Stephen Donald: 'They left 25 points out there, that's how good they were'

Former All Black first-five Stephen Donald has reacted to the Hurricanes’ dominant performance over the Chiefs, where they were crowned the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific champions.

Although Brad Shields and Cory Jane were the only two in the Hurricanes environment with finals experience in Super Rugby Pacific, Clark Ladilaw’s side looked as calm as ever.

The conditions certainly challenged both sides, especially for Chiefs first-five Damian McKenzie, who had eight turnovers and eight missed tackles in the contest.

McKenzie failed to adjust to the swirling wind in Wellington, often impacting his kicks out of hand, and Cortez Ratima’s box kicks.

Player Turnovers Lost

1

Damian McKenzie

8

2

Billy Proctor

4

3

Warner Dearns

4

Donald, who played 105 games for the Chiefs, said on Sky Sport said that the home side were simply unstoppable.

‘And these Hurricanes, we’re down the end where the Hurricanes were playing to in the second half, and we probably feel they left another 25 points out there,” Donald said post-match on Sky Sport.

“That’s how good they were in that second half. They were having fun and they had literally got into the training ground fun parts and it was incredible.”

The so-called “training ground” outing was Super Rugby Pacific’s largest finals winning margin, taking the crown from the Bulls’ 44-point victory over the Chiefs back in 2009.

Cullen agreed with Donald’s perspective on the final, questioning whether the 2026 Hurricanes can be considered among the best Super Rugby Pacific teams ever.

“Well, I’ll say this is the greatest Hurricanes team, since 30 years ago, it’s very hard to compare eras, and I know the Crusaders have won a lot of titles, but I think this team can they be the most dominant team in Super Rugby that you’ve seen in 30 years,” Cullen said.

“I mean, I know I’m pretty one-eyed, but I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“There’s a lot of players that started this that aren’t there now, that are overseas, and there’s 80% of this team that are over 50 caps,

“But there’s a lot of players that were there, that lost a few titles and now they reap the rewards of what was done before, like it’s bloody awesome.”