Super Rugby is going to close out with the two consistently best teams – the Crusaders and the Chiefs – in the final and a raft of stats indicating the competition has delivered fans the fast, aerobic, highly skilled and sensibly refereed rugby they want.
It’s been a journey on both sides of the Tasman to reestablish Super Rugby’s popularity and restore faith and confidence it can produce the sort of high-quality entertainment to compete with rival football codes such as the NRL, AFL and even the A-League.
That journey started in mid-2022 when New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia began discussing the formation of a Super Rugby joint venture commission – an entity that would be created to manage and market the competition.
The big decisions around the number of teams in the tournament, eligibility and broadcast negotiation would remain with the two national unions – but the commission would have the power to shape the laws under which games would be played, build digital properties to better promote the competition and unify media obligations so they were consistent across all teams.
This move to give Super Rugby a new-found level of independence to run its own affairs was an acknowledgement the competition needed some help to win back fans – particularly in Australia – after its credibility had been damaged by the bloated format which ran between 2016 and 2019 and spanned 18 teams, 15 time zones, five countries, four continents and two hemispheres.
The impact has been powerful. On a non-scientific basis, most games have carried a sense of urgency, where there was a collective desire to get the ball back in play quickly.
The commission has been a huge success and the biggest win of all has been the ability to make a handful of law variations this year – better protecting the scrum-half at the base of the scrum, operating shot clocks on all set-plays, and playing on from not-straight, uncontested lineouts – and empowering referees to manage breaks in play to ensure a quick restart.
There has also been a reversion to a system whereby the TMO has only been able to intervene unpromoted if the on-field officials have missed foul play or an obvious infringement leading to a try.
The impact has been powerful. On a non-scientific basis, most games have carried a sense of urgency, where there was a collective desire to get the ball back in play quickly.
Referees were mostly good at snuffing out prolonged discussions before lineouts, making sure penalties were kicked to touch swiftly and scrums set in more timely fashion.
And most importantly, there were few, if any occasions, when it felt like there was unwelcome over the top TMO intrusion.
That gut feel that games flowed and were well managed, manifested in a range of upbeat statistics, most notably this was the second highest-scoring competition in history with an average of 57.8 points per game (before the semi-finals). The average tries per game climbed to 8.2 from 7.3 last year.
The average game length (excluding half-time) was 90 minutes and 11s, compared with 91 minutes and seven seconds in 2024.
On average it took 42 seconds for a penalty kick to be completed, compared with 68 seconds in 2024 and the conversion time was down to 55 seconds from 69 last year.
There was a big shift in the time taken to set a scrum – 29 seconds on average compared with 45 seconds, and lineouts – from mark to formed – took 18 seconds compared with 25 seconds.
Of equal interest is there were so few one-sided, predictable contests the way there were last year.
There was an average of 4.1 lead changes per match, more than half of games (54.2%) having a lead change in the second half, and more than a quarter of games (26.4%) a lead change in the final 10 minutes.
All of this helped to drive a 6% rise in attendances, a 27% increase in Australian TV audiences and a 19% lift in New Zealand viewers, and it is no wonder chief executive of Super Rugby Pacific, Jack Mesley, said: “From the rising TV audiences and growth in match attendance this year, to the surge in digital activity through fantasy social media, all signs tell us Super Rugby Pacific is heading in the right direction.”
As an entertainment product, Super Rugby is starting to rebuild itself as one of the game’s hottest properties.
But what’s not clear yet, is whether it’s is going to deliver on its other goal: a competition with the necessary physical and competitive intensity to prepare New Zealand’s best players for what they will encounter in the international arena.
New Zealand’s players and coaches have been consistent since 2022 in saying they miss playing South African teams and have alluded to that being a problem, hinting it leaves them underprepared to cope with the set-piece work and physicality of the bigger Springboks.
The switch to the Super Rugby Pacific format has coincided with a drop in the All Blacks’ success rate. Specifically, New Zealand have struggled against South Africa, Ireland and France since they reshaped Super Rugby.
They have played South Africa seven times since 2022, and won two, lost five (four of the defeats have been consecutive). They have played France twice and lost twice, and they are three from five against Ireland, but for the first 20 years of Super Rugby, the All Blacks had never lost to the Irish.
