Fehi Fineanganofo scored 16 tries for the Hurricanes this Super Rugby season, equalling the single-season record. That form put him directly in the sights of All Blacks coach Dave Rennie. It also set off a dispute between two hemispheres over where the 23-year-old wing will play next year.
Fineanganofo was announced as a Newcastle Red Bulls signing back in January. Since then, a report out of New Zealand claimed that the country's rugby authorities had found a solution to keep him at home. Newcastle officials were described as "very, very upset" by the reported U-turn, according to BBC Sport.
New Zealand Rugby has now pushed back hard on that account. The union says its position has not changed since chief executive Steve Lancaster spoke on the subject two weeks ago. "We don't really do that. These are player choices," Lancaster said of the possibility of buying Fineanganofo out of his Red Bulls contract. "There's nothing stopping Fehi from doing that, but it's not a space we get into, looking to buy players out of contracts."
Lancaster acknowledged that Fineanganofo's profile has risen sharply since he signed with Newcastle. "Things have changed a lot for him since the end of last year. He's taken every opportunity he's been given so good on him," Lancaster said. "If he has a change of heart, that's absolutely up to him. The ball is in his court around that. But even if he does honour his contract to Newcastle, he's still young. He might well be back."
The situation carries echoes of a 2015 case in which New Zealand Rugby reached an agreement with Clermont Auvergne to cancel a contract that would have taken wing Waisake Naholo to France, keeping him available for the All Blacks. The union is insisting there will be no repeat this time. World Rugby rules prohibit a union from inducing a player to break a club contract, just as clubs are banned from offering players money to end their international careers.
Fineanganofo's agent, Bruce Sharrock, who also represented Naholo during the Clermont situation, has a different view of who should be doing the negotiating. "NZ Rugby had the opportunity to contract Fehi," Sharrock told the Rugby Direct podcast. "What they put on the table was nowhere near the match of what it was. His performance has then ramped up and they have said they now want to hold him. That's fine. Go and have a commercial conversation with the person with" the contract.
The financial picture is complicated. Fineanganofo has spoken publicly about wanting to earn enough money so his parents can retire. His reported two-year deal with Newcastle pays around £200,000 a year. The New Zealand Herald estimates that even with All Blacks recognition, that contract would still pay more than staying at home. However, the exposure of playing Test rugby, with the Rugby World Cup scheduled for Australia in 2027, could set him up for a larger deal further down the line.
Moving abroad would make Fineanganofo ineligible for the All Blacks under current eligibility rules, which require players to be based in New Zealand unless they have earned 50 or more caps. He remains uncapped. That means the Newcastle contract, if honored, would likely close the door on international rugby for the foreseeable future, unless New Zealand Rugby opens a direct conversation with the club. So far, there is no indication that conversation has happened.
