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ACT Brumbies

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2025 Super Rugby Season Week 9 of 16: ACT Brumbies has unfinished business  now 3rd on the ladder following their 26-39 win over the Queensland Reds

by Sports Benches

Tonight’s Reds v Brumbies match was full of physically-contested slides on the field like we see in ten-pin bowling with handling errors through a series of hits and misses being a key Achilles heel towards one team’s loss here and there.

The winner turned out to be the Brumbies by 26-39 who backflipped the Reds good start with a series of brilliant executions while maintaining a lot of ball that is good with their retention – something the Reds couldn’t hang on with their long game.

Now at this time of the year, the Brumbies are back in business this time sitting Top 3 behind the Chiefs (2nd) and Crusaders (1st). Speaking of this time, they want to be the ones to be the next Australian team to play in a Super Rugby final proper again after being outside Grand Finals best for a number of recent years now since 2022.

Although the regular season isn’t done yet going into Week 10 out of 16, here’s more you need to know also from elsewhere:

  • The resurgent Crusaders still currently standing up tall over everyone having successfully hold off the Hurricanes to begin Week 9’s share of games earlier last night in Christchurch by 24-31.
  • NSW Waratahs rejoice as the last earned Aussie Super Rugby champ at least in its proper comp that goes back to 2014 following their home win this time against a NZ team in the Chiefs by 21-14 also last night at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park.
  • Moana Pasifika’s bid for Top 6 will have to wait another time now after they were held back by the Auckland Blues earlier in the arvo by 36-17.
  • And Highlanders back on track from last Saturday’s loss v the Flying (Western) Force in Perth to a big win over the wooden spooners Fijian Drua prior to this game in Dunedin, 43-20.

Top players Pick

First up, Allan Alaalatoa – he’s a very important part of their front row props glue at tighthead 3 alongside former Red James Slipper on the other loosehead 1. 

They both make up crunch time, every time and by outmuscling Reds, Brumbies exactly know what to do to keep on churning with their end goals at full speed.

Also a great time too to have Rob Valetini back on the blindside 6 from injury and Brumbies will continue to unfinished business & maybe in Grand Final this year.

And if one stood out for the Reds alone, it’s gotta be Hunter Paisami on the inside 12 where he too fought hard with a pack of punches off his shoulders thanks to his team’s good start. Unfortunately, they’ve messed things up tactically all over the place with lost balls/penalty caught by the ref, and Reds better be careful next time. 

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Thoughts on Rugby Australia’s TV rights contract extension that is now finalised with Nine and Stan between 2026-2030

by Sports Benches

The decision has already been made yesterday as Nine and Stan now confirmed to stay on with Rugby Australia for another five years when it comes to the next TV rights contact that is set to start from next season (2026) to at least the end of 2030.

Here’s what we know so far:

  • All Super Rugby games will be aired on Stan Sport.
  • All Wallabies and Wallaroos games including the Bledisloe Cup, Rugby Championship (Stan only everywhere else that isn’t Wallabies) and the proposed Nations Cup/Spring Tour to be on both Nine and Stan.
  • All Club Rugby games both NSW Shute Shield and QLD Hospital Cup will also stay on Stan for at least the next two seasons with one main weekly Saturday afternoon game back on free-to-air also on Nine through 9Gem including Finals.
  • All other content they’ve got will also stay on only through Stan from Super W to U-16 and U-19 National Championships as well as Six Nations, Currie Cup, NZ’s National Provincial Championship and many more including the full All Blacks v Springboks 2026 (to SA) & 2030 (back in NZ) tours.
  • The final cost would be around $215 million ($43 million per season) with up to $30 million add-ons depending on the Wallabies and Australian Super Rugby teams’ successes over time.

So what’s missing? No Saturday night free-to-air weekly Super Rugby games. 

That contract obligation they’ve got at the moment has now been removed starting next season onwards to aid with RA’s retention of keeping their top players away from lucrative overseas playing and money opportunities as Nine chose to give them more cash instead by swapping Super Rugby with all Wallabies and Club Rugby games returning on free-to-air TV.

Nothing much to do with increased ratings or exposure really, although there’s still a possibility that Nine could still air some Super Rugby games after all albeit at different times during the season.

