Seven Wallabies, five All Blacks named in Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year

Super Rugby Pacific has named its inaugural Team of the Year, headlined by Player of the Year (POTY) Quinn Tupaea and the man who lost the POTY tie-breaker, Timoci Tavatavanawai, in the midfield.

There are eight New Zealand players on the team, including five All Blacks, and seven Australians, all of whom are capped Wallabies. The Western Force and Chiefs have two players in the form team, while the Reds and Highlanders have three, and the Hurricanes, Blues, Crusaders, Brumbies and Waratahs have one apiece.

The team was selected by the POTY votes, with the highest vote-getters from each position at the end of the season coming together to form the XV.

The team begins with an all-Kiwi front row of Ethan de Groot, Samisoni Taukei’aho and Xavier Numia. De Groot produced arguably the best season of his career to date in 2026, winning more scrum penalties than anyone else in the competition and taking on captaincy duties for the Highlanders. Taukei’aho was one of the leading try-scorers in the competition and was one of the most highly-used ball carriers in the competition once again, only trailing teammate Wallace Sititi in carries per 80 minutes. Numia has again put himself firmly in the All Blacks picture with his form for a dominant Hurricanes team in 2026, and his inclusion is made all the more impressive when considering how widespread the Hurricanes POTY votes were throughout their historic regular-season run.

Two giant Wallabies have been backed in the second row, with Jeremy Williams and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto named as the season’s best locks. Williams won the most lineouts in the competition when you include his league-best 16 steals, while serving as Western Force captain. Salakaia-Loto’s form as Queensland Reds enforcer reached new heights in 2026, ranking among the competition leaders in dominant carries.

The back row was one of the most hotly contested areas due to the talent across the competition, but in the end, it was breakthrough Blues star Anton Segner, Mr Hybrid Leicester Fainga’anuku, and Reds captain Fraser McReight who won the most POTY votes. German-born Segner has been one of New Zealand’s most-discussed All Blacks prospects this year, and won every award available to him at the Blues season awards. Fainga’anuku has certainly created his share of headlines, too, with his move from the midfield to the loose forwards proving a grand success for the Crusaders. McReight continued his form as one of the world’s best flankers in 2026 and took the captaincy duties in his stride under Les Kiss.

It’s another all-Australian affair in the halves, with Ryan Lonergan and Ben Donaldson leading the way. Lonergan ended the 2026 season as the third-highest points scorer and was a true leader for the Brumbies, making the most passes of anyone in the competition by a wide margin (316). Donaldson was one of the front-runners for POTY for much of the season before missing some games late in the season, and his right boot was put through its paces as he kicked for the most metres in the competition while accounting for 93 of the Western Force’s points.

Two of the world’s most elite game-breakers make up the wings, with Max Jorgensen and Caleb Tangitau named, joined by the resurgent form of Jock Campbell at fullback. The Waratahs star ran for the second-most metres in the competition and broke the fourth-most tackles, scoring eight tries. Tangitau’s devastating Achilles rupture ended his season on a sour note, but there’s no denying the 23-year-old’s electric pace and explosiveness have him well-placed to be a star on the Test scene moving forward. Campbell recently said he’s surprised himself with his speed in 2026, having thought that his years of outpacing the competition were behind him now that he’s on the other side of 30. However, with a competition-leading 1366 run metres in 14 games, the four-time Wallaby has well and truly put his hand up for a Test recall in 2026.

The aforementioned midfield duo of Quinn Tupaea and Timoci Tavatavanawai would have shared POTY honours if the competition had been decided strictly on points. Tupaea won because he had more games in which he was awarded the full three points under the 3-2-1 voting system, a fair tie-breaker given that the two All Blacks played the same number of games. The Chiefs’ second five-eighths’ efforts have been well-covered, emerging from the regular season as one of the best all-round performers. Tavatavanawai was a complete outlier in the defenders’ beaten category for the second year in a row, with his season tally of 81 beating the next-best (Leicester Fainaga’anuku) by nearly 20 tackle busts.

2026 Super Rugby Pacific Team of the Year

Props – Ethan de Groot (Highlanders), Xavier Numia (Hurricanes)
Hooker – Samisoni Taukei’aho (Chiefs)
2nd Row – Jeremy Williams (Western Force), Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Queensland Reds)
Back Row – Anton Segner (Blues), Leicester Fainga’anuku (Crusaders), Fraser McReight (Queensland Reds)
Scrum Half – Ryan Lonergan (ACT Brumbies)
Fly Half – Ben Donaldson (Western Force)
Wingers – Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), Caleb Tangitau (Highlanders)
Centres – Quinn Tupaea (Chiefs), Timoci Tavatavanawai (Highlanders)
Fullback – Jock Campbell (Queensland Reds)