can win games completely on his own, Savea (who’s still in his prime) instantly makes Moana a more dangerous threat than in previous years.
New South Wales Waratahs: Joseph Sua’ali’i
Regarded for years as a talent with elite potential in rugby league, Joseph Sua’ali’i will test his skills in club rugby union for the first time as the 21-year-old - whose debut has been long-awaited.
He signed with Rugby Australia and the Waratahs in March 2023 and has starred with the National Rugby League’s Sydney Roosters since well into his teenage years.
He’s already made his Wallabies debut, and he’ll be looking to try and take over Super Rugby, too.
Queensland Reds: Filipo Daugunu
A familiar face to Reds fans, the Fiji-born Filipo Daugunu played his first stint in Queensland from 2018-2023, before departing to play a season with the Melbourne Rebels.
With the financially-stricken Rebels now axed from Super Rugby, however, Daugunu is back as a Red, where he’ll hope to take the club back to the knockout rounds after an encouraging fifth-place finish in the regular-season table last season.
Western Force: Darcy Swain
The Force missed the knockout rounds a season ago, so the addition of a Wallaby in their second row should give them a little extra, well, force.
Darcy Swain, who spent six years with the Brumbies and had matches as captain before trading the capital club for new scenery on Australia’s west coast, has appeared 17 times for Australia and still has some of his best years ahead of him at age 27, making him a coveted addition for the Force.
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