New Zealand’s players and coaches have been consistent since 2022 in saying they miss playing South African teams and have alluded to that being a problem, hinting it leaves them underprepared to cope with the set-piece work and physicality of the bigger Springboks (and by extension Irish, French and English) forwards.
All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan even said ahead of the 2023 World Cup: “It was always enjoyable playing the Boks in Super Rugby, in my experience, because of those big forward packs. You probably don’t have that sort of demand in Super Rugby as much as you used to.
“Super Rugby is probably not what it used to be, but we can’t use that as an excuse.”
To be fair to All Blacks coach Scott Robertson, he has never said anything about the merits of Super Rugby Pacific compared with its predecessor. But two days after this year’s final, he will unveil his 35 names for the three-Test series against France, and it will be intriguing to see how much of his squad aligns with Super Rugby form and how many players who may not have necessarily starred during the competition have been picked because the coach believes they have the necessary skillsets to succeed at the highest level.
And this is the reality of picking an All Blacks squad in the Super Rugby Pacific era – there are some players who shine in the competition because they are ideally suited to its aerobically demanding tempo, but may not have the ball-carrying crunch or defensive solidity required to be a Test footballer.
This sort of selection twist was evident last year when Wallace Sititi made it in, but player of the tournament Hoskins Sotutu didn’t. The messaging from Robertson was Sititi had the defensive bite which Sotutu didn’t and while he didn’t phrase it as such, he was practically hinting to media they shouldn’t always be seduced by what they see in Super Rugby.
This year, there could again be a few surprises. Could Dalton Papali’i– a prominent force for the Blues – miss out to the rugged Simon Parker who has been a workhorse for the Chiefs, carrying with an impact his 1.96m, 117kg frame enables?
Is it mad to wonder whether the combative and defensively adept Finlay Christie is better equipped to play Test rugby than the Crusaders’ Noah Hotham, who looks great in open games on hard grounds, but was maybe found out a little in the tight and tense semi-final against the Blues?
Parker is not as quick or as agile, but do the All Blacks need a man of his size in their back-row mix to effectively compete with such behemoths as Pieter-Steph du Toit?
And what about TK Howden making the cut? He’s another who didn’t win many accolades during the season, but was at the heart of everything physical the Highlanders did, and the sort of bruising presence the All Blacks could make use of it on the side of the scrum.
A few locks have caught the eye with their prominence – Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Antonio Shalfoon – but will it be the Highlanders’ Fabien Holland who wins a spot because he carted the ball up the middle of the field thanklessly and relentlessly – a skill international locks must have?
Does a decision have to be made between Quinn Tupaea and David Havilli? And if so, will the former win the call on the basis he’s been instrumental in setting the Chiefs backline alight with his direct running, or will the latter’s deft touches and smart kicking be preferred?
And is it mad to wonder whether the combative and defensively adept Finlay Christie is better equipped to play Test rugby than the Crusaders’ Noah Hotham, who looks great in open games on hard grounds, but was maybe found out a little in the tight and tense semi-final against the Blues?
This is Robertson’s challenge – finding players who he thinks have a style and skillset Super Rugby may not love, but the All Blacks would.
How can you say Super Rugby is booming when the viewership is so much lower than it was 8 years ago? Same with crowd attendance. Also what’s up with NZ pundits always talking as if high scoring games are what everyone wants? High scoring doesn’t mean a better match…if that was the case then people would prefer watching NZ give Italy 100 points than watching NZ vs SA. They don’t…the SA game gets much higher viewership. What’s the most popular sport on earth? Soccer…average 1.5 goals a game. This is part of the reason NZ have slipped…they used to be obsessed with winning, not just with scoring tries.
Oh it’s so nice to hear that you Antipodeans have got yourselves so happy - at least it means you won’t be whinging about how SR was so much better when the SA teams were in it, and our guys can carry on with the N-S axis that is turning out some fantastic games, particularly as we can watch them at a reasonable time of the day, too.
