The Hurricanes other franchises XV

After 20 years of Super Rugby, the competition is expanding to 18 teams in 2016. As we look forward to the start of this year’s competition that kicks off later in February, we’ve taken a look at the some of the Hurricanes players that have lit up Super Rugby thus far.

Many Hurricanes have also played Test rugby for other Super Rugby teams, some having started at the Hurricanes and moved on to greater things elsewhere and others having come from other sides and added value to the Hurricanes.

Club Rugby's 2016 Hurricanes coverage is in association with Les Mills Wellington - more details coming soon

A Hurricanes other franchises XV is below

1. Ben Franks
Hurricanes career: 2013-2015 (45 matches)
Other franchise: Crusaders 2006-2012 (85 matches)

After six seasons, two Super Rugby titles and 85 caps with the Crusaders, the All Blacks prop moved to the Hurricanes in 2013 on a three-season deal. Dedicated and superbly fit, Franks missed rarely missed a game and he went close to winning a third title in 2015 but the Hurricanes fell at the final hurdle to the Highlanders. He also won the Ranfurly Shield with his new NPC team the Hawke’s Bay Magpies in 2013. For the purposes of this team, Franks fits in at loosehead prop, but it’s at tighthead where he’s had much of his success. He played the first of his 49 Tests against Ireland in 2010 and won two Rugby World Cups.

2. Ged Robinson
Hurricanes career: 2009 (5 caps)
Other franchises: Melbourne Rebels 2011-2013 (51 caps), Highlanders 2014 (15 caps), Crusaders 2015 – (0 caps)

Marist St Pat’s club and Wellington Lions hooker Ged Robinson joined the Hurricanes in 2009 as an injury replacement for Andrew Hore. Apprentice hooker Dane Coles then went down and Robinson made his starting XV debut, going on to be selected for the NZ Juniors side mid-year. The energetic Robinson was also in the Hurricanes wider squad in 2010. His career took off in 2011 when he joined new side the Rebels on a three-year deal, going on to play 51 matches for the Melbourne side. Returning to NZ, he joined the Highlanders in 2014 and then signed on for the Crusaders for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

3. Tim Fairbrother
Hurricanes career: 2003-09 (59 caps)
Other franchise: Western Force: 2010-11 (23 caps)

Prop Tim Fairbrother handed in his New Zealand contract and departed for Perth and the Western Force at the conclusion of the 2009 season, his seventh consecutive year as a Hurricane. With Australian qualifications, his dream was to become a Wallaby and play international rugby, but he couldn’t quite do so, and in mid-2011 he left Perth for a season with Harlequins in England before moving to Sydney and playing for Manly in the Shute Shield. Out of Upper Hutt and St Pat’s Silverstream, Fairbrother was a strong scrummager and had a nose for the tryline with ball in hand. He played over 100 matches for the Wellington Lions and the Hurricanes. But shoulder and other injuries caused the former New Zealand U19s and U21s player to miss many more games along the way.

4. Glenn Taylor
Hurricanes career: 1998 (11 caps)
Other franchises: Chiefs 1996-97 and 2000, 2003 (23 caps), Blues 1999, 2001-02(23 caps)

Northland lock Glenn Taylor played 143 matches for his province between 1990-2003. He was also part of the historic 1996 All Blacks side that beat South Africa 3-1 in the Republic. Taylor was a founding Chiefs player and played the first two Super Rugby seasons for them, before spending a year with the Hurricanes in 1998 and playing every match at lock. Taylor had two other stints with the Chiefs, both as captain. Taylor also made numerous New Zealand representative teams and squads throughout the 1990s.

5. Craig Clarke
Hurricanes career: 2008 (13 caps)
Other franchises: Crusaders 2006 (3 caps), Chiefs 2009-13 (71 caps)

Craig Clarke, AKA the Weka, cracked the Crusaders in 2006 after joining the Canterbury and Crusaders system in the early 2000s. The former Gisborne Boys’ High School student failed to gain a full Super Rugby contract for them in 2007 so he moved to Taranaki and joined the Hurricanes in 2008. He was capped 13 times for the Hurricanes and made seven starts at lock. Clarke then moved to the Chiefs in 2009 and made the Super Rugby final in his first year there (losing to the Bulls in the final). Clarke was appointed co-captain of the Chiefs in 2012 and he led them to back-to-back title wins in 2012 and 2013 (beating the Sharks and the Brumbies in these finals). He then joined Irish team Connacht on a three-year contract, but ongoing concussion issues forced him to retire in early 2014.

