Super Rugby Pacific Playoff Race Heats Up In Penultimate 2025 Round
Super Rugby Pacific Playoff Race Heats Up In Penultimate 2025 Round
Three playoff spots remain, as six Super Rugby teams battle for finals glory. Catch all the Round 15 action streaming live in North America on FloRugby.
Scores will be settled, fates will be decided and tensions will rise during the penultimate round of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific regular season this weekend.
Of the 11 teams in this year’s competition, two are eliminated from contention and three have clinched spots in the top 6.
That means six teams are left standing to compete for three remaining playoff places, and if things weren’t crazy across the league already, they’re really about to get wild now.
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Sit back and enjoy the show as we enjoy the final weeks leading into the Super Rugby Pacific finals — and tune into FloRugby if you’re in North America to keep tabs on all of the chaos bound to go down.
Here’s a look at one big thing you need to know about every Super Rugby Pacific match this weekend, with all matches being streamed live in the U.S. and Canada exclusively on FloRugby:
NOTE: The Blues, Brumbies and Fijian Drua are on byes this week.
Highlanders At Crusaders
A Top-Two Tuneup?
After a nightmare 2024 campaign in which they missed the playoffs, the Crusaders are back in a familiar place with a playoff berth in hand, gunning for the Super Rugby Pacific title once again.
The jostle in the top three spots in the standings at the moment will be tight up until the final siren of the regular season; the Brumbies lead the pack on 43 points, but as the leaders are on bye this week, the Chiefs and Crusaders (equal on 41 points) each have major opportunities to surpass the Australian side and put the No. 1 seed — featuring home-pitch advantage throughout the playoffs — within their grasp.
Heavily favored against the last-place Highlanders this week (who, mathematically speaking, still can make the finals but would need a ton of help to pull it off), the Crusaders, who only have a blemish against the Chiefs on their resume over their past five matches.
The Crusaders will be aiming to put up a vintage performance with top quality in similar ilk to the beating they put on the New South Wales Waratahs last weekend, when they scored 48 points in a seven-try haul through seven different players.
Get through this weekend, and a showdown against the Brumbies with plenty to play for looms in Round 16.
Hurricanes At Queensland Reds
Hot, Hot Hurricanes
A little over a month ago, the Hurricanes stood at just three wins from their first eight matches, as missing out on the playoffs not only seemed like a possibility, but a likelihood.
Now, they couldn’t have picked a better time to be playing their best rugby of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season.
Unbeaten in their last four matches with three straight wins — including eye-popping triumphs over the title-contending Brumbies and Chiefs — Clark Laidlaw’s men will get one step closer to clinching a ninth straight finals appearance (not counting the COVID-19-caused regionalized seasons) with a victory this weekend in Brisbane, after a stunning turn of form that’s seen them emerge as a championship dark horse.
All Blacks scrumhalf Cam Roigard has been particularly brilliant during the Hurricanes’ in-form stretch, scoring a brace including the match-winner after the siren in a massive 24-20 victory over the all-but-eliminated Highlanders this past weekend.
His influence has helped turn the tide for the Hurricanes and make them a side no one wants to play right now.
The side that does have to play them this weekend, however, is the Queensland Reds, who likely can’t reach the top two spots in the table to earn a bye but still are in good shape contention-wise, needing a victory this weekend to seal a ticket to the playoffs.
Moana Pasifika At Chiefs
Moana’s Magnificent Ride
You’re not dreaming, Moana Pasifika fans — the path to what could be a first finals berth is in your club’s hands.
In one of the biggest wins in the team’s history last weekend at the North Harbour Stadium, Moana defeated the defending champion Blues for the first time in a wild 27-21 victory, with Kyren Taumoefolau scoring a decisive hat trick.
The pride of the Pasifika now controls its own destiny in sixth place on 28 points.
A similarly monstrous win over the Chiefs this weekend would be a giant leap toward achieving that goal — especially with the seventh-place Blues, also on 28 points, off this weekend — but that’s much easier said than done, especially as the already clinched Chiefs have dreams of being the finals’ top seed on their mind and have picked up some well-earned rest after being on bye last weekend.
Recently crowned Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year Ardie Savea will captain his Moana side as it goes into Hamilton, however, giving it the advantage of having one of the most powerful leaders of men in world rugby, with the added confidence that a history-making moment in the team’s history is in the balance.
New South Wales Waratahs At Western Force
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures?
Put simply, this is put up or shut up time for the New South Wales Waratahs.
Tahs' coach Dan McKellar publicly asked if his team “actually care(s)” after a disastrous result against the Crusaders last weekend, in which they lost their fourth straight match and failed to gain much ground on the playoff places after a 48-33 drubbing by the visiting squad.
With their finals chances all but out the window, the Tahs’ miniscule chance of making the top 6 requires them to beat both the Western Force this week and the Blues next week (with at least one of those being a bonus-point win) while hoping for favorable results elsewhere, which is not a position any club wants to be in at this point in the season.
A slight help in that equation lies in the fact that the Force — who are off on bye in Round 16 — are now only playing for pride after a similar late-season crumble knocked them out of playoff contention for good last week following a 38-7 rout at the hands of the Fijian Drua in Lautoka.
A crucial matchup for playoff scenarios, plenty of eyes will be watching what goes down in Perth this weekend, but the Tahs need to cut through the noise and perform with no time to waste.
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