It could only be key matches or even a mix of both Friday nights plus some Sunday afternoon regular-season games on what they call it flexible scheduling including one weekly finals on Saturdays, I don’t know.

But I hope RA and Nine with their paid streaming subsidiary Stan will find a way soon enough to keep Super Rugby on free-to-air at least in some way, so we don’t have to feel disappointed & not like it was in the past when there were no live Super Rugby games at all other than replays & highlights until 2021 all thanks to Nine.

Regardless of that, sure we are moving onto the right direction for the betterment of Rugby Australia, when Super Rugby is going well at the moment at the expense of our four Aussie teams along with the front row potential of winning it all in the green & gold Wallabies when we take on the British and Irish Lions as well as another Trans-Tasman contest later this year.

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Rugby

Super Rugby 2025 Week 6 of 16: Waratahs def. Brumbies 28-23 on what has been a bittersweet night for Dan McKellar against his old club as coach coupled with Max Jorgensen’s individual show once again at Allianz Stadium

by Sports Benches

It’s been a top physical battle between two of the Australian Super Rugby heavyweights in NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies at Allianz Stadium tonight as Dan McKellar walked away against his old club in the battle of our country’s head coaches helmed by former fly-half Stephen Larkham with the 28-23 win and things are looking likely on the up right now sitting 4th out of 11th as of Round 6.

Sure, no denying the Brumbies’ expansive passage of play especially after half-time when they were right back in the mix with not much time left to go. Their poor start coupled with ill-discipline and ball retention under pressure towards the end was a bit too much to ask there while the Waratahs have simply found the bigger fish to fry with big points after big points & that’s how they’ve set the bar tonight.

Here’s what happened elsewhere prior to this match:

  • Chiefs still holding out strong having fended off a late threat from 11th-placed Moana Pasifika by 35-50;
  • Good to see the Reds end their 12-year away ground drought in Dunedin with the 23-29 win over the Highlanders at Forsyth Barr Stadium;
  • And the Crusaders continues to be on red hot form even though it’s been a while with that away win after they were too good v defending champs Blues at Eden Park in Auckland, 19-42.

Now there’s one more game to go to finish off Round 6 when the Western Force are back home at HBF Park v Fijian Drua tomorrow afternoon at 5pm AEDT – should be a good one at the same time happening a bit later with the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix race from Shanghai (6-7.45pm).

Max Jorgensen is simply a class of his own off the back of his immense attacking and defensive contribution as always every now and then. Yes, some say he should be better off at full-back even with no Joseph Suaalii right now but he looks to be more suited on the wide left 11 especially you have top-class players around him – means a lot that makes his Rugby intel so great at all highest levels.

It’s just not the Tahs praising their own product of the Max, they are blessed to have one of the “Burn” boys in Rob Leota on the blindside 6. As a seasoned home grown Wallaby, he’s not just sound as part of the Tahs’ tough defense; he’s also destructive with his wrecking ball presence and with a Finals series already under his belt, he will wanna do that again this time with a semi or even a grand final.

Lastly, Len Ikitau has been cracking up Waratahs defenses all night long on the outside 13 where the Brumbies know how to light things up by building pressure in order to enable that explosive attacking creativity through the line that produced some brilliant moments via his guidance, especially in the last 40. It’s a shame their poor start plus the ill-discipline made their comeback bid so difficult unfortunately & that’s that.

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Rugby

Rugby today’s result: ACT Brumbies finally became the latest Australian Super Rugby team to win at Eden Park in a long time following a one-point ball game by 20-21 over the Auckland Blues

by Sports Benches

Hats off to coach Stephen Larkham and the ACT Brumbies including Ryan Lonergan in particular (love his 2nd half performance btw) on what has been a close eyed thriller that saw an Australian Super Rugby team stand up tall on the grounds of Eden Park v the defending champs Blues from Auckland by 20-21.

It’s been a long time coming even though Brumbies may have lost recently against the Western Force at home & Chiefs last weekend in Hamilton when there’s a few out there in the treatment room like Rob Valetini. But they’re back in business now with lots more to tick off like climbing back towards Top 3-6 and staying there then a Grand Final appearance at last for a shot at the championship coming from an Australian Super Rugby team – watch this space!