6. Kristian Ormsby
Hurricanes career: 2003-05 (30 caps)
Other franchise: Chiefs 2001-02 and 2006-08 (27 caps)

The Hurricanes fell flat in 2002, finishing ninth. They needed extra physicality and spark in their pack so new coach Colin Cooper called on hard-hitting lock come blindside flanker Kristian Ormsby. The man they called ‘Whispers’ had already spent two seasons with the Chiefs and the Hurricanes often used him as an impact player late in games to complement the style of players such as Jerry Collins. Also a regular New Zealand Maori player, Ormbsy also joined the Wellington Lions from his home province Counties Manukau. In his three seasons based in Wellington the Hurricanes made the Super 12 semi-finals twice (2003 and 2005) and the Lions made the NPC final once (2004). He played another three seasons with the Chiefs before transferring to Sale in England. Ormsby was also a teenaged swimming and shot put champion.

7. Kupu Vanisi
Hurricanes career: 1999-2003 (43 caps)
Other franchise: Highlanders 1996-1998 (23 caps)

The Highlanders’ loss was the Hurricanes’ major gain when Kupu Vanisi stepped out of All Blacks flanker Josh Kronfeld’s shadow and shifted north from his home region in the quest of regular game time with the Hurricanes and the Wellington Lions. Turnover specialist Vanisi thrived in his first season with the Hurricanes and made the All Blacks in 1999, albeit for one internal non-international match against New Zealand A in Christchurch. He continued to flourish alongside talented loose forward teammates such as Filo Tiatia and Andrew Blowers, Jerry Collins and Rodney So’oialo. His only hiccup was missing most of 2001 through injury, and it was no surprise the Hurricanes finished a lowly 10th that season.

8. Gordon Falcon
Hurricanes career 2000 (4 caps)
Other franchise: Brumbies 1999 (11 caps)

Gordon Falcon is the only Hurricanes player to play both rugby union and rugby league professionally in Australia. Falcon’s interesting and varied career brought him to the Hurricanes for a season in 2000, where he played the first three games of the season and the last at No.8 out of the new stadium in Wellington before a serious clavicular injury ended his playing career. He also played his 100th first-class game during this season at the Hurricanes, joining his father Ray as a first-class rugby centurion and father and son joining a select group of players to have achieved this. Falcon played for the Penrith Panthers between 1996-98, after starting his career with the Hawke’s Bay Magpies several years earlier. Switching back to rugby union, Falcon played a full season at No. 8 in 1999 for the Brumbies, before returning to New Zealand and to the Hurricanes.

9. Alby Mathewson
Hurricanes career: 2007-09 (36 caps)
Other franchises: Blues 2010-2012 (47 caps) Western Force 2013 – (39 caps)

Former Wellington, Hurricanes and All Blacks halfback Alby Mathewson returns to the Western Force in 2016. The former Hastings Boys’ High School scrumhalf was selected for the Hurricanes after an impressive debut NPC season for Wellington in 2006 and became a livewire addition to the team for three seasons, so much so that his inclusion often meant pushing Piri Weepu out to first five-eighth. A move to the Blues in 2010 led to Mathewson making the All Blacks and he played the first of three Tests against Australia in Hong Kong. After three seasons with the Blues he moved to the Force and has been a leading player for them ever since. This year, Mathewson starts his 10th Super Rugby season with a combined 112 Super Rugby caps under his hood.

10. Aaron Cruden
Hurricanes career: 2010-11 (25 caps)
Other franchise: Chiefs 2012 – (56 caps)

All Blacks selection for the first time in 2010 completed a whirlwind two years for Manawatu first five-eighth Aaron Cruden, that saw him diagnosed with testicular cancer in mid-2008, recover and come back to captain and star for New Zealand at the 2009 U20 RWC and then make the Hurricanes for the first time. In his debut Super Rugby season, 21-year old Cruden forced his way into the starting Hurricanes team throughout the second half of the season and he helped spark the Hurricanes to a string of wins. This form saw him first selected for the All Blacks. After initially being left out of the squad, Cruden was the starting flyhalf in the 2011 RWC final. He then moved to the Chiefs in 2012 and helped them win the title. A knee injury in April ended his 2015 year, but the 37-Test All Black is back this year and is poised to bring up 700 combined Super Rugby points for the Hurricanes and the Chiefs.

