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Super Rugby: playoffs picture clears but system raises questions

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Super Rugby

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The playoffs picture in Super Rugby has cleared a little after the weekend’s ninth round of games but has again raised question of whether the playoff system is too liberal.
The top eight of 12 teams, or 66% of all teams, contest the Super Rugby quarterfinals and, after nine rounds this season, the price of admission to the top eight is only three wins or 13 points.

Last year the Queensland Reds squeaked into the top eight with five wins and 24 points from the full 15 rounds of the regular season. In 2022, the Dunedin-based Highlanders qualified with four wins and 23 points, four wins and 12 points behind the seventh-placed Reds.

With six rounds left in the current season, Moana Pasifika are on the fringe of the playoffs in eighth place with three wins and 12 points, one win and one point ahead of the New South Wales Waratahs.

All 12 teams technically are still in with a chance of making the playoffs, even the defending champion Crusaders who have won only one of eight matches. The Christchurch-based Crusaders suffered one of their worst defeats this season on Saturday when they went down 37-15 to the Western Force.

On the current reckoning, the top three teams — the Wellington-based Hurricanes, Auckland-based Blues and ACT Brumbies — are already safe in the playoffs. The fourth placed Melbourne Rebels and Hamilton-based Chiefs are on the margins.

The financially-troubled Rebels appear to have over-performed by winning five of their eight matches. But those wins have come over lower-ranked Australian teams, Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua. They have a tough run towards the playoffs with three matches against New Zealand teams, another against the Brumbies and a last-round match against the Drua in Fiji.

The Hamilton-based Chiefs have five wins and 23 points and are likely to make the playoffs, though they have to face the Hurricanes and Blues in their last two regular season matches.

The run-in will be critical in the last weeks of the season. Moana Pasifika have a tough finish with matches against the Drua in Fiji, then the Highlanders, the Chiefs, the Hurricanes, the Waratahs and the Crusaders.
The Waratahs have an even tougher run in with matches still to come against the Chiefs, the Hurricanes, the Blues, the Brumbies and the Reds.

In each case, the run-in will help determine final placings and quarterfinal match-ups. The question remains whether the first round of playoffs can provide compelling competition when the top teams will be drawn against sides which at best have won half as many matches.

Super Rugby has struggled to attract crowds in Australia and New Zealand this season — not in Fiji where 15,400 filled the national stadium to watch the Drua play the Hurricanes on Friday.

A system in which twice as many teams make the playoffs as miss out may not help attract fans, though it prolongs some teams’ involvement.

In Australian soccer’s A-League, six out of 12 teams make the playoffs. The Australian National Rugby League has eight playoff qualifiers out of 17 teams and uses a weighted system which advantages the highest-placed teams.

Super Rugby’s too generous system may need reappraisal, given than no team has won the tournament from further back than fourth place after the regular season.

By STEVE McMORRAN AP Sports Writer

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Associated Press ©

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Hurricanes overcome yellow cards to beat Fijian Drua 38-15 in Super Rugby Pacific

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Super Rugby Pacific

SUVA, Fiji (AP) — The Wellington-based Hurricanes overcame a poor second half in which they incurred three yellow cards to beat the Fijian Drua 38-15 in Super Rugby Pacific on Friday, stretching their winning start to the season to eight matches and ending the Drua’s unbeaten record at home.

The first-place Hurricanes were impressive in the first half, scoring four tries to lead 28-7 at halftime.
But their game started to fall apart in the second half and they spent almost 10 minutes with 13 men when DuPlessis Kirifi and Isaia Walker-Leawere were sin-binned in the 64th and 65th minutes. Replacement prop Caleb Delany also received a yellow card two minutes before fulltime.

In the other match Friday, the Queensland Reds beat the Dunedin, New Zealand-based Highlanders 31-0 at Brisbane. Coming off three losses in a row and missing four frontline players in Tate McDermott, Fraser McReight, Josh Flook and Seru Uru, Queensland dominated the match with Hunter Paisami, Ryan Smith, Lawson Creighton and Suliasi Vunivalu scoring tries in a bonus-point win.

The Drua were unable to get into the game in the first half because of errors, turnovers and penalties. That situation was reversed in the second half as the Hurricanes, tiring in the heat, couldn’t hold onto possession and were heavily penalized, though their defense mostly held firm.

The Drua reduced the Hurricanes lead with a try to scrumhalf Kitione Salawa early in the second half. But they were only able to score three points — a penalty to Kemu Valetini — when the Hurricanes were two men down.

Peni Matavalu was held up over the Hurricanes goal line in what might have been a pivotal moment.
Returned to full strength, the Hurricanes extended their lead with a penalty to Aidan Morgan. They finished with a try to Xavier Numia after the fulltime siren and while down to 14 men.

“It just shows that over here you’ve got to go the full 80 minutes,” Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said. “It was a good test of our character.

“We talked about it during the week, that it was going to be about the effort early. We didn’t think we were going to be down to 13. But it did show good character, the way we held it together on the line and connected on defense.”

The Hurricanes opened the scoring with a try after seven minutes to center Billy Proctor from a speculative in-field kick from Salesi Rayasi.

The Drua scored minutes later through young flyhalf Isikeli Rabitu to draw level. But the Hurricanes opened a 21-point lead by halftime with tries to backrower Devon Flanders, center Jordie Barrett and hooker James O’Reilly.

Salawa scored from a lineout drive in the 46th minute as the Drua began to get on top, bringing a crowd of 15,000 at the National Stadium to life. The Hurricanes grimly held on, even when outnumbered and gradually the Drua’s ascendancy faded.

The Drua have won three home matches this season in Lautoka. This was their first match in Suva and their first home defeat of the year.

They return to Lautoka next week for a crucial match against Moana Pasifika as they attempt to hold onto a place in the top eight playoff zone.

The Hurricanes suffered a major blow when they lost hooker Asafo Aumua to a knee injury.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

Associated Press ©

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