Three Hurricanes and Hurricanes Poua are set to feature at test level around the world this weekend.
Layla Sae, Denise Aiolupotea, and Warner Dearns will all take to the field for their respective nations as the Women’s World Cup and the Pacific Nations Cup continue throughout the next few days.
After playing a prominent role for the Black Ferns in their tournament-opening 54-8 win over Spain last weekend, Sae has been retained at No 8 by the reigning world champions for their second World Cup pool match, where they will face Japan at Sandy Park in Exeter on Monday morning NZT.
Victory for Sae and the Black Ferns should assure them of a place in the World Cup quarterfinals with a pool match to spare.
“It’s awesome to be here in Exeter and we have had a focused week or preparations,” Black Ferns director of performance Allan Bunting said.
“Japan played well last week, they are well-coached, and we expect them to come out and throw everything at us. We’ve selected a team who we believe will rise to the occasion.”
Elsewhere in the tournament, Poua prop Aiolupotea has been promoted to the Manusina Samoa starting lineup for their clash against World Cup title favourites England on Sunday morning NZT.
Aiolupotea featured from the bench as Samoa fell to a heavy defeat to Australia in what was their first Women’s World Cup appearance in 11 years last weekend.
Samoa now head to Northampton to take on the tournament hosts at Franklin’s Gardens, where Aiolupotea will start at loosehead prop in what will be her ninth test match.
Further abroad, new Hurricanes signing Dearns will captain Japan as the Brave Blossoms open their 2025 Pacific Nations Cup campaign against Canada at Yurtec Stadium in Sendai on Saturday night NZT.
At 23-years-old, Dearns is primed to become the youngest captain in Brave Blossoms history, two months after it was announced that he will join the Hurricanes for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season.
“It will be a great occasion for Warner as captain. What he’s done over the last week and a half has been very good,” Brave Blossoms head coach Eddie Jones said.
“We’ve got the youngest-ever captain for Japan and eight players with one cap or less in the team, so it’s a really young group. That’s exciting because when you’ve got a group of young players together, they can grow up and experience tough times and then really learn how to enjoy the victories when they come.”
Japan begin their Pacific Nations Cup series against Canada from 8pm Saturday NZT, while Manusina Samoa’s clash against England is scheduled from 4am Sunday NZT.
The Black Ferns close out the weekend when they play Japan at 1am Monday NZT.
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