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Super Rugby Pacific

New NZR CEO addresses growing Super Rugby Pacific player exodus

Henry Lee

4 hours ago

CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 25: Fehi Fineanganofo of the Hurricanes celebrates after scoring a try during the round 11 Super Rugby match between Hurricanes and ACT Brumbies at One NZ Stadium, on April 25, 2026, in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Newly appointed New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Lancaster believes they can do more to keep players in Super Rugby Pacific, as he heads into his first full week as the organisation’s boss.

Reports on Monday have emerged regarding All Blacks and Blues first-five Stephen Perofeta, who, according to Sport Nation NZ and The New Zealand Herald, is the latest to head overseas.

Perofeta is linked with Leon MacDonald’s Yokohama Canon Eagles, joining the likes of Hoskins Sotutu, Braydon Ennor, Isaia Walker-Leawere, Sevu Reece, AJ Lam, Dalton Papali’i, Riley Higgins, Devan Flanders, and Fehi Fineanganofo as Super Rugby Pacific departures.

VIDEO

Speaking to The Breakdown on Sunday evening in an in-depth interview after his appointment, the former Crusaders player turned CEO says New Zealand Rugby can do more to help stop players leaving our shores.

“We can do enough, and we can do more, and we’re very focused on doing that too as generating revenue so we can invest into the game, both professional game and the community game,” Lancaster said.

“But look, you talk about the exodus of players, as you call it, heading offshore, and this is a constant challenge for us, and we’re incredibly focused, and we work really hard and are generally really successful in retaining the players that we do want to retain.

“But players do reach a point in their career where they feel like they’re ready to experience a new culture, try playing in a new competition, test themselves against different players. The other thing is when you look at a year out from Rugby World Cup, is that typically, after, we see a lot of All Blacks move on.

“So if you’re thinking technically as a player who’s looking at his position in the All Blacks and thinking, well, that looks like it’s pretty much locked up.

“This might be the year to move right? So there are a whole lot of factors that are at play, we don’t celebrate it. We work really hard to minimise that flow, but it is a fact of life, and players can earn a huge amount of money offshore, so we do need to keep generating revenue to feed that.”

Lancaster explained that New Zealand Rugby have “a lot of belief” in Super Rugby Pacific and its player development.

“Yes it is serving its purpose in that regard [development]. So we have a lot of belief in the product of Super Rugby and the product on the field is a strong product,” the new CEO said.

“All of the metrics that we track tell us that the right number of tries scored, number of minutes lost to match official intervention, they’re all tracking in the right direction.

“So those markers are really good. But what we don’t shy away from is that we don’t see the crowds that we would like to see in the stadium, right? We have, we have great viewership, we have incredible online engagement and Super Rugby is the most followed domestic Rugby competition in the world on social media.

“So the product, we believe, is really good, but we acknowledge that we need to do more to get crowds into stadiums and this constant talk about empty seats is a problem and something we need to work on.”

Many New Zealand-based Super Rugby Pacific coaches have spoken publicly about the issue, with Clark Laidlaw claiming that it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep players.

‘That is the juggle you’ve got. You know we have more than one good player in one position, it’s like a loose forward, it’s quite similar, how do you keep everybody happy? And the short answer is, you can’t,” Laidlaw said after the Riley Higgins announcement.

“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.

“So you know these teams, the countries are active, they’re aggressive. They know all the players are Scottish qualified or Irish qualified so they’re actively trying to recruit, which is part of the professional game, isn’t it.”

Comments

3 Comments

Rugby 101 - Ed Pye 6 mins ago

So…we’ve got tons of real-world problems (like nobody going to games), but lots of likes on Facebook?? Those are what we call “vanity metrics” Steve and they are not actionable.

RugCs 14 mins ago

Well here is the truth for all to see. https://www.irishrugby.ie/2025/09/22/53-million-tune-into-urc-as-records-tumble-across-stadiums-screen-social/

Wayneo 38 mins ago

NZR CEO solves player exodus by simply redefining the word exodus to “Extended Yoga Retreat”

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the world of people who still think it’s 1996, the new NZR CEO Steve Lancaster has unveiled a revolutionary plan to halt the Super Rugby player exodus: believing really, really hard that players will stay

While reports suggest Stephen Perofeta is the latest to trade the scenic views of Hamilton for the cultural experience of a massive Japanese paycheck, Lancaster remains undeterred

Lancaster told the Breakdown the NZR can do more!!!, presumably while trying to figure out if he could pay the players in Crusaders heritage points or systems validation vouchers

The logic is flawlessly circular: NZR works really hard to keep players, and if they leave anyway, it’s simply because they want to test themselves

It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that a season in Japan pays enough to buy a small island, whereas a season in Super Rugby pays enough to maybe afford rent on a three-bedroom fixer-upper in Invercargill

Lancaster also addressed the pesky issue of stadiums looking like they’re hosting a secret meeting for people who hate crowds

Apparently, we’ve all been looking at it wrong

The constant talk about empty seats is the problem, not the actual empty seats

According to the metrics, everything is tracking perfectly, tries scored, high social media engagement, incredible!!!

Actual humans in the vicinity of the pitch: Optional

Who needs atmosphere when you have a TikTok reel with high engagement?

The NZR’s goal isn’t to sell tickets; it’s to ensure that Super Rugby becomes the world’s first purely digital sports league, unencumbered by the physical presence of fans or, eventually, star players

In a moment of peak administrative comedy, the NZR continues to insist that keeping players locked in a local cage is the only way to survive

They’ve watched the Springboks—a team that treats international borders like minor suggestions—win back-to-back World Cups and thought, terrible strategy, far too many stamps in those passports!

We prefer our fly-halves to have the domestic loyalty of a golden retriever

The genius of the NZR policy remains its beautiful, symmetrical stupidity (akin to a North Korean’ model of athlete loyalty)

We must protect the domestic system at all costs—even if that cost is the system becoming a desert

The NZR’s bold strategy in a nutshell:

-Force the best players to leave because we won't pay them or let them play from abroad

-Refuse to pick them because they left

-Lose to a South African team comprised entirely of guys who live in France, Japan, and the Moon

-Declare the system "validated" because at least nobody had fun

Lancaster insists the eligibility rules are…(checks notes)… fit for purpose

If that purpose is to ensure the All Blacks are selected exclusively from a pool of twenty-somethings who haven't discovered Skyscanner yet, then mission accomplished

The crown jewel of this administrative circus remains the Mo’unga Clause

As Lancaster clarified, Richie is a mercenary traitor on a Monday, but if Damian McKenzie so much as sneezes too hard on a Friday, Richie suddenly becomes a vital national asset who should be flown home in a private jet

It turns out loyalty isn't a moral absolute; it’s a variable based on the integrity of the current fly-half’s ACL

The policy is iron-clad, right up until they start losing by 40 points, at which point the systems lens gets swapped for a panic-induced telescope pointed directly at Tokyo

But don't worry, New Zealand fans

While the rest of the world’s best players are experiencing new cultures and earning generational wealth, you can rest easy knowing your systems are being validated

You might be losing your 10s, our 15s, and your crowds, but you are definitely winning the “World Cup of Rigid Adherence to Outdated Policies”

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