Or, to quote an old T-shirt I had, with the Alfred E Neumann image holding up his middle finger, with the saying “Sorry, you’ve mistaken me for someone who actually gives a sh*t!”. Wallow in your own misery, you deserve it…
Bring in a USA team based in Hawaii, very small effective time difference. There’s money there and a Polynesian influence.
The main issue is the constant loss of coaching and playing talent overseas, and then (because of our policy) losing those players forever, and sometimes to other national sides as a result. The three nations mentioned, they don’t have that problem, they go in with full strength national teams. Put every kiwi player overseas back into the Super teams, and they’d be stacked, and with better coaches.
The other factor has been 20 years of the NZR completely neglecting anything below Super level. That golden age 2015 side? They all came through a time of Super Rugby and a really strong NPC. Now we’ve got an extra level of comp they don’t have in Europe, the NZR decided that the NPC is the red-headed stepchild they can’t be bothered with. It’s still an interesting comp, but the overall standard is pretty average compared to what it once was.
I don’t think the argument holds up about SA teams leaving making NZ teams worse, if that was true then SA would be worse too because URC is a lower intensity competition than SR, while still high qaulity.
Also some of SA’s most influential players have been playing in Japan. JL1 is a great competition but it’s nowhere near the intensity of the URC, let alone Super Rugby. At least 10 of the Springboks top team have been playing/are playing in JL1 - has that made PSDT or Malcom Marx any less physical? I would argue DeAllende and Kriel have actually gotten better.
NZ rugby and coaches just fell behind. It crept in during the BIL tour in 2017, and they didn’t really recover until 2023. The game changed and they didn’t adapt. It has changed again now and if we fail to adapt it will have nothing to do with Super Rugby, and everything to do with myopic ABs coaches and management trying to play last decade’s game.
Good point. Maybe different this year. I hope so. We all know its harder to get out of the All Blacks than to get in.
World class half backs score TEST tries. Findlay Christie doesn’t and that is why he is not World Class. Pretty simple really.
Predicting Razors team is not difficult
Just look at last year’s team and each players cap count
New players are only introduced if someone is injured or retires
Super rugby has no influence
I dunno, I have heard him talk about how he may have been a bit too conservative. Will be interesting to see if he is any braver this season.
This is true. I don’t think we’re going to see massive variation in selection. Unless it’s injury driven.
I see a couple of “Rugby Brains” in Super Rugby. Beauden Barrett and Will Jordan.
Although Barrett is well past his best, he still has that ability to “read a game” whereas although physically more capable, MacKenzie still “looks like a fart in a bottle”
I like that Cameron from Wellington.
I believe Will Jordan and Sititi would be the only All Blacks to make a World XV at the moment.
After the 2015 World Cup we had over half the team.
Unfortunately the NZRFU are clearly not fit for purpose.
Hopefully the “Players Association” (In some capacity) will make a serious challenge to World Rugby.
“Fart in a bottle” - didn't watch him slice open the Brumbies with his goal kicking and overall calm control then? Outdated observation which was always hyperbole anyway 🤔
ARDIE?????????????????
On track to being the best 7 of the modern era!
Are you high?
No Ardie? No Taylor?No Tamaiti? No Tupou V? No Jordie?No Roigard? Not saying they should all be there…one of them def should and some of them would def make a 23
Is it booming? The stadium was half empty for last week’s semi-final in Waikato. I definitely wouldn’t call that booming. It’s also closer to sevens or touch rugby, which has its place of course, but is not on the same standard of physicality as the Champions Cup or Top 14, or even the Super Rugby of old.
Closer to sevens or touch ? What are talking about ? Just because we can play with style and 1-23 can catch and pass doesn’t make it 7s…as for physicality u obviously havnt watched Blues Chiefs and Saders Blues in the last couple of weeks and standard our top Super Teams can go with anyone if u know rugby u would know that
Theres still the problem of it all being behind doors, no consultation or notice of their decision to remove injury checks on the field, an attempt ambitious but which wholly had failed when it had to be removed half way through the competition. How may they have introduced that better if they had of consulted fans and teams? The new body still has a long way to go to be a real pro body like those mentioned.
I certainly hope they can show they can evaluate feedback and reintroduce the idea in an improved concept next year.
LOL are you a flat earther as well Gregor?
