{"id":742164,"date":"2026-06-17T10:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/742164\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T10:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T10:45:12","slug":"super-rugby-pacific-team-of-the-year-faingaanuku-experiment-rewarded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/742164\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year: Fainga’anuku experiment rewarded"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2026 Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year has been revealed, with the Highlanders and the Reds leading the way in selection.<\/p>\n

Jamie Joseph\u2019s side, who finished the regular season in ninth, and Les Kiss\u2019 fifth-placed outfit see three of their players represented in the official 15-man list, which was selected using the top performers across each position in the Player of the Year voting.<\/p>\n

The two teams are also among nine clubs represented in the official Team of the Year, with the Chiefs and Western Force boasting two picks apiece, while the Blues, Crusaders, Hurricanes, Brumbies and Waratahs also have one inclusion each.<\/p>\n

Highlanders and Red dominate official Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year<\/p>\n

Jock Campbell has been named as full-back in the official Team of the Year, with Player of the Year nominee Max Jorgensen and Caleb Tangitau on the wings. Player of the Year Quinn Tupaea and runner-up Timoci Tavatavanawai have been named as the centre pairing, with fellow Player of the Year nominee Ben Donaldson at fly-half. Ryan Lonergan has also been included at scrum-half.<\/p>\n

Full house signs up for Super Rugby Pacific Final as tickets sell out in 15 minutes<\/a><\/p>\n

The Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku experiment has paid off, with the Crusaders man slotting into the back-row alongside Player of the Year nominee Anton Segner and Fraser McReight, with Jeremy Williams and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto named as the two locks.<\/p>\n

Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho also gets the nod at hooker, while Ethan de Groot and Xavier Numia have been picked as the two props, rather than specific looshead and tighthead options.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the selection, Super Rugby Pacific CEO, Jack Mesley, said: \u201cWe\u2019re also delighted to announce the Team of the Year and for the first time formally recognise excellence across every position on the field. Our sincere congratulations to all the players who earned selection in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year in full<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Props \u2013 Ethan de Groot (Highlanders), Xavier Numia (Hurricanes)<\/p>\n

Hooker \u2013 Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho (Chiefs)<\/p>\n

Second Row \u2013 Jeremy Williams (Western Force), Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Queensland Reds)<\/p>\n

Back Row \u2013 Anton Segner (Blues), Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku (Crusaders), Fraser McReight (Queensland Reds)<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s not all roses in the URC and Top 14\u2019 \u2013 Ex-All Black reveals frustration at Super Rugby \u2018punching bag\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Scrum Half \u2013 Ryan Lonergan (ACT Brumbies)<\/p>\n

Fly Half \u2013 Ben Donaldson (Western Force)<\/p>\n

Wingers \u2013 Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), Caleb Tangitau (Highlanders)<\/p>\n

Centres \u2013 Quinn Tupaea (Chiefs), Timoci Tavatavanawai (Highlanders)<\/p>\n

Fullback \u2013 Jock Campbell (Queensland Reds)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Super Rugby Pacific awards: All Blacks star takes top prize after \u2018tiebreaker\u2019 as Aussie rookie lands inaugural gong<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year has been revealed, with the Highlanders and the Reds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":742165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,3925,66248,5386,29897,217781,215801,818,10569,216832,44,12061,760,85,29898,33009,11229],"class_list":["post-742164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blues","tag-brumbies","tag-chiefs","tag-crusaders","tag-fijian-drua","tag-highlanders","tag-home-page","tag-hurricanes","tag-moana-pasifika","tag-news","tag-queensland-reds","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby","tag-waratahs","tag-western-force"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742164","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=742164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/742164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/742165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=742164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=742164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}