Hurricanes boss Clark Laidlaw admits that it is difficult to keep hold of their “middle tier” players amid the northern hemisphere’s “aggressive” recruitment strategy.
It was announced recently that talented centre Riley Higgins will depart the Wellington franchise to join Edinburgh on a three-year deal from next season.
Higgins is Scottish-qualified and could well become the latest ‘Kilted Kiwi’ to ply his trade at international level.
Fergus Burke and Tom Jordan are the most recent examples of New Zealand-born players to feature for the Scots with the trend started by Sean Lineen in the late-1980s and early-1990s.
Higgins, the 23-year-old Canes centre, may well tread the same path after qualifying for Gregor Townsend’s men through his grandmother.
Comparison to Hoskins Sotutu
“They can probably offer more money than us, and he qualifies for Scotland. It’s like a Hoskins Sotutu too, I guess, isn’t it? Is he more worthwhile going to England because he qualifies for England? With the rules they have over there, then yes,” Laidlaw told reporters.
“These countries are aggressive. They know all the players who are Scottish or Irish-qualified and they’re actively trying to recruit, but it’s just part of the professional game, isn’t it?
“I’m not sure it’s worrying as such, but it’s definitely going to keep happening, especially with guys who aren’t cap-tied and qualify for other countries.”
Laidlaw himself is Scottish-born, playing for Border Reivers and representing the national sevens team, but he is only looking after Hurricanes interests at the moment.
The 48-year-old stated that they wanted to keep Higgins but he had already set his sights on moving to Edinburgh.
“It’s really difficult to keep that middle tier when it comes to the budget, Riley’s Scottish-qualified and the good thing about Riley’s decision is he could have went somewhere else for more money, because he had other options,” Laidlaw said.
“He had an option to stay here. We genuinely offered him a two-year contract, and we’d love him to stay and keep that strength in depth. But what I quite like about his decision is he’s still made it for the rugby reasons.
“He wants to go there and prove himself over there, and if he’s good enough to play for Scotland or play and start for Edinburgh, play well and be considered, that’s the probably deeper part of his reason.”
Limited game time
Higgins has the rather significant figure of Jordie Barrett ahead of him in the pecking order, which has played a part in limiting his game time to one substitute appearance during the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.
“It is a juggling act when you’ve got more than one good player in each position. It’s like our loose forwards – how do you keep everybody happy? The short answer is you can’t, but Riley made his decision a while ago,” Laidlaw added.
“It’s not been based on whether he’s been getting a game in the last couple of weeks. He’s actually injured and taken out for a couple of weeks so he’s not available either.”
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