By Roger Childs
After an uncharacteristic season saw them miss the playoffs in 2024, Rob Penney’s side appears to have turned a corner in 2025, putting the Reds to the sword in a 43-19 win on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Christchurch to move to fourth on the table. Christopher Reive, —New Zealand Herald, 9 March 2025
Some Kiwi teams under-performing
Last year at this time in the Super Rugby tournament the Hurricanes and Blues were first and second on the table. This year the two teams are at the bottom — tenth and eleventh. At the weekend the surprises included the first placed Chiefs losing to the Fijian Drua 24-28 on a soggy ground in front of a delighted Suva crowd which include the prime minister.
The Blues were beaten by the Brumbies on Eden Park 20-21 – their first loss to the Canberra side on the hallowed ground for twelve years, and Moana Pasifika picked up their first win of the season beating the Hurricanes in Albany 40-31. The best of the New Zealand teams was the Crusaders who hammered the previously unbeaten Queensland Reds.
Meanwhile in Sydney the Waratahs who only managed 2 wins out of 14 in 2024 are this season’s only unbeaten team with 3 victories.
A very unpredictable competition
With the Aussies having just the four teams this year instead of five, spreading the talent of the defunct Melbourne Rebels has increased the quality of the Reds, Force, Waratahs and Brumbies.
It’s very hard to pick a possible winner for the 2025 competition. As last weekend showed anyone can beat anyone. None of the other nine teams would regard the bottom placed Blues and Hurricanes as easy-beats!
The Chiefs missed having Damian McKenzie in Fiji, but teams are more than one player. Moana Pasifika was minus captain Ardie Savea in the second half, however other players stepped up and flanker Miracle Faiilagi scored three tries using his strength and powerful running.
Injuries have been big problems for the Blues and Hurricanes. Fans will recall the Crusaders last year having twelve players injured in their disastrous start to the 2024 season. The capital’s franchise has had ten top men out with injury, but did have full back Ruben Love back on Saturday which he celebrated with a try.
The Hurricanes will also appreciate having front row All Blacks Tyrel Lomax and Asafo Aumua returning for the clash against the Highlanders under the Dunedin roof on Friday night.
The Christchurch franchise is back
Crusader fans were delighted with the performance of their team in the sun against the Reds on Sunday, with superior scrummaging, speedy backs and scrounging loose forwards giving them a comfortable seven try to three victory. Will Jordan and Sevu Reece bagged two each in the first half.
A minor criticism of the Crusaders tactics is that sometimes close to the line they kept pushing the opposition’s scrum back and often ended up losing the ball, when quick passing by the half back would lead to more tries.
Blues not performing
Head coach of last year’s champion Blues team, Vern Cotter, wil be disappointed that his star studded side has not been up to standard so far this season. All Blacks such as centre Reiko Ioane and flanker Dalton Papali’i have not produced the quality rugby that have shown in the past. Mark Tele’a has scored some excellent tries and Beauden Barrett back at first five on Saturday against the Brumbies have shown some flair in recent games, but Barrett unfortunately suffered a hand fracture during last weekend’s match. The Blues have not been helped by one of their stars in the past, former All Black back rower, Hoskins Sotutu, receiving a red card against the Hurricanes and remains suspended for another two weeks.
It is early days in this year’s Super Rugby competition, and any team could still win it. For the fans the first four rounds have provided plenty of entertainment and the results have shown that there are no indisputable favourites. The Chiefs are currently top of the table but there is a long way to go.