Laidlaw unaware of report claiming Fineanganofo's Newcastle move has collapsed

Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw said he was unaware of any suggestion that star winger Fehi Fineanganofo’s move to Newcastle had fallen through, reacting with surprise when the report was put to him at Friday night’s post-match press conference following his side’s 47-14 defeat to the Crusaders in Christchurch.

Podcaster Andy Rowe told Sport Nation on Friday that his sources in Newcastle were “very, very upset” and suggested New Zealand Rugby had intervened to block the deal. The report was updated on Saturday morning, however, after New Zealand Rugby denied the claim. Laidlaw, for his part, shook his head when asked about it.

“We’ve made no secret that we’d love him to be here. But I genuinely haven’t heard anything along those lines,” the coach said.

Laidlaw has consistently expressed a desire to keep Fineanganofo in Wellington throughout the season, while New Zealand Rugby has previously shut down talk of negotiating a buy-out with Newcastle.

Fineanganofo was absent from the Hurricanes’ final regular-season match, managing a hamstring injury that was originally misdiagnosed as season-ending. The revised recovery timeline means he will miss next week’s qualifying final but leaves open the possibility of a return for the semi-final, or the final should the Canes advance that far.

The winger has been one of the competition’s standout performers, sitting on a record-equalling 16 tries for the season — one more would give him the outright single-season record. He also leads Super Rugby Pacific for linebreaks, with 21 in 12 appearances.

Laidlaw confirmed that Siale Lauaki and Jordie Barrett, both absent against the Crusaders with injuries, are on track to return for the playoffs. Devan Flanders will not be available, while the fitness of Du’Plessis Kirifi and Isaia Walker-Leawere remains uncertain after Walker-Leawere picked up a cheek injury that requires an X-ray.

“The majority of players will be available for next week; Fehi’s not available, Devan’s not available, Dupes could potentially play — he’s got a pretty dinged-up shoulder but has made really good progress,” Laidlaw said. “Izzy picked up a bit of a cheek injury, so he’s going to get that X-rayed.”

Despite the heavy defeat in Christchurch, the Hurricanes enter the knockout stages with first pick of the lucky-loser spot in the qualifying final, guaranteeing them a place in the semi-finals. A loss, however, would drop them to the lowest seed in the playoffs and cost them home-field advantage — something Laidlaw is determined to protect.

“We’ve worked way too hard since January to get a home playoff; we don’t want to give that up if we can help it,” he said.