Super Rugby stars reveal their most exciting rookies for season 2025

Who are the unknown stars set to break out in Super Rugby Pacific 2025? JAMIE PANDARAM has the inside word from the league’s best.

THEY are the four unheralded rookies set to light up Super Rugby Pacific in 2025.

Code Sport has the inside word from some of the stars of the tournament on which players will have breakout seasons.

Nick Champion de Crespigny - Western Force

Force flanker Carlo Tizzano has nominated backrow partner Champion de Crespigny as his man to watch this season.

The 28-year-old spent five years playing Shute Shield for Sydney University, before signing with French club Castres Olympique, where he spent three years before joining the Force last season.

Ponipate Loganimasi - Fijian Drua

Drua flyer Selestino Ravutaumada believes former Fiji Sevens star Loganimasi will electrify Super Rugby fans with his pace this year.

At 193cm and 91kg, the 26-year-old outside back will be a threat on the ground and in the air, showing his raw talent when he made his debut for the Fiji national side last year by scoring two tries in his first Test against Japan.

Fiji's Ponipate Loganimasi (C) is touted for a breakout year. Picture: Peter PARKS / AFP

Lachlan Shaw- Brumbies

At just 21, Shaw already has the physical attributes of a powerful lock at 200cm and 112kg.

Brumbies backrower Rob Valetini is certain Shaw will leave his imprint on the competition this year, having made his Super Rugby debut last season and then playing all 10 games of the NPC in New Zealand last year with Manawatu Turbos.

Kyren Taumoefolau- Moana Pasifika

The dashing fullback played for Tonga at the 2023 World Cup, and is expected to feature heavily in the Moana backline.

Moana winger and Super Rugby legend Julian Savea tips that 21-year-old Taumoefolau will shred defences apart in 2025.

Barrett: Super Rugby needs Japanese expansion to survive

ALL BLACKS legend Beauden Barrett has urged Super Rugby Pacific officials to bring in Japanese clubs for the survival of the tournament amid intense pressure from cashed up overseas competitions.

As the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season was launched in Sydney on Monday, two-time World Rugby player of the year Barrett said it was imperative the tournament expands in future, by including up to five Japanese clubs.

As Rugby Australia inches closer to signing off a five-year broadcast extension deal with Nine and Stan Sport that includes an 11-team Super competition through to 2030 but with the option to add more teams, it can be revealed that adding new Japan teams is being seriously considered.

Will Japanese teams save Super Rugby? Picture: Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

Barrett has spent two seasons playing in Japan’s Top League, including last year with Toyota Verblitz, and with Melbourne Rebels axed late last year, following the withdrawal in recent years of South Africa teams, Argentina’s Jaguares and Japan’s Sunwolves, the star playmaker said Super Rugby can’t shrink to greatness.

“I think we need Japanese teams in Super Rugby, losing South Africa was the worst thing for our competition so if we can’t get South African teams back then we need to look up at Japanese rugby and make a competition with four or five teams, the way that it’s done here at Australia, New Zealand excluding Moana and the Drua,” Barrett told this masthead.

“For me it’s all about the challenges of travelling, playing in different arenas, experiencing the different cultures, the enjoyment you get out of travelling with a team and experiencing those things.

Beauden Barrett (L) is calling for the expansion. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

“But it’s all about making you a better player, so that by the time if you make it to the international level you’ve already been in those arenas under high pressure environments and situations and ultimately you’ll be able to perform in a black jersey when it matters because you’ve already played at wherever it is.

“You compare it to the club championship in Europe, you’ve got all the top teams playing in all the top stadiums, sellout crowds, there’s a reason why those teams have had success in recent years, because the club comps are setting those international players up to succeed because they get all that exposure to, not necessarily a higher product of rugby, but it’s a different challenge when you have to travel sometimes.

“The competition gets stale if you only have Australian teams and Moana and Drua, thank goodness we might get a trip to Fiji and play the Drua which over there is one of the hardest games of rugby you’ll ever play.

“It just makes things exciting because it’s a different experience and it’s all about experiences, and for me we need to find that new destination and I think Japanese rugby is so good and demands a lot of respect that probably isn’t given from people down here, so somehow involving them in a competition, the time zone suits, you know it’s only two hours behind Sydney, four hours behind us, they’re a powerhouse up here.”

The priority for officials is the financial future for the current clubs. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Many of Super Rugby’s top stars, including Richie Mo’unga, Shannon Frizell, Will Skelton and Samu Kerevi have taken lucrative overseas offers when in prime form, and the battle to retain the best talent from the Tasman is becoming tougher as less money filters through to this side of the world.

Super Rugby Pacific chief executive, Jack Mesley, said the immediate focus for his committee is shoring up the financial future of the 11 clubs involved, but is willing to consider expansion.

“We will always look at it, and I think we’ve just got to make sure we’re really clear around what lenses we’re looking at it from,” Mesley said.

“Japan’s interesting, and we’re very lucky, we’ve got a number of clubs from all around the world that would love to join our competition.

“But for us, it’s got to be for the right reasons; does it improve our competition? Does it improve the attractiveness of our competition from a player point of view? Does it drive fan engagement in our home countries, like in Australia, New Zealand, in the Pacific? And does it generate commercial value so that we’re adding to what we do?

How long before Japan enters the picture? Picture: Toru Hanai/Getty Images

“So we will always look at it, and we’ll look at it through some of those lenses and do what’s right for the comp.

“But right now, we think there’s a lot of work to do to strengthen where we are and get the competition right with the current format. But we always have an eye on the future and look at those things.”

The new competition kicks off on February 14, and this year there will be a shortened six-team finals.

Barrett’s Blues are defending champions. The NSW Waratahs were the last Australian team to win a trans-Tasman Super Rugby title in 2014.

Since then, every New Zealand team except the Chiefs have claimed the premiership to establish a decade-long Kiwi dominance.

Originally published as Super Rugby stars reveal their most exciting rookies for season 2025