This stat combined with the ridiculous amount of overtime played must mean theres more than 5minutes of rugby played in SR than any european competition. Incredible.
It has been since it’s formation. It was the second attempt and what the Aratipu report considered the best way forward for the game. Which was a move away from the orginal foundations of SR as being just a test ground for the respective National teams. It was time to make it a financially successful competition instead.
It’s always been the reality even for Super Rugby, even if much less so for ALL other pro sports.
Sititi was the form SR selection, it’s the only reason he made it in.
That would be selecting of form, not who you believe is best test suited.
Yes hopefully, he’s been the stand out Lock this year.
Depends on what the teams lacking.
Yes, he’s been proven to not be good enough.
Super Rugby is fast and furious but definitely isnt the same as International rugby which is far more pragmatic and testing but perhaps NZ can leverage its strengths from Super Rugby to improve the national team by playing fast and furious. The question is whether or not the officials at international level will enable such a game. With the North making smaller strides in speeding up the game it remains to be seen if Northern refs really will start to speed up the international game so it suits the Super Rugby playing nations.
Well really SR is AB rugby, the best for of rugby that can be played (as proved by results) and every team is getting closer to it, not further away.
Some NH comps are fast, Prem, URC and JRLO all try to speed the game up. Theres been a few recent articles abuot it, but yes, WR is another matter entirely.
The only problem with Super Rugby preparing our boys in Black is the risk that to many Saders make it into the backline sometimes and we all know how that goes for ABs …we love some of them of course but there have been to many selected on the back of forward dominance crook reffing and animal sacrifice…it’s why Hurricanes players have gone so well in the Black backline comfortable not getting a easy ride
Yeah i mean players like Dan carter, Israel dagg, Justin Marshall, Richie mounga. Just mediocre players selected because they were crusaders.
When are people going to accept that the best team is going to produce the backbone of your all black team. It’s not some stupid bias. Robertson built that current crusaders team from the best in nz so of course they will feature.
Yes all of the ABs most mediocre/underperforming backs have come from the Crusaders during their periods of dominance. It’s no coincidence that the best modern ABs teams have come in between periods of the Crusaders dominating Super Rugby with a stronger mix of players from all of the teams. It’s not the players or Crusaders fault obviously, but coaches and selectors favour those that they see more of.
Should be 14 Chiefs in the starting side this year..
They will probably change format slightly but now we know the advantages of placing doesn’t that make the run thru the season more exciting ?
Finishing first deserves considerable privileges or why bother - just make the top 6 or 8 !
I still can’t understand why there is no move to bring Japan sides into the equation on that side of the world.
With a population of 100 million and the money to boot, it just seems like an obvious opportunity being missed all around.
I agree. One proviso. The ABs can be selected from any team in that competition. Then the Japanese teams would be more likely to be competitive and there would be no need for sabbaticals. The main reason for only selecting ABs from NZ teams that has made sense is that they would be lost to the competition so our players in the competition would not be matching up against them, in this concept this is now not a problem.
I think the future of pacific rugby lies with Japan. It seems inevitable that SR will need to be trimmed to 10 teams, but maybe even 8. It then becomes more feasible to do some sort of merger/champions league round with JL1.
Oh there will be.
Because they’ve done it before, it cost too much, and brought little value to Super Rugby. Watching a Japanese side get thrashed week after week doesn’t exactly make for compelling viewing. They’re way more competitive now that they have their own comp, as evidenced by the Cross-Border Rugby experiment last year, than the Sunwolves could’ve ever been.
They have their own comp with plenty cash and good support
Agree. It’s professional sport, you have to go where the money is. NZ can’t go it alone. The market is too small, even with Aus, and the top down AB’s centric model only works when the AB’s are consistently valued as the best team in the world. We are at the tipping point.
NZ/AUS/JAP comp with all players being able to play for any club and still be eligible for there respective national teams.
Noah Hotham is much younger than Finlay Christie. He is developing his game big time for the Crusaders. Scored a mercurial try in the Quarter against the Reds. Kyle Preston was one of the stars of the early rounds for the Crusaders. It will be interesting.
When are the Crusaders going to develop their own players. Four Hamilton Boys HS lads in that backline!