Ex Blues player Andrew Blowers spent one season with the Hurricanes in 1999. Used as a blindside flanker, Blowers and openside Kupu Vanisi started in every match, and together they formed a useful partnership in the loose with No. 8 Filo Tiatia.

Blowers then became an ex-All Black aged 24 after the 1999 World Cup later that year. A teen prodigy, Blowers first played for Auckland aged 20 in 1995 and played for the New Zealand Colts in 1995-1996. He then made his All Black debut in South Africa at the age of 21 in 1996 after previously touring there with Manu Samoa. He went on to play 18 games for the All Blacks, including 11 tests until not required again at the highest level.

He then spent five years in the UK with Northampton and with Toyota in Japan, returned to New Zealand in 2006 to play for the Highlanders and Auckland in the Air New Zealand Cup, before leaving again in 2007 for Bristol. He retired in early 2009 and returned home to New Zealand.