Happy Monday everyone. And bugger me with a fish fork, wasn’t that a cracking opening round of Super Rugby Pacific for 2025? Five fantastic games, absolutely pinging. And for us tipping peeps, that was harder to pick than a broken nose with results nowhere near what was expected. A serious round of upsets.
Of the five games the biggest winning margin was 11 points, between last year’s finalists. The other winning margins were 8, 1, 4 and 1. These games all had multiple lead changes and two with the winning score after the siren, one of them four minutes into extra time. Wow! Don’t know about you G&GRs, but this old man is excited for round two.
So sit down at your desk, log on to your work laptop thingy, bring up G&GR, pretend you are working, and grab a big cup of that beautiful brown stuff ☕ and let’s do the G&GR business.
Super Rugby Pacific Round One
Crusaders 33 defeated Hurricanes 25
What a cracking game to start the round. The Dark Saders v KARL’s Hurricanes. After last year’s ‘Barry Crocker’ for the Saders, we really didn’t know where they’d be form wise. That as well as the swag of injuries to the squad before the start of this game. In fact so shallow was their squad looking they brought JOC 3.0 into the team as injury cover for flyhalf for the season.
But it was the Wellington visitors who got off to a blazing start with two tries to hooker Jacob Devery for a cruisy 14-0 lead in conditions that were great for kite flying but not necessarily for rugby. Eventually, the Dark Ones pulled their fingers out of their collective khybers and it was replacement Kyle Preston, an early injury replacement for Noah Hotham, who scored a five pointer. The Canes responded quickly with a try to Kini Naholo, sending them into the sheds with a handy lead.
After half time, not content to leave it where he left off, Kyle Preston crossed the line for another try that was sparked by a piece of Will Jordan magic (man that dude accelerates quickly), offloading to Sevu Reece before handing the ball to Preston. Reece not wanting to be left out of the action, then crossed for his own 5 pointer to take the Dark Ones to the lead with 15 minutes left on the clock. Preston crossed for his third to take the match out of doubt for the boys from Canterbury.
Seemingly starting a return to what was the order in years gone past for the Crusaders. For Aussie fans JOC 3.0 had a cracker, and helped steer the team around in the ‘pressure end’ of the game. This was a good game of rugby, and well worth watching the full replay. The pace of this game was frantic from start to finish, with both teams showing that their S&C coaches have been hard at it in the pre-season.
Waratahs 37 defeated Highlanders 36
Well I’m sure a ‘Big Man’ that lives in Newcastle will be feeling a huge wave of relief after this tight affair in Sydney on Friday night. A very last minute meat pie by Siosifa Amone got last year’s wooden spooners a stress relieving 37-36 win, in what was an up and down encounter with 10 lead changes.
The game started off well with new league import, and KARL’s favourite punching bag Sua’alii, featuring early with some aerial work. His first bit was good, but his second ended up going straight to the HIghlanders who were then able to work it through the hands and gave Tangitau an open field to blitz down the wing to score the first try of the game.
Hoss’s Tahs pounced back via a nice penalty goal from Tane ‘Gronk’ Edmed. However, this was closely followed by the Clan’s ‘El Capitan’ Timoci Tavatavanawai crossing the line to take them out to a handy 12-3 lead.
Looking like a potential blow out for the boys from Dunedin, the Tahs finally finally got their first try just before half time. This was ably assisted with Mitchel Dunshea helping himself to a serve of 🧀 after a shoulder into the head of Dave Porecki. Not done there, Rob Leota scored after the Tongan Thor offloaded to him to get the Tahs to 10-12. The Highlanders continued their mini-self-implosion and had Tagitau 🧀 for not releasing Joey Walton. The resulting penalty iced by Edmed took the Tahs to a 13-12 lead as both teams headed to the sheds for oranges.
Starting the second half with a man down, and being down on the scoreboard, the boys from the Clan pushed hard, and got themselves back in front with a Sam Gilbert penalty. But the Tahs didn’t take this lying down, and Dave Porecki crossed the line on the back of a signature Chuckles McKellar ‘Puppy Killers’ style rolling maul.
But the Clan weren’t done. Veveni Lasaqa crossed the line for a beauty, putting the Tahs under pressure, and looking to buckle. But a nice little 20 yard dash from Suaalii setting up an attack that ended up with Max Jorgensen crossing the line. But it was Amone that saved the day and the Tahs, with a try to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.
While I think Dan McKellar, the players and the fans will be happy with the victory, I think there’s a lot to look at in their game. The Tahs had 10 internationals in their team against the Highlanders one. The Highlanders played 20 mins of the game reduced to 14 players. This should’ve been a comprehensive win to the Tahs, but they found a way to make it difficult. Yes they won, and didn’t capitulate, which is a good sign. But this type of performance isn’t going to bode well against the Blues, Chiefs or resurgent Crusaders. BL thinks they got away with one here.
ACT Brumbies 36 defeated Fiji Drua 32
In what was a very risky gamble, coach Stephen Larkham and his team have managed to pull one off with the Ponies win over the FIji Drua in Suva on Saturday afternoon. This victory also being the first win by an Aussie franchise in the land of the flying Fijians.
The Ponies got off to a strong start scoring a quick try within the first 3 minutes of the game. But the Fijians weren’t taking this lying down, replying with their own 7 pointer to Simione Kuruvoli. But Fiji’s discipline problems returned to hurt them with Isikeli Rabitu getting some 🧀 for a pretty ugly tackle. Larkham’s boys capitalised on this, and using the one player advantage crossed over for a try to take their lead out to 12-7.
