Super Rugby 2025

Grooter

@Canes4life funnily enough Josh Taula was away from the Canes for a few weeks in Japan with the NZ University team, not even sure if the Canes social media ever mentioned that

Canes4life

@Grooter said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Canes4life funnily enough Josh Taula was away from the Canes for a few weeks in Japan with the NZ University team, not even sure if the Canes social media ever mentioned that

Better for him to be playing I guess.

pakman

There are probably at least ten permutuions for the semis.

For example, Blues, Reds and Canes win. Crusaders and Brumbies out. Does that then make Canes top seeds for semi's? If so, they play Blues and Reds go to Hamilton.

And where would the final be?

Not much written about such unlikely scenarios?

Yeetyaah

@pakman yep discussed it above, Canes go top, Chiefs second.

ARHS

@Bovidae said in Super Rugby 2025:

With the round robin now over, it would be interesting to see how many players from each team never took the field. I am not talking about those with long-term injuries, but the squad players who have spent the season training but never playing.

For the Chiefs, the only players who have never played a minute are Fiti Sa and Liam Coombes-Fabling, both returning from off-season surgery. All other players had some time on the field (not many for Trask).

Ake Darry Grindlay Spencer Paul for Blues
Cashmore Poliko Taula Allen for Canes
Brewis Gardiner for Sanders
Michaels Sanders and poss Wingham for Landers
Papuni and Fomai for MP
Sa and Coombes fabling for Chiefs.
Hard to fathom the Blues and Canes treatment of some young players.

Canes4life

For anyone still confused on the finals format for this year's competition, below are all the possible playoff scenarios from the quarter finals this week.

Scenario 1
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Hurricanes (4), Crusaders (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 2
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Brumbies (4), Crusaders (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 3
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Brumbies (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 4
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Hurricanes (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 5
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 6
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 7
Winners: Blues, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Brumbies (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Scenario 8
Winners: Blues, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Hurricanes (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Duluth

@ARHS said in Super Rugby 2025:

Ake Darry Grindlay Spencer Paul for Blues

Darry & Paul injured obviously

Ake was injured early on and was expected to be named after the bye midway through the season. He tweaked his shoulder injury that week. We never had another update on him.. I assume the shoulder didn't fully recover?

Not sure if they intended to play Spencer this year given all the fullbacks in the squad

They don't seem to rate Grindlay. Another young midfielder, Taele, got plenty of game time

Bovidae

@ARHS Some of those players have been out with long-term injuries, so not available for selection. But there are definitely some who are fit but haven't been used at all.

taniwharugby

@Duluth Spencer seems to be spending most of his days playing golf with his dad.

ARHS

@Bovidae said in Super Rugby 2025:

@ARHS Some of those players have been out with long-term injuries, so not available for selection. But there are definitely some who are fit but haven't been used at all.

.....yes several from Canes and Blues. The rest are long term injuries as cause.

African Monkey

@Duluth said in Super Rugby 2025:

@ARHS said in Super Rugby 2025:

Ake Darry Grindlay Spencer Paul for Blues

Darry & Paul injured obviously

Ake was injured early on and was expected to be named after the bye midway through the season. He tweaked his shoulder injury that week. We never had another update on him.. I assume the shoulder didn't fully recover?

Not sure if they intended to play Spencer this year given all the fullbacks in the squad

They don't seem to rate Grindlay. Another young midfielder, Taele, got plenty of game time

Yeah they obviously see Taele as the man going forward with AJ Lam as Rieko won't be around next season, and Corey Evans can play backup.

Was hoping to see more of Grindlay over the last 2 seasons, but yeah, obviously there's something the Blues coaches don't like about him, similar to Corey Evans under Leon MacDonald.

Trig

@ARHS I thought I could remember both Papuni and Wingham being named on their respective teams benches this season, is this the case that they were named and just didn't get on

Trig

@Trig I've just double checked, there was a game where Tauelangi was a late call up for Moana Pasifika which I had wrongly remembered as being Papuni called up for. And for Wingham he was named on the bench for the Highlanders against Moana but was not used

nostrildamus

@DurryMexted said in Super Rugby 2025:

Was he the one that made that rapid break away try against the ABs that was then disallowed? I remember thinking he looked very athletic for a lock

Yes on YouTube (plus another good one against Canada)
Search 'Warner Dearns disallowed try JAPAN v NZ rugby'

MiketheSnow

@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2025:

For anyone still confused on the finals format for this year's competition, below are all the possible playoff scenarios from the quarter finals this week.

Scenario 1
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Hurricanes (4), Crusaders (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 2
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Brumbies (4), Crusaders (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 3
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Brumbies (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 4
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Hurricanes (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 5
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 6
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 7
Winners: Blues, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Brumbies (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Scenario 8
Winners: Blues, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Hurricanes (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Thanks for taking the time to do this

But with 8 possible scenarios it just emphasises how fucking retarded the whole thing is

English Premiership
Top 4 teams involved
2 Semis
1 Final

It's not fucking rocket science

Nepia

@MiketheSnow said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2025:

For anyone still confused on the finals format for this year's competition, below are all the possible playoff scenarios from the quarter finals this week.

Scenario 1
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Hurricanes (4), Crusaders (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 2
Winners: Chiefs, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Brumbies (4), Crusaders (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 3
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Brumbies (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 4
Winners: Chiefs, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Chiefs (1) v Reds (4), Hurricanes (2) v Crusaders (3)

Scenario 5
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Brumbies
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Brumbies (3)

Scenario 6
Winners: Blues, Crusaders and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Crusaders (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Hurricanes (3)

Scenario 7
Winners: Blues, Reds and Brumbies
Semifinals: Brumbies (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Scenario 8
Winners: Blues, Reds and Hurricanes
Semifinals: Hurricanes (1) v Blues (4), Chiefs (2) v Reds (3)

Thanks for taking the time to do this

But with 8 possible scenarios it just emphasises how fucking retarded the whole thing is

English Premiership
Top 4 teams involved
2 Semis
1 Final

It's not fucking rocket science

We measure everything against the NRL and they have system where top teams get extra chances so we have to do the same, just shitter.

Tim

If theyr'e going to have a "lucky loser" then that team should drop to the bottom spot.

Bovidae

@MiketheSnow said in Super Rugby 2025:

But with 8 possible scenarios it just emphasises how fucking retarded the whole thing is

It's all about maximising the games played to please the broadcasters. Common sense never applies.

DaGrubster

@Canes4life said in Super Rugby 2025:

@Yeetyaah said in Super Rugby 2025:

Only super