Who knows what surprises will come out next between now and June but this is good for the Super Rugby competition and most certainly for Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies squad as well.

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Rugby Today’s Result: Western Force forced another close emphatic win this time against regular semi-finalists ACT Brumbies by 42-45 after Week 2 of the new 2025 Season

by Sports Benches

Week 2 of 16 in the 2025 Super Rugby Season capped off with another Western Force win this time away from home against the regular semi finalists ACT Brumbies team in Canberra’s GIO Stadium. Force fired off with a string of early tries despite their rash decisions going into half-time by 14-28 while Brumbies found themselves back on track at last to play catch-up as it goes on.

Even though the Force were in trouble again discipline wise with 14 or even 13 men with 15 minutes to go, it’s not doom and gloom though where Force regained the lead whenever they had the ball – and that allowed them to finish off in style by a mere three point difference, it’s 42-45.

Elsewhere, the Crusaders were harshly beaten last night by the runner-up Chiefs and so does the current champs Blues at the hands of Highlanders in Dunedin earlier this evening. But the best part about this weekend is that Australian Rugby is still on a roll so far in 2025 thanks to an all-Aussie top-seed Brumbies upset by the Force followed by a statement Queensland Reds win v Moana Pasifika also from last night in Brisbane.

Top 3 players report card

As said, congrats to the Western Force with their close win once again – they’ve got a fantastic group of players along with Kiwi Head Coach Simon Cron who knows how to give back with their own swagger of Running Rugby.

Guys like Darcy Swain on the second row at 5 do mean business having taken a huge leap of faith from Canberra to Perth and yet he did not disappoint at all in the way he breaks down thanks to the Force’s unreal start to the game while they continued to add more points as it goes despite their ill-discipline & yellow cards.

The same goes to Dylan Pietch on the left wing despite picking up a yellow at one stage earlier on but his work rate though shouldn’t be underestimated thanks to his undeniable pace that got the best out of Dylan both in attack & defense and it’s clear he wants more of this often as long as the Magic comes to him – you never know & he will fill you in with surprises.

And Charlie Cale never backs down with his No.8 Brumbies shirt on his sleeve such as his two-TRY haul in between two halves who unpacks excellent physical grit through his head planted down low. It’s just a shame their poor starts and decision making forced the Force’s hand as one big mistake under pressure can turn out costly & that was the name of the game tonight.

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Rugby

Rugby Today: Thoughts on the Western Force’s last-minute heroics v Moana Pasifika last night 45-44 led by Wallaby 10 Ben Donaldson and what does it mean for the Aussie teams after Week 1 of the new 2025 Super Rugby season

by Sports Benches

Comeback after comeback after comeback, it’s great to see our Australian teams each pick up wins on the first week of the 2025 Super Rugby season.

Looking back at how No.10 Ben Donaldson broke Moana Pasifika’s hearts right on full-time last night even with Ardie Savea at the other end – such a magician isn’t he? Goes to show they’ve improved some much-needed competition for the best of Australian Rugby (four at best, we’ll see) as well as the Green & Gold Wallabies.

Now it’s up to them to see out like this more often week in, week out – and maybe two Australian teams will go on to play in semis with one finally able to make it to a Grand Final for a shot at the silverware. 

Watch this space not just Super Rugby & v NZ in general but also the British & Irish Lions who will be on their way mid-year.

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Tennis x Sports Crossover at the 2025 Australian Open: Super Rugby, All Blacks & Wallabies preview along with Netball in New Zealand and Jack Doohan under pressure for only the first six races in Formula 1 at Alpine-Renault

by Sports Benches

And last but not least, how about we give a shoutout to two Wallabies stars Harry Wilson (Queensland Reds) and Max Jorgensen (NSW Waratahs), who were both in attendance at Melbourne Park this weekend to cheer on Alex De Minaur.

Yet, the Demon did win after all to play in the 4th round for the 4th straight year of his AO men’s singles career.

It was also nice seeing Harry and Max lend over that Wallabies green and gold jersey to Alex and look at him go! – How good! 

