Hurricanes sign NPC winner Tjay Clarke for 2025 Super Rugby season

Following a series of impressive performances with the Wellington Lions in the National Provincial Championship (NPC), fullback Tjay Clarke has taken a significant step forward by signing with the Hurricanes for the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season.

Clarke debuted for the Lions in the opening round of last year’s NPC season, but the outside back only managed to crack the First XV on three occasions. It was a different story in 2024, with coach Alando Soakai starting Clarke in 11 of 12 appearances for the Lions.

The 22-year-old started the season in sensational form and never looked back, scoring one try in each Lions match across the opening six rounds. Clarke would add one more to his individual tally against Hawke’s Bay in round nine before charging into the finals.

With Clarke lining up at fullback, the Wellingtonians got the better of Counties Manukau and Waikato en route to the NPC Final. Clarke would end up playing 92 minutes in one of the more incredible deciders in NPC history, with the Lions taking out the title 23-20 in extra time.

Born and raised in the Chatham Islands, Clarke travelled a unique path to get to this moment with the Hurricanes. The New Zealander moved to Perth and then Sydney, before returning to Wellington to play for St Pat’s Silverstream.

That’s where he met fellow Hurricanes Riley Higgins and Peter Lakai. The trio won the College First XV Final together, before playing club rugby for Petone, and then helping the Lions take out the province’s sixth NPC title in its history.

“We moved to Sydney when I was around twelve, and my brother Sam and I were selected to play rugby league at Endeavour Sports High School,” Clarke said in a statement.

“I didn’t actually get back into rugby union until I moved back home and started playing for St Pat’s Silverstream.

“That’s the thing about rugby,” he added. “It’s all about the relationships you make. To be able to play with Riley and Peter across all these different grads is really special, especially with them being the quality players that they are.”

This is another exciting bit of business for the Hurricanes as they continue to add quality to their squad ahead of the 2025 season. In the middle of last month, the Canes announced that they’d signed North Harbour’s Kade Banks on a one-year deal.

Banks was among the standouts during the NPC campaign, scoring 10 tries which included a four-try haul in a home win over Waikato in round three. With Banks and Clarke looking to challenge for spots in the Canes’ outside backs, expect fireworks next season.

“We’ve watched Tjay play really well in the NPC over the last couple of years, with a stellar performance for Wellington this year,” Hurricanes coach Clark Laidlaw explained. “He feels like a really good addition, he’s young, hungry and keen to get stuck in.

“He fits the model and style that we want to play from the back either at fullback or on the wing. Tjay’s got a good left boot on him and he’s exciting on attack.”