Crusaders Vs. Chiefs: Super Rugby Pacific 2025 Final Showdown Preview
Crusaders Vs. Chiefs: Super Rugby Pacific 2025 Final Showdown Preview
The 2025 Super Rugby Pacific final pits the Crusaders against the Chiefs in Christchurch. Can the Chiefs break the Crusaders' perfect home finals streak?
The Super Rugby Pacific final is here, and once and for all, we’ll crown ourselves a champion this weekend.
The competition’s 11 teams each began the 2025 campaign in mid-February with high hopes, but only two are left standing in mid-June to duke it out for one of the grandest prizes in rugby.
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After a year away from the final, the Crusaders are back in familiar territory, seeking vengeance and to add to their constantly growing trophy case.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs — final losers in each of the past two seasons — are looking to finally end their hoodoo at this stage and bring a Super Rugby Pacific championship back to Hamilton for the first time in over a decade.
The stakes don’t get higher than this in club rugby. Enjoy the show with us this weekend.
Here’s a look at everything you need to know ahead of this weekend’s Super Rugby Pacific final — including a prediction for the match — being streamed in the United States and Canada live, and exclusively, on FloRugby:
Match Information
Super Rugby Pacific 2025 - Final
Chiefs At Crusaders
Kickoff: 3:05 a.m. ET, Saturday
Location: Apollo Projects Stadium - Christchurch, New Zealand
Weather forecast: Rainy, mid-to-low 40s
Broadcast information (U.S. and Canada): FloRugby
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Damon Murphy (Australia), Matt Kellahan (Australia)
TMO: Brett Cronan (Australia)
Crusaders
Regular-Season Finish: Second
Path To The Final: def. Queensland Reds 32-12, def. Blues 21-14
Previous titles: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020*, 2021*, 2022, 2023
*Regional competitions conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic
All-Time Final record: 12-4
Breakdown: With one win separating them from their record-extending 13th Super Rugby Pacific title (15th if you count the pandemic-era regional events), perhaps not since 2017 — when they captured the crown to end a nine-year title drought and began an era of dominance under current All Blacks coach Scott Robertson — have the Crusaders entered a final with more of a point to prove.
The competition’s most successful club was dared to respond going into this season after a remarkably poor 2024 campaign, when they missed the playoffs in their first attempt since losing Robertson.
Coach Rob Penney dodged the calls to be sacked after the Crusaders finished ninth — their lowest place in the table since 2001 — and was given another year by the team’s board to prove that he belonged in the dressing room.
It turned out to be a shrewd choice, as he successfully righted the ship.
The Crusaders finished runners-up to the Chiefs in the regular season, while matching them for victories with 11. However, the Crusaders put up a stronger resume along the way with losses to the Chiefs and a misstep against Moana Pasifika the only blemishes.
And, unlike the Chiefs, the Crusaders can say they haven’t lost this postseason, rolling through the Reds in their finals opener, before withstanding a 40-phase final charge in the semis against the Blues to earn hosting rights for the final (the club’s 17th in their history) because of it.
That last bit is especially important when you consider that one of the greatest records in world sport — the Crusaders’ 31-0 finals record all-time at home — once again will be defended this weekend, meaning that the stars could be aligning for the hosts to extend their stunning finals streak.
They will have to avenge a disappointing performance in Christchurch against the Chiefs back in Round 13 (when the Crusaders blew a 19-3 lead and were held scoreless in the second half) to do it, but this is finals rugby — and the Crusaders rarely disappoint when they’re at this grand of a stage.
Key Player: Tamaiti Williams, Prop
The Crusaders will need to flex their muscles in order to counter the blistering pace of the Chiefs’ attack, and a group that has been strong in the scrum all season and done well to force mistakes up front will get some extra girth back in the starting XV in Williams at just the right time this weekend.
Williams suffered a knee injury in the Crusaders’ qualifying-round victory over the Reds, which forced him out of action for his side’s semifinal win over the Blues and put him in danger of missing out on New Zealand’s matches next month against a touring France.
The 24-year-old behemoth is back on the front lines for the Crusaders, however, and he can etch his name into club folklore with a strong comeback performance against the Chiefs in the final to help secure the Crusaders' title No. 13.
Team
- Tamaiti Williams
- Codie Taylor
- Fletcher Newell
- Scott Barrett
- Antonio Shalfoon
- Ethan Blackadder
- Tom Christie
- Christian Lio-Willie
- Noah Hotham
- Rivez Reihana
- Macca Springer
- David Havili (C)
- Braydon Ennor
- Sevu Reece
- Will Jordan
Bench: George Bell, George Bower, Seb Calder, Jamie Hannah, Cullen Grace, Kyle Preston, James O’Connor, Dallas McLeod
Injuries: Chay Fihaki (concussion), Finlay Brewis (shoulder), Taha Kemara (knee), Dom Gardiner (foot)
Chiefs
Regular-Season Finish: First
Path To The Final: lost to Blues 19-20, def. Brumbies 37-17
Previous Titles: 2012, 2013
All-Time Final Record: 2-3
Breakdown: Surely, as the competition’s best team throughout the majority of the season, the Chiefs would be riding high on a wave of momentum, right? Well, the answer to that is a bit complicated.