Rugby Union

We first have a jam-pack year of Rugby ahead of us with the 11-team Super Rugby competition set to start in a month’s time before the British and Irish Lions arrive at our own backyard during winter. Plus, there’s Club Rugby at the same, the Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup in August-September, and we finish off the year in Europe v the North’s best sides on earth.

First of all, it’s been a bitter blow not seeing Melbourne field a Rugby team anymore in the Rebels when they are a big sporting city due to financial problems. But with lots of people playing AFL (Aussie Rules) and even NRL (Rugby League), it seems there’s no room for Rugby to succeed in that place unfortunately.

Now we are down to four teams with the Western Force still around & as we all know the ACT Brumbies would love to finally play in a Grand Final. However, we would need the Tahs, Reds or even Force to be playing in the semis either way in order for the Wallabies to succeed & that includes the Brumbies. It’s never been a better time to try taking that advantage now, especially with Joseph Suaalii onboard from the Sydney Roosters (NRL) to the Waratahs. 

Other than that, the NZ teams will still be dominating for the most part along with a new-look Crusaders, even though the All Blacks had their bad times last season when it comes to the Springboks and France.

Netball

If Rugby isn’t big enough for NZ, why not Netball when they also have a huge year ahead? 

The Silver Ferns will be stopping by in Sydney soon to spend nine days there as part of their training camp including a Practice Match v the NSW Swifts featuring the Ferns former star shooter (for now) Grace Nweke on Sunday, February 2.

They will also have a slightly different ANZ Premiership season amongst half of the six teams having brand new coaches (Mainland Tactix, Southern Steel and Northern Stars) between May-July including Finals with a two-round home-and-away format across 10-12 weeks rather than playing three times last year.

Yes, the Ferns haven’t organised any matches lined-up yet for the second half season but we are still expected to see the Taini Jamison Trophy series back regardless of opponent. Although England have won it last year but the good news is that they will be able to defend the Constellation Cup v the Aussie Diamonds following their 3-1 series win back in late October.

And shoutout to former Silver Fern and current GWS Giants (Western Sydney) player Gina Crampton who plays at Wing Attack and was also in attendance from the stands for Alex De Minaur’s game yesterday – sure she still has plenty to offer at age 33, especially playing against the best in Super Netball.

Formula 1

What else? Rugby & Netball isn’t the only sport who mix and matches well with Tennis.

I also wish Alpine-Renault’s Jack Doohan from Formula 1 was there to see Alex also because they do look like each other with both of them having a smiley face personality. Surely, Jack can get some tips on defying those odds from Alex when there’s a bunch of reverse drivers waiting in his wings under pressure including Franco Colapinto. Alex did beat another Argentine actually yesterday too in Francisco Cerundolo; hopefully, this will cheer Jack up in a bid to keep his seat over the first six odd races of the season.

Although I can understand Jack is more aligned with Ayrna Sabalenka because she visited his team’s garage in his unexpected F1 debut last month at Abu Dhabi & Jack came back in return for Ayrna when she played a match a few weeks ago at the Brisbane International.

Post-Notes

Can’t believe there’s a whole lot of other athletes watching for fun there rather than looking to go toe-to-toe with the pro Tennis players & see who’s better? 

Time will tell.

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Thoughts on the 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure with 16 rounds, two byes, no Super Round for now & one Quarter-Final lifeline out of six-team Finals 

by Sports Benches

The 11-team 2025 Super Rugby Season structure including its Finals system has just made its first steps today, although the full 16-round fixtures draw will be released later in the next coming days.

