Chiefs midfielder Quinn Tupaea edges tiebreaker to claim 2026 Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year

Chiefs centre Quinn Tupaea has been named the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year, edging fellow All Blacks midfielder Timoci Tavatavanawai of the Highlanders in a tiebreaker decided by the number of maximum three-point votes received.

The two players finished level on points under the competition’s 3-2-1 voting system, in which each coach and captain nominates the best three players from the opposing team after every match. This season also introduced a media panel distributing an additional round of 3-2-1 votes across the competition as a whole. With the totals identical, Tupaea was awarded the prize by virtue of having accumulated more outright three-point nominations.

“I was actually very surprised,” Tupaea said, noting that he played only three matches after voting went behind closed doors following round 10. He added that he was “stoked” to take the honour.

The 27-year-old’s statistics underline why he attracted so many votes. Tupaea enters Saturday’s final with the fifth-most carries in the competition — the most of any back when Leicester Fainga’anuku is counted as a forward — along with the sixth-most run metres and ninth-most tries. Defensively, he has won 15 turnovers in 14 games, the fourth-highest total of any player, and leads all backline players in tackles completed by a considerable margin.

His individual honours arrive as the Chiefs prepare for their fourth final in the last six seasons, cementing Tupaea’s status as the standout performer on one of the competition’s two dominant sides.

The 2026 awards also saw the introduction of the Super Rugby Pacific Rookie of the Year, which was claimed emphatically by Waratahs back Sid Harvey. The young Sydney flyer scored six tries, emerged as one of the competition’s most reliable goal-kickers, and finished the regular season with 98 points — fourth overall in the competition, behind only Damian McKenzie of the Chiefs (135), Ruben Love of the Hurricanes (113), and Ryan Lonergan of the Brumbies (107). Harvey split his time between left wing and fullback in what was his first full Super Rugby season, just a year after representing Australia at Under-20 level.