'Idols turn to rivals': Ruben Love on locking horns with 'one of the greats'

Super Rugby Pacific’s top contenders are due to do battle this weekend in the Kiwi capital, and it’ll be Ruben Love squaring off against one of his childhood heroes, Beauden Barrett, in the respective No.10 jerseys for the Hurricanes and Blues.

Love has helped guide his team to the top spot in the competition with assured game management, convincing some fans it’s his time to usurp Barrett as the All Blacks‘ No.10. But with 144 Test caps, just nine short of  Sam Whitelock’s all-time All Blacks record, there’s a lot of IP in the two-time World Rugby Player of the Year’s boots that’ll be hard for new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie to overlook.

Nothing services the selection debate like a good old-fashioned head-to-head matchup, and with their teams leading the field with 25 competition points each — albeit with the Hurricanes having played one less game — Saturday’s fixture is sure to have the All Blacks coach’s attention.

Growing up, Love says he idolised Barrett, who once wore the yellow No.10 shirt he is now staking his claim on.

“I’ve looked up to him my whole life. I remember getting photos with him when I was 10 years old, when he was playing for the Hurricanes. I’ve still got that pic,” Love recalled this week.

“It’s that cliche, ‘idols turn to rivals’. I know he’ll want to bring his A-game, and so do I. But it’ll be cool to catch up post-match, and just have that moment for the rest of my career.

“Long after he finishes and long after I finish, I’ll be looking back thinking Beauden was one of the greats that this country and this world has ever had, so it was pretty cool to lock horns with him.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

1

Draws

0

Wins

4

Average Points scored

26

28

First try wins

80%

Home team wins

80%

Love is now in his sixth season with the Hurricanes, having played the bulk of his minutes at fullback since his rookie campaign. But the idea that this was Love’s first crack at playing first five-eighth was shot down by the 24-year-old.

“I’ve got so much to get better at in my game and plenty to evolve, but the whole notion around 10 being foreign, I’ve never believed in it. I started playing 10 when I was four years old at Waikanae rugby club,” the four-cap All Black explained.

“It’s awesome that I’ve got such a good group of guys around me to make my job easier, but I don’t feel like I need to feel uncomfortable taking on this 10 jersey. The coaches back me, my teammates back me, and as long as I believe in myself, I feel like I’m doing a good job.”

The Blues and Hurricanes were the two top-seeded contenders heading into the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific playoffs, but the Canes were upset by the Chiefs in a home semi-final while the Blues went on to claim a drought-breaking title win.

The following season, both teams struggled to replicate their prior successes, but now appear to be leading the charge once again in 2026.

“They’re a well-rounded team,” Love analysed. “A lot of what we’ve seen is that they keep the ball in hand well. Stats-wise, they’re kind of similar to us; they’ve defended in their 22 well, and once they get into the 22, they’re pretty hard to stop.

“So, it’s about getting out of our 22, making clean exits and making sure that we’re not always on the back foot with their big boys running downhill. We’ve just got to be clean around the breakdown, disciplined, not give them easy entries into the 22 through penalties.

“If they want to turn it into a scrap, we just make sure we keep our heads.”

As for his team, who have emerged from their opening six games with an average of 44 points for and 16 against, Love says it’s the “effort plays” that have been the biggest key to their success.

“What I see when I go back through the games is a lot of effort plays, a lot of things you might not necessarily see from the crowd or watching the game live, but when you go back and watch it, you see efforts to get off the ground and efforts to get set.

“You see a lot of boys taking shots to the ribs, making passes, little things like that. We’ve just got to not get bored with doing the simple stuff, the nitty-gritty. We all know Fehi (Fineanganofo) is scoring a lot of tries, but there’s a lot of work being done on the inside to get to the right spaces, with our running lines as well.”

The one blemish on the Hurricanes’ impressive record to date is the lack of New Zealand derbies they’ve encountered, with just a round 6 win over the Highlanders (50-7), who currently sit eighth on the table, leaving some scepticism over their true title credentials.

With their next four games coming against the Blues, Chiefs, Brumbies, and Crusaders, some big questions are sure to be answered. But Love backs his team’s grounded attitude to see them through any adversity that may come their way.

“We just look at what it took to get us here; preseason, the hard conversations that we’ve had about what it took to put performances on to get us to the top of the table. We don’t want to go away from that.

“As nice a feeling as it is, one thing I’ve come to know in my career is if you’re too happy or too comfortable, you’re probably not doing it right.

“So, we’re always trying to make sure that we’ve got our heads screwed on and we’re nailing every session that we can, not getting ahead of ourselves or too big for our boots, because that’s one thing that can trip you up pretty easily.”