Here’s what we know so far

  • Still an uneven fixture list but the annual rugby calendar during the first-half year is already tight anyway. At it stands, one will play twice v four teams and once v six other teams, with seven home and away games plus two week-long byes.
  • A bit more Sunday afternoon games where we got three on offer throughout the 2025 season with the option of expanding more Sundays when it comes to future seasons.
  • Season to start a bit earlier like mid-February with an extra round rather than the 3rd week of February like it was over the last few years.
  • No Super Round where all teams get to play at the one venue during the three-day weekend – at least for now, especially when Melbourne no longer has a Professional Rugby team in the Rebels. Although they could be back in 2026 as part of the Bledisloe Cup ANZAC Day weekend via A Festival of Rugby that is expected to take place at Optus Stadium in Perth.
  • Finals to look a bit different for three weeks in June with six rather than eight while the bottom five can no longer take further part once the regular season is over. Three Quarter-Final winners to go to the semi-finals before one each winning semi-finalist will go on to battle in the Grand Final, with the 3rd winning Quarter-Finalist being the lucky loser as the highest ranked losing team – so a bit like what we saw with the NSW Shute Shield (Club Rugby) during the 2023 season. Yes, some fans still don’t like it and I do personally like to see just a simple four-team Finals format (just two semi-finals and Grand Final) but this is where it’s going in the way we see in other Footy codes like AFL and NRL.

All in all, good to see some changes that will spice up the competition from a format perspective. We’ll see what happens, especially going into 2026. As much as I liked Super Rugby being a Trans-Tasman and the Pasifika competition over these last few years when South Africa moved over to Europe, we’d like to see the Jaguares come back from Argentina to make up 12 teams like it was before (2022-2024) but be logistically based in Melbourne for the most part with Finals on home turf.

With the idea of having more Super Rugby on Sundays, why not begin the day on the couch when the Jaguares sometimes play at home (if they do really want to play some of their home games truly in Argentina) before finishing off the afternoon either side of the Tasman? This would also be the perfect springboard when it comes to future expansion like North America & Hawaii at some point where we could have more Sunday games here/Saturday games there, but both USA and Canada are a long way off from where we are at least in the Top 10 competitively right now.

Although I’d also like to see Andrew Forrest’s Western Force side to team up with Japan by making one super revival team of the Sunwolves together featuring max involving the best of our players and also these Japanese Internationals from the Top League, with most games in Perth and some in Japan. That would be a great replacement to cover up the lost South African quality talent & income there. 

If the Western Force do wish to continue playing Rugby, it would be through the idea of a new third-tier National Club Competition or a series of exhibition matches like the Cheetahs do from Bloemfontein in South Africa while being a feeder club to the Sunwolves, as well as junior level in the Super Rugby U16 & U19 competitions – also run similarly to the one Rugby Victoria is set to operate now the Rebels are gone with some Melbourne games still a possibility by the ACT Brumbies next season.

But I guess we will wait and see between now and at least the home 2027 Rugby World Cup depending on the Wallabies performance. If not, I could see Twiggy going elsewhere to another comp – doesn’t mean the Force is going to be dead since he’s the owner. In the meantime, all we could hope for the best of Australian Rugby right now is to have at least two decent teams battling up front alongside the dominant NZers next season – even though it’s going to be a bit more difficult from here. 

That way, we could finally see our usual Brumbies or any other Australian team like the Reds or Waratahs to finally play in a Grand Final in a long time when simply advancing into a Quarter-Final & then getting eliminated right on the spot isn’t good enough.

Not even getting kicked outside the last 4 isn’t a good excuse either, especially for the Brumbies when we haven’t been winning for 10 years now since the Tahs last won it v Crusaders & over 20 if you count the Bledisloe Cup & even Rugby Championship for the Wallabies.

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Top 3 Rugby Union news this week: Trans-Tasman’s perfect start to the two-match July Internationals, ACT Brumbies to hand over control to Rugby Australia & Club Rugby is back on 9Gem for another year this weekend

by Sports Benches

There has been plenty of rugby news over the last couple of days ahead of another big weekend of International Rugby where a couple of two-match tours is about to come to an end, although they do have another match left to play but this time it will be against the lesser sides before we turn our attention to the Rugby 7s at the Summer Olympics in Paris towards the end of this month. Not only that, there’s a huge change coming at the ACT Brumbies in Canberra when it comes to the off-field operations and Club Rugby is back on free-to-air once again via 9Gem that will go for little over a month including Finals beginning this weekend whether if you’re tuning in for the Shute Shield in New South Wales or Hospital Cup in Queensland.

