Super Rugby Playoff Push Heats Up With Five Rounds Left In Regular Season
Super Rugby Playoff Push Heats Up With Five Rounds Left In Regular Season
With playoffs looming, every Super Rugby Pacific match matters as teams battle for top-6 spots. Watch the action live in the U.S. and Canada on FloRugby.
As the calendar shifts to May, the Super Rugby Pacific slate has reached the most important part of the regular season.
It’s because by this time next month, we’ll know the six teams destined to make the playoffs and contend for the coveted 2025 Super Rugby Pacific title.
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The contenders and pretenders of the competition have taken shape, but there’s still time for fortunes to reverse, as five rounds of games remain before the knockout rounds begin.
But for those who need to make a move up the table, they must do it quickly or risk falling behind for good and suffering a lost season.
Here’s a look at one big thing that you need to know about every Super Rugby Pacific match this weekend, with all matches being streamed live in the United States and Canada, exclusively on FloRugby.
NOTE: The Crusaders are on a bye this week.
Western Force At Blues
Better Late Than Never?
We’re now firmly on watch for the potential dubious distinction of the defending Super Rugby Pacific champions missing the playoffs the next season in back-to-back years.
After the Crusaders had a nightmare first campaign without now-All Blacks coach Scott Robertson in 2024, failing to make the quarterfinals after winning every piece of silverware possible from 2017-2023, the current reigning champion Blues have had a similarly disastrous 2025 season.
It didn’t get any better on Anzac Day against the Queensland Reds last round, as the day ended in a 35-21 defeat in a rain-soaked clash in Brisbane, and Auckland’s club (currently ninth) has just four regular-season games left to make up a five-point deficit and get to the playoffs.
Here’s the good news — the Blues can make major strides toward turning their fortunes around this weekend against the visiting Force, who hold the sixth, and final, playoff spot and were just battered for 56 points by the first-place Chiefs in Round 11.
All that’s left to do for the Blues is win, but it’ll be with a less-than-full-strength lineup, after All Black Mark Tele’a copped a three-match ban for a dangerous tackle on the Reds’ Tim Ryan last week.
Queensland Reds At Fijian Drua
Lynagh’s Leap Forward
As the Wallabies prepare for the looming British & Irish Lions tour this summer, Australian national team coach Joe Schmidt has some tough decisions to make.
Starting Tom Lynagh at fly-half after some sensational performances for the Reds this season might be one of his easier calls, if the 22-year-old keeps the form he's displaying right now.
The Italy-born Lynagh, son of former Wallabies No. 10 and ex-world points scoring record holder Michael Lynagh, made his debut for Australia last year against Wales and is poised to earn some more attention on the world stage, especially after his blistering two-try outing against the Blues in which he touched down twice in the first eight minutes.
Strong defense the rest of the match showed off Lynagh’s efficiency on both ends, as well, and he’ll be an option Les Kiss’ men will continue to rely on (this time off of the bench) in an always-tricky trip to Fiji this weekend.
As for the Fijian Drua, who are close to being the first Super Rugby Pacific team eliminated from postseason contention, they will be chomping at the bit to try and rescue their slim playoff hopes. They sit 11 points adrift of the top 6.
Chiefs At Hurricanes
Homeward Bound?
On the other end of the Super Rugby Pacific table from the Drua are the Chiefs, who had a great Anzac Weekend, during which they blasted the Western Force in a 56-22 drubbing in the first match in the competition at Bay Oval cricket ground.
The Chiefs got a boost elsewhere from the Hurricanes beating the Brumbies, meaning that last season’s runner-up has an eight-point advantage between them and third place for crucial home-field advantage in the playoffs.
What’s more, the Crusaders are on a bye this week, meaning the Chiefs can break a deadlock with the 14-time champions and obtain full possession of first place by as much as five points, an opportunity that could give the Chiefs plenty of extra breathing room down the stretch between them and the rest of the field.
A win in Wellington against a Hurricanes side battling to stay within the top 6, however, won’t be easy, and the task at hand will be made even more difficult for the Chiefs, who got the news this week that center Anton Leinert-Brown will be out for the majority of the remainder of the season due to a collarbone injury.
Still, the league leaders have the depth to run through teams, and the Chiefs haven’t let many similar opportunities slip this season, either.
New South Wales Waratahs At Brumbies
A Two-Way Must-Win
The Crusaders being off this weekend also means that the Brumbies can quickly make up for a deflating 35-29 loss to the Hurricanes in Canberra last week, which was their first loss to the ‘Canes at home since 2017.
At eight points back of the Crusaders in the fight for the top 2 in the table, the Brumbies’ holiday weekend loss came at the wrong time, but bouncing back against the New South Wales Waratahs right away will be crucial.
The Tahs’ current situation sees them in seventh place and a point back of the Western Force for the final playoff spot, and as no playoff contender wants to leave their postseason fate up to chance, stopping a poor run of form (three defeats in their past four matches) will be crucial in order for them to strengthen their top-6 hopes.
Rory Scott for Luke Reimer at openside flanker is the Brumbies’ only change in the starting XV from last week, whereas for the away side, captain Jake Gordon returns for a big leadership (and quality) boost to the squad after a long layoff from a knee injury.
Moana Pasifika At Highlanders
Moana Finding Magic?
The long wait for the Savea brothers (Ardie and Julian) to play together in a Moana Pasifika kit for the first time last weekend was well worth the delay.
In a derby clash against the Fijian Drua last weekend in Albany, Moana celebrated the landmark occasion with a bonus-point 34-15 triumph in which Julian scored, Miracle Fai’ilagi pushed the pace with a brace and the team got the big victory it needed to keep within striking distance of the playoff places.
As of this writing, Moana — which has never appeared in the final since joining Super Rugby Pacific in 2022 — sits in eighth on 20 points and needs three more to surpass the Hurricanes and Western Force for fifth and sixth, respectively, with time ticking on the regular season, and another clash against a team languishing near the bottom of the pecking order in the Highlanders looming.
Currently 10th, the Dunedin club has only won one match in its past five, and its hope of a final are fading fast. A joint-low 32 tries scored won’t help matters this weekend, if Moana’s frenetic attack (325 points for, third in Super Rugby Pacific) gets going.
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