{"id":430920,"date":"2026-05-16T18:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430920\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T18:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:35:18","slug":"all-blacks-how-nz-rugby-can-keep-newcastle-bound-fehi-fineanganofo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/430920\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks: How NZ Rugby can keep Newcastle-bound Fehi Fineanganofo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

There is still a possibility that Fehi Fineanganofo could remain in New Zealand and represent the national team with the All Blacks exploring all avenues.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes speedster has been in remarkable form in Super Rugby Pacific this season and has scored 15 tries in 11 matches, one off the record set by Ben Lam and Joe Roff.<\/p>\n

Fineanganofo has produced the type of performances which would guarantee selection in Dave Rennie\u2019s squad for the Nations Championship, but he signed a two-year deal with English side Newcastle Red Bulls before the campaign got underway.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks still hope that there is some way to keep him in the country, however, and according to the New Zealand Herald, they remain \u201chighly active behind the scenes\u201d in pursuit of that goal.<\/p>\n

It would of course mean that the 23-year-old would need to break his contract with Newcastle, one which is understood to be three times the size of his current deal.<\/p>\n

Big wage differential<\/p>\n

He is reportedly on around a combined $150,000 with Bay of Plenty and the Hurricanes, but he will be set to earn $450,000 should he not renege on his Red Bulls deal.<\/p>\n

However, if Fineanganofo were to receive a Test call-up, that could ultimately increase his salary to $300,000, still well short of Newcastle\u2019s<\/a> offer but with the potential for increased earnings should he replicate his Super Rugby form in a black jersey.<\/p>\n

The Herald<\/a> state that the situation remains \u201cdelicate\u201d, though, due to World Rugby regulations which says \u201cnational unions, clubs and rugby bodies can\u2019t be seen to encourage or incite players to break contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it would be a boost for the All Blacks<\/a> should Rennie, who visited the Hurricanes<\/a> on Thursday, convince him to stay.<\/p>\n

Cory Jane urges NZ Rugby to step in as All Blacks set to lose out on Super Rugby\u2019s hottest prospect<\/a><\/p>\n

NZ Rugby \u2018need to do something\u2019<\/p>\n

This development comes after Hurricanes coach Cory Jane urged NZ Rugby to step in having seen close up the talent that Fineanganofo possesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand need to do something. They might not even look at him to be an All Black and then fair enough, let him go, but if they\u2019re looking at him being an All Black, they\u2019ve got to try and do something to get him out of his deal,\u201d he told Sport Nation\u2019s Scotty and Izzy show.<\/p>\n

Jane insisted that he has not constantly been in the winger\u2019s ear about staying in Wellington but admitted that he has made one comment to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not too sure. I kind of leave him, it\u2019s a decision that he made and I haven\u2019t tried to sit there and go, \u2018you need to get out of it\u2019 or \u2018you\u2019re going to be an All Black now\u2019 because what good is that going to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did, however, just look at him when he went into the changing room and said: \u2018Well played\u2019, and then said: \u2018You might have to see if you can get out of that deal\u2019, but that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks great takes potshot at \u2018can\u2019t see the benefit\u2019 PREM club and claims \u2018demise of rugby is real\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is still a possibility that Fehi Fineanganofo could remain in New Zealand and represent the national team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,49155,1464,111,2653,43,139,69,213,82286],"class_list":["post-430920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-hurricanes","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-newcastle","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}