International Rugby

All Blacks were relieved to see off England unscathed by a single point 15-16 in Dunedin while the Wallabies may have a huge task ahead following their disastrous World Cup pool stage run last year but at least a win is a good start to get on top of the under-pressure Wales side 25-16. What’s even better that both sides were able to hold onto their respective series plates, even though the final Test results aren’t guaranteed to see out for sure when they retained them last time around. Now the ABs will head off to Eden Park in Auckland which is place they do so well all the time and Wallabies play at AAMI Park in Melbourne this Saturday. The reception there in Melbourne is going to be mixed when Rugby Australia decided to axe the Melbourne Rebels at season’s end towards the end of May & it won’t be the same without rugby fans going there as if they have no home-supporting player to cheer on for the Green and Gold – despite the team’s one & only rare good season that wrapped up the Rebels’ 14 year existence but again, it was due to financial reasons & the board moved on with the times now.

Predictions: All Blacks to win v England by 13 points and Wallabies to win v Wales by 8 points – so another Southern Hemisphere/Tasman clean sweep then to round off their respective two-match July tours.

Super Rugby 1: Australia

Speaking of Rugby Australia, their plans to have their Super Rugby teams being centralised (similar to the setup in New Zealand and Ireland) has taken another step this week as the ACT Brumbies now became the second team after the NSW Waratahs to hand over their off-field operations to the governing body – such as the high performance, players/staff and the commercial departments. That way, RA will look after both the Brumbies and Waratahs in the hope of getting back to their best while the state-run organizations will focus on getting the best out of Club and Grassroots Rugby – even though the Brumbies is by far the No.1 Australian Super Rugby side every year. They won’t be leaving Canberra after all which is good news, although they might be open to host some games in Melbourne since the Rebels is now gone (again not a merger).

If that happens, then it will be great to see Melbournians return to AAMI Park by getting behind the best Australian Super Rugby team in the Brumbies and that is gonna help inspire the kids there to start playing Rugby in their local area before they can make a name for themselves once they’ve grown up through the junior representative ranks with Rugby Victoria. All of that can be done while the Brumbies will always remain first and foremost in Canberra hoping they can make the Grand Final at last by knicking the championship. Even though Western Force will stay on as Australia’s 4th Super Rugby team, hoping they can get some support from Japan like reviving to boost their on-field performances if they can’t do well next season when a national third-tier competition is back on the cards – as if Japan is the perfect nation to replace South Africa in Super Rugby without having to sacrifice their own Top League competition thanks to the huge amount of seasoned Internationals they’ve got there. Again, most of the home games would come from Perth with some over in Tokyo and Singapore.

Super Rugby 2: New Zealand

Looking across the Ditch a bit in NZ, the Highlanders have re-installed Jamie Joseph as their head coach once again with Clarke Dermody demoting as his No.2 assistant coach. Yes, it was great seeing them enjoy some success in 6th this season but the Highlanders still have a long way to go if they want to challenge the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes someday since their last championship back in 2015 under Joseph during his 1st spell before he went on to coach Japan and is now back at home to turn things around for Otago. Their attack has been somewhat hesitant at times that consigned them to losses, especially when playing against the Australian teams but most of home games they’ve played though ain’t bad. Watch this space as this is the team they wanted to reclaim its former glory having last won the Super Rugby title under the six-team Playoffs format before its complicated expansion between 2016-2024, which is expected to be revived as a 11-team competition next season.

Club Rugby

And last but not least, while the respective Shute Shield and Hospital Cup competitions are ongoing since the start of April, it’s great to see both Club Rugby competitions return to free-to-air a bit relatively early this weekend via 9Gem for another year in 2024 starting with the last five regular rounds followed three weeks of Finals. That gives you a huge Saturday viewing line-up of Rugby there with Club Rugby in the afternoon before finishing off the rest of your evening with some of the Wallabies action when playing at home including the 2nd Test v Wales in Melbourne. Although it remains to be seen whether if next weekend’s Shute Shield free-to-air viewing would bump into Sunday or be pitted at the same time as the one-off Wallabies match v Georgia that is going to be aired on the main channel at Allianz Stadium in Moore Park. The same thing should apply with the Hospital Cup for those tuning in from Queensland. The Shute Shield commentary team will look a bit different when Will Davies will be out for a while to commentate Field Hockey at the Olympics soon for Nine with former Hockeyroo Georgie Parker, but he should be back after this to call the Shute Shield Finals like he did last year – having also called a series of Super W games more often, as well as some Wallaroos Tests and the odd Super Rugby match (Force v Fijian Drua) so far this year.