11. Jonah Lomu
Hurricanes career: 2000-03 (29 caps)
Other franchises: Blues 1996-98 (22 caps), Chiefs 1999 (8 caps)

The 2000 season marked the opening of the new Westpac Stadium on Wellington’s waterfront and with it the Hurricanes secured a gladiatorial performer to help fill it – Jonah Lomu. He didn’t let the full house down on opening night, marking his arrival at the new venue with two tries as the Hurricanes overran the Sharks 40-23. The Hurricanes was Lomu’s third franchise after he had joined his home franchise the Blues and won the first Super 12 titles with them. He joined the Chiefs in 1999 before starring in his second Rugby World Cup. The late great Lomu was to play a combined 50 matches for the Hurricanes and the Wellington Lions over a four-year period. He played 63 Tests for the All Blacks, scoring 37 tries.

12. Charlie Ngatai
Hurricanes career: 2011-12 (11 caps)
Other franchise: Chiefs 2013 – (30 caps)

Hurricanes fans didn’t see the best of the current Maori All Blacks captain in his two years in the jersey, injuries curtailing his two years in yellow. Ngatai has been at the Chiefs since 2013, winning the Super Rugby title with them in his first season and scoring 12 tries in 30 matches to date. In 2014 he led Taranaki to the NPC title, after debuting for Poverty Bay in 2008 whilst still at school at Gisborne Boys’ High School and then playing 39 matches for Wellington between 2009-13. Strong and creative and with a booming boot to match, Ngatai is equally home in the midfield or at fullback. He made his All Blacks debut against Samoa in Apia last year.

13. Tamati Ellison
Hurricanes career: 2006-10 (53 caps)
Other franchises: Blues 2005 (1 cap), Highlanders 2012-13 (23 caps), Rebels 2014 – (26 caps)

Rock-steady Tamati Ellison has added significant value to each of the four Super Rugby franchises he played for over several seasons. Ellison started at the Blues, played the bulk of his New Zealand career at his home province the Hurricanes and also had stints with the Highlanders and the Rebels, playing his 100th Super Rugby game in 2015. Directly related to Thomas Ellison who famously wrote a coaching manual in the 19th century called the Art of Rugby, Tamati Ellison is adept in every backline position. He debuted for the Hurricanes in 2006 after winning gold for the New Zealand Sevens team at the Melbourne Commonwealth games and he was subsequently selected in the Junior All Blacks. He also played for the Maori All Blacks and co-captained them in 2008. He was Wellington’s captain in 2007.Ellison made his full All Blacks debut against Italy in 2009 and played four Tests. He has also played for the Ricoh Black Rams in Japan.

14. Doug Howlett
Hurricanes career: 1998 (5 caps)
Other franchises: Highlanders 1997 (2 caps), Blues 1999-07 (97 caps)

Doug Howlett is the All Blacks’ all-time leading try-scorer with 49 tries in 62 international appearances between 2000-07. He made his first-class debut for his home province Auckland in 1996 aged 17 and scored a hat-trick for the Highlanders against the Chiefs in his first full Super 12 game in 1997. Howlett was drafted into the Hurricanes in 1998 having scored 14 tries in 12 first-class games. He earned five caps for the Hurricanes that year, before returning to Auckland and the Blues where he became Super Rugby’s top try-scorer in 2007, with 59 tries in 104 matches overall. Howlett transferred to Munster in Ireland at the end of 2007 and played against the All Blacks in 2008. Between 2008-13 he made 114 appearances for Munster, before retiring.

15. Isaia Toeava
Hurricanes career: 2006 (14 caps)
Other franchise: Blues 2007-12 (61 caps)

The All Blacks selectors plucked Isaia Toeava out of leftfield for the end of year European tour in 2005, where he made his test debut against Scotland in Edinburgh aged 19. Two months later he joined the Hurricanes as their only draft player in 2006.Capable of playing anywhere in the backline, Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper used him at fullback through the season, and showed plenty of skill and accuracy on attack and was sound defensively. An age-grade sensation, Toeava was named the 2005 IRB U19 Player of the Year in 2005 and also played three tournaments for the New Zealand Sevens side in 2005 as well as eight games for Auckland. Post Hurricanes he moved to the Blues for the rest of his NZ career. Toeava was in and out of the All Blacks, finishing his international career as a RWC winner in 2011. He has been playing in Japan since then.