Sure, the Chiefs have completely earned the right to be the finals’ top seed, but if this were even a season earlier, they wouldn’t be in the final to begin with, as they were saved by the new “lucky loser” rule following a shocking qualifying round defeat to the Blues.
The reformatted playoff system in Super Rugby Pacific — in which four teams from the six-team bracket advanced out of the opening round, with the highest-ranked loser advancing along with the winners — meant the Chiefs would advance no matter what happened in their game. That rescued them from automatic elimination.
The defeat wasn’t without consequences, as their previously earned home-pitch advantage throughout the playoffs was erased. There's now an always-daunting finals trip to Christchurch on their plate, but the Chiefs got right back into form again with a strong semifinal win over the Brumbies and are one match away from their first Super Rugby Pacific title win in 12 years.
And if there’s any team to finally snap the Crusaders’ home finals record and lift the trophy on away soil, this Chiefs side might be the one, as they paced, or tied for, the competition lead in the regular season in points scored (550), tries scored (75), points allowed (319) and try bonus points (five), among a host of other statistical categories.
On their day, Clayton McMillan’s men are a buzzsaw capable of slicing up defenses and wrecking opposing fortresses, just like they did a little over a month ago when they ran riot past the Crusaders in the second half for a big win at the Apollo Projects Stadium.
Now, with hardware on the line for the victor, the Chiefs will be tasked to do it again — and finally prove that the Crusaders are mortal in home finals matches.
Key Player: Damian McKenzie, Fly-Half
McKenzie is the easy pick as the Chiefs’ main man, but let’s face facts — where would the Chiefs be this season without their stellar string-puller at the No. 10 role?
The club’s all-time leading scorer and Super Rugby Pacific’s most dynamic attacking threat, McKenzie’s 15.92 points per game average is nearly double that of anyone else in the competition this year, and his reliable boot, mixed in with his affinity for the try line (six tries), has made him a truly world-class playmaker, if the All Black wasn’t already considered to be one.
He was sensational in the semifinal fixture against the Brumbies on a night in which the Chiefs sorely needed to bounce back after humiliation in the qualifying round, outscoring the Brumbies on his own with 22 points, plus a try assist and a ridiculous try-saving tackle on Tom Wright.
And, while McKenzie is a Chiefs legend already, leading his team to a title on the road may vault him into a divine-like status.
Team
- Ollie Norris
- Samisoni Taukei’aho
- George Dyer
- Naitoa Ah Kuoi
- Tupou Vaa’i
- Samipeni Finau
- Luke Jacobson (C)
- Wallace Sititi
- Cortez Ratima
- Damian McKenzie
- Leroy Carter
- Quinn Tupaea
- Daniel Rona
- Emoni Narawa
- Shaun Stevenson
Bench: Brodie McAlister, Aidan Ross, Reuben O’Neill, Jimmy Tupou, Kalyum Boshier, Xavier Roe, Josh Jacomb, Etene Nanai-Seturo
Injuries: Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi (shoulder), Josh Lord (concussion), Liam Coombes-Fabling (hamstring), Anton Lienert-Brown (collarbone), Malachi Wrampling (hamstring), Simon Parker (ankle), Sione Ahio (ankle), Rameka Poihipi (knee)
Prediction
A retooled finals format, stronger Australian sides and a growing Moana Pasifika side that almost spoiled their way into the playoffs couldn’t stop what’s been a widely expected final showdown for much of the season: Chiefs vs. Crusaders.
It’s an all-New Zealand title match for the fourth year running and a rematch of the 2023 final, when the Crusaders won in Hamilton off the back of a legendary performance from Sam Whitelock in his 181st, and final, appearance for the club.
We see the argument for either team; the Chiefs won both regular-season meetings and ran the Crusaders off the park in Christchurch, while the Crusaders, well, just don’t lose at home in knockout rugby.
But the semifinal performances from each club said a lot when it comes to their hearts and determination, and the Crusaders’ final stanza against the Blues last weekend spoke loud and clear.
In an exhausting final few minutes, during which the Blues gave everything that they had to try and extend the game, the Crusaders withstood the pressure and held the line through tired legs, getting the winning moment in the 86th minute.
Christian Lio-Willie secured a loose ball to seal the deal.
Keep in mind, it was the final crescendo following a 14-point comeback for the Crusaders, who let the Blues build a lead early, before the hosts turned on the jets later on.
It’s a championship mindset, one that’s been built by decades of leaders who’ve worn the Crusaders’ shirt. And it’s also a mentality that will have the Crusaders atop the Super Rugby Pacific podium once again.
Crusaders 31, Chiefs 20
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