It's premature to anoint Ruben Love as the All Blacks No.10 without winning anything

It’s nice to see the Hurricanes playing well.

I’m of a vintage where, from the age of about 10 years old to well into my 20s, I became accustomed to seeing Auckland and then the Blues dominate rugby in this hemisphere.

On reflection, I can admire the winning. I can think back to men such as Olo Brown, John Drake, Craig Dowd, Steve McDowall, Sean Fitzpatrick, Robin Brooke, Michael Jones, Zinzan Brooke, Grant Fox, Carlos Spencer, Joe Stanley, John Kirwan, Jonah Lomu and Joeli Vidiri and say it was a pleasure to have watched them.

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I didn’t love it at the time and retain a huge desire to see Auckland and the Blues lose, but you have to commend the fact that these guys won titles and won them exceedingly well.

So when the Hurricanes go to Eden Park, as they did last weekend, and decimate the Blues it’s meritorious because history says that’s not easy.

We’re in a different era now, though. For better or worse, Super Rugby Pacific is a one-game competition. You either win the final or you don’t.

It doesn’t matter how nice your footy is or how soundly you beat opponents in the round-robin and playoff games. If you don’t win the decider, you might as well have finished tenth.

Just ask the Chiefs.

They’ve played terrific rugby in recent seasons, but with no title to show for it. Finals appearances sure, but not trophy celebrations afterwards.

That’s why, despite being a Wellingtonian by upbringing, I’m largely unmoved by these Hurricanes.

Super Rugby Pacific hasn’t grabbed me this season. I literally couldn’t care less about the Australian teams and Moana Pasifika, without Ardie Savea, are simply making up the numbers.

Savea, and the way he willed Moana to success last season, gave you a reason to tune in. I can barely remember anything from the 2025 competition, but I’ll never forget seeing Savea lead Moana to victory over the Blues at Albany.

Again, it doesn’t matter to me who beats the Blues. After watching them and Auckland be borderline unbeatable for 20 years, it always warms the heart to see a bit of adversity.

The Hurricanes, as I said, are going well, but who are they playing? We’re not quite in best of a bad lot territory, but we’re not far off.

They’re hardly having to contend with a great Bulls team at Loftus, the Gregan and Larkham Brumbies and Richie, Dan and co down in Christchurch.

Yes, you can only beat the teams that have been put in front of you and good on the Hurricanes for that. But, really and truly, my interest now is largely in seeing if they can translate this into an actual title.

One of the consequences of Super Rugby’s evolution into a one-game comp, is that it’s premature to properly evaluate Hurricanes first five-eighth Ruben Love.

There’s no doubt he’s highly promising and a player on the rise. His range of skills, accuracy and option taking are all encouraging but, again, who’s he playing against and what are the stakes?

Grant Fox repelled any number of Ranfurly Shield challengers and won NPC titles. Carlos Spencer, Stephen Larkham and Daniel Carter all guided their teams to multiple Super Rugby titles.

Until Love does the same, he’s in the Damian McKenzie bracket.

Over his career, McKenzie has lit up Super Rugby like few players before him. He just hasn’t fashioned that into the title-winning success the Chiefs were talented enough to achieve.

Trust is integral to picking test first-fives. A coach has to know he can rely on his 10 and that comes from a body of evidence that says they can get teams to win when it counts.

I doubt there are many New Zealand rugby fans who don’t want to see Love succeed or who don’t believe he isn’t staking a strong claim to be the All Blacks’ first five-eighth this season.

It’s just that, until he ushers the Hurricanes into a final and wins it, we’re kind of hoping Love’s as good as we think, rather than knowing it.