Only to compound bad and make it worse, the Fijians got themselves dropped to 13 men after Vuate Karawalevu was 🧀 for what was deemed a deliberate knock on in the 24th minute. The Brumbies, not looking a gift horse in the mouth, extended their lead to 17-7. Fiji, needing some magic, looked to the trusty boot of Caleb Muntz, who slotted two 3 pointers, to lift the score and 17-13, getting the home side back into the game.
Just before oranges, and now back with a full complement, Ponipate Loganimasi grabbed himself a meat pie in the 36th minute to take the Fijians into the lead at 20-17, with both teams headed for the sheds.
The second half commenced with both teams banging it hard until eventually the Brumbies regained the lead in the 49th minute scoring a nice little try. But Fiji were hot on their tails with Vuate Karawalevu scoring an unconverted try, pushing the home team in front 25-24 accompanied by the screaming sounds of their adoring fans. Man that Suva crowd was rocking.
Karawaleevu iced his second in the 63rd minute to push the Fijians out to a 32-24 lead. With the Brumbies looking like they had finally succumbed to the ‘Playing the Drua in Fiji’ curse. They somehow managed to rally and score tries in the 70th and 75th minutes to grab a 36-32 lead and to break the will of their opponents. Fiji tried hard, but just couldn’t get over the line.
The Ponies took a huge gamble going into this game, leaving a lot of their prime squad at home. The gamble paid off, but I can bet you it wasn’t a comfortable 80 minutes for coach Larkham and the Brumbies squad. And I don’t think they will try and pull off any fast ones like that again.
Waikato Chiefs 25 defeated Auckland Blues 14
The Chiefs have managed to extract some revenge for last year’s loss in the SRP2024 grand final. In what was expected to be a ding-dong battle that everyone had pencilled in their diaries as a must watch, ended up being the biggest blow out of the round.
The Auckland boys started off well with a strong tackling game and some nice kick and chase rugby. This game plan scored them two first half tries through AJ Lam and Dalton Papali’i (who had a great game). But that was it for the boys in blue, they put their scoring cue back in the rack and never bothered the scorer again for the rest of the game.
The Chiefs on the other hand, wanted this. And their desire to win, and their smart rugby was more than the Blues could counter. Leroy Carter and Cortez Ratima (who kicked a superb 50-22) were the stand out for the Chiefs, but it was DMac that led this crusade.
Yes the weather played a part in the second half, but Vern Cotter will want to take a good look at this performance and see if he can tweak things. All those sides due to face the Chiefs will be well aware that they may have lifted to another level above last year, which is a scary proposition.
Western Force 45 defeated Moana Pasifika 44
This was meant to be the game of the minnows, a game to perhaps watch the 20 min replay package. And what a travesty that would be. This was a scintillating game, a game that went well into injury time, a game with more twists and turns than one could possibly believe. A game that had one mantra, by both teams: attack!
The new look Moana Pasiika, with All Blacks captain Ardie Savea at 8, started the game in top gear blistering out of the gates. Fine Taumoefolau defined speed, weaving through the defence to open the scoring for MP and taking them to a 7-0 lead. Keeping their foot on the gas, Levi Aumua powered through for a second try, pushing that lead to 14-0. And it looked like it might be a bad day for Twiggy’s All Stars in front of a home crowd.
The Force overcame their shell shock and got back into the game, and managed to get themselves on the score board at the 20th minute via a Donaldson penalty, pegging the lead back to 14-3. But MP weren’t going to give up that easily, responding with a peach of a drop goal from Havili, pushing it back out to 17-3.
Twiggy’s All Stars turned the dial to 10 and pushed hard with Manasa Mataele crossing the line, getting the Force back into the game at 17-10 after the conversion. The back and forth continued with Solomone Funaki crashing over, taking MP’s lead out to 24-10. But just before half time Kyle Godwin pulled of a wonderful intercept and bolted half of the field to dot one down and bring his team back to 24-17 down as both teams went into the sheds at oranges.
The second half picked up where the first left off. The Force through Tim Anstee piled over the line and with the conversion the score was 24 all. MP bit back straight away through replacement Hooker Ray Niuia on the back of a driving maul, taking MP back to a 7 point lead.
In what was the theme for this round (multiple lead changes) the Western Force through Dr Tom Robertson crossed the line in the 55th minute to level the scores 31 all. Pressure kept building on both teams, and MP banged down two tries through Aumua and Taumoefolau, taking the Pasifika boys out to a 44-31 lead with less than 15 minutes left on the clock. This seemingly left the hearts and minds of the Western Force and its supporters broken.
But, the Forcies didn’t give up, with former Waratah Dylan Pietsch bolting down the sideline to cross the line dragging the Force back into the game with the score at 44-38. The clock kept ticking down and the pressure building, but come the hour, come the man, with Donaldson spying a gap and turning on the burners to weave his weave his way through and cross the line, and then put his team ahead with a nice conversion 45-44. The remaining minutes of the game which went deep into injury time say the MP desperately trying to regain the lead, but the Forcies held out, and a gripping game came to a close.
Super Rugby Pacific Ladder – Round One
Well what a round that was, and what we see on the leaderboard isn’t what any of the pundits had predicted. My tipping predictions before the round turned out to be crap, and I’m sure it was with many others. But do you know what? I don’t care. That was a fantastic round of rugby. I loved every minute. With ehe Reds having a bye I was a neutral for every game and just loved it.
Last year’s winners are on the bottom of the ladder. Every Australian team one. Suck on that Kiwis! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I can’t wait to see what round two brings. But Super Rugby is back and I’m having a ball.
Anyway enough of this old man jibbering crap. Over to you G&GRs! Have at it.
