Hurricanes players celebrate a try during the round two Super Rugby Pacific match between Hurricanes and Fijian Drua at McLean Park. Photo: Kerry Marshall/Getty Images
Hawke's Bay will host the Hurricanes' Super Rugby Pacific match against the Western Force during round five of next season.
It will be the second straight year Napier's McLean Park will host a Super Rugby fixture, following the Hurricanes' 38-34 win over the Fijian Drua in February.
Junior Ratuva makes a break during the round two Super Rugby Pacific match between Hurricanes and Fijian Drua at McLean Park. Photo: Kerry Marshall/Getty Images
Next year's match will be the 15th Hurricanes game played in Napier. They first played in the city in 1996.
It will also be the second time the Hurricanes have faced the Force in Hawke's Bay, five years after the home side won 43-6 during Super Rugby Trans-Tasman.
Confirmation that Napier will host the match against the Force rounds out the Hurricanes' 2026 season schedule.
"We love going up to Hawke's Bay to play. The Drua game there last year, with the atmosphere and the sell out crowd, was amazing," Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw said.
"We've obviously got a huge amount of Hawke's Bay players within the squad, so this match against the Force is another opportunity for us to go to the region and unite and excite our fans in Napier.
"We've got a massive history of playing up there - I think of the win over the Highlanders in 2015 or when we played the Bulls up there the previous year, as well as last season against the Drua."
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