{"id":443705,"date":"2026-01-28T20:59:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443705\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T20:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:59:24","slug":"all-blacks-ruben-love-on-hurricanes-super-rugby-pacific-outlook-all-blacks-lessons-and-running-with-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443705\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks: Ruben Love on Hurricanes\u2019 Super Rugby Pacific outlook, All Blacks lessons and running with fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting out there and getting the work done was something of a theme throughout Love\u2019s 2025 campaign<\/a>, with his opportunities in the black jersey limited to just two starts \u2013 four months apart \u2013 and two appearances off the bench. <\/p>\n

\"RubenRuben Love: “Just get out there and get the work done.” Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

That came off the back of a Super Rugby Pacific season in which Love was thrust into the No 10 jersey<\/a> after spending much of his professional career at fullback. It was a move that worked for Clark Laidlaw\u2019s side, coinciding with the side going unbeaten in their final six regular-season fixtures before ultimately being beaten by the ACT Brumbies in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Though his time on the field for the All Blacks in 2025 was limited, Love saw the positives in the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn a lot in those sorts of environments under those coaches and players. Just seeing what\u2019s required for international-level rugby, it\u2019s allowed me to bring more things in my game back to Super Rugby<\/a> and also help the boys that are coming through as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to be patient. You still learn a lot and you still train every day and get better. I\u2019m still pushing myself as hard as I would as if I\u2019m starting every game. There\u2019s nothing different for me there, it\u2019s just being able to support the boys and do whatever the group needs from me to win and being part of the All Blacks is such a privilege. I just want to see the team succeed and just play my part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming into his sixth season with the Hurricanes, Love shapes up to be a key part of the capital side\u2019s core in 2026 with his shift to first five-eighths looking like a more permanent move.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes also welcome back test midfielder Jordie Barrett after his sabbatical in Ireland last year, while All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard has re-signed with the team until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the pre-season, Love said he had been training at first receiver and anticipated to pull on the No 10 jersey when the season got underway in mid-February. The side also have Brett Cameron, Callum Harkin and Lucas Cashmore in the first five-eighths ranks, while Harry Godfrey was ruled out for the season due to an ACL injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could play a lot of positions,\u201d Love said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I had my choice, I\u2019d probably play flanker with Dupes [Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi]<\/a>, but it\u2019s up to the coaches. I\u2019ve been training at 10 and growing up I was always a 10. I know I\u2019ve played a lot of 15 in recent times, but I really enjoyed 10 last year and that\u2019s where I look to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of his All Blacks prospects, Love might need to impress a new coaching panel after New Zealand Rugby and coach Scott Robertson<\/a> parted ways.<\/p>\n

The decision to move on from Robertson came as a surprise, following an end-of-year review process<\/a>, but Love said it didn\u2019t change a whole lot to how he approached the season ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew coach means new squads, they see the game differently, they probably want different cattle in their squads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing changes for me. I\u2019ve just got to wait for my skill and time to collide and just do the best I can for Super Rugby and the Hurricanes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting out there and getting the work done was something of a theme throughout Love\u2019s 2025 campaign, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[1466,3265,617,64,63,9658,46323,1635,10569,1877,17357,230395,2652,13260,10956,230396,230398,104702,230394,760,2434,230397,85,1643,230399,230400,9498,6618,8281,3605],"class_list":["post-443705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-about","tag-all","tag-and","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blacks","tag-creatures","tag-fans","tag-hurricanes","tag-lessons","tag-love","tag-mythical","tag-on","tag-outlook","tag-pacific","tag-rarely","tag-regularly","tag-remembers","tag-ruben","tag-rugby","tag-running","tag-seen","tag-sports","tag-super","tag-talked","tag-televised","tag-thought","tag-time","tag-when","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}