UPDATE: Next round’s Shute Shield game for Round 15 is scheduled on a rare Sunday afternoon next weekend at 3pm between reigning champions Randwick v Warringah, so this should be on 9Gem while Nine will showcase Wallabies and Georgia to fill up the primary 3pm Saturday afternoon slot on the main channel. For Queensland viewers though, not so much where you would need both a TV and a portable device or a computer to watch both rugby games at the same time.

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2024 Super Rugby Review: New Zealand teams continues to dominate except the Crusaders at least for this year while ACT Brumbies still only the best here in Australia

by Sports Benches

While we are transitioning into International mode and also at Club Rugby too going into the 2nd half of 2024 next month, let’s look back at the 2024 Super Rugby Season following the Blues A+ Grand Final performance that sealed their long-awaited drought for their 4th championship trophy for the first time since 2003 over the Chiefs at Eden Park last night.

It began with the Crusaders largely not being the same team anymore that won them multiple championships despite their late season resurgence where they were one place short of the Top 8 while the Melbourne Rebels had a rare spectacular run on the field in 8th before their poor financial health regardless of this however unfortunately ended the team’s 14 year existence. Plus, NSW Waratahs were at an all-time low once again other than the two wins v Crusaders off the back of numerous injuries in the treatment room, particularly with their front rowers. Queensland Reds also had some fresh breath of under new coach Les Kiss including the Highlanders with their big rebuilding phase over in Otago but then they were both nowhere near past the Quarter-Finals alongside the Fijian Drua off the back of another excellent home season in 7th. Time will tell if the Drua will continue to progress & go Top 6 under a new coach while looking to improve their away form next season.

The same goes with the ACT Brumbies who continues to fall short in the semis yet again as they still continue to hold the title as Australia’s No.1 Super Rugby team, although we did witness a surprise semi elimination in the top-ranked Hurricanes by the Chiefs before the Waikato-based franchise weren’t simply up to the task against the championship-winning Blues last night. Nothing much also happened to Moana Pasifika and the Western Force when they had some wins off the back of a huge off-season drive but both are still underwhelming for the majority. It remains to be seen if the Force will benefit from the Rebels demise in an 11-team competition (short term) next year that would hopefully improve Australia’s record in Super Rugby as well as Wallabies at International level, so they can look to win games again. If not, while we understand of having a national footprint when the world has changed nowadays – three teams may finally be the way to go again with Rugby Australia helping the Force out elsewhere like reviving Global Rapid Rugby & have them play against teams in South East Asia.

And finally, congratulations to the Blues on their fourth championship when they first won this competition back-to-back while Super Rugby was born under Super 12 back in 1996 followed by a 3rd one in 2003 before they finally broken the 21-year hoodoo last night on top of the short-lived Trans-Tasman crown over the Highlanders during COVID back in 2021. They too have been unstoppable who can unseat any team including the top regular-season ranked Hurricanes while setting the standard all along including the Grand Final v Chiefs, even without Beauden Barrett at least in the short term until next year due to him playing in Japan. But it’s all about having an excellent group of players who is still around day in, day out alongside an experienced head coach of Vern Cotter after lifting his first major silverware off the back of long stints in France & Scotland.

So there you go for 2024 as Season 2025 would see 16 regular season matches and two weekly byes alongside a Top 6 Finals system like it was back in 2011-15 with the Top 2 going straight into the semis with 3rd-6th placed teams to play in the first week Quarter-Finals, then the other winning two will face the best two in the Final Four before the best of the best two teams will battle it out in the hope of lifting that championship next time around in 12 months’ time. After that, depending on the four Australian teams performance, Super Rugby would ideally like to say 12 teams but would otherwise have to go with 10.

The South African teams are well and truly happy in Europe following their split back in late 2020 while Japan wants to stay on its own with the Top League, a Jaguares reunion from Argentina may still pose financial and logistical issues & having Canada and USA onboard including a Hawaii-based team is still far off competitively right now for at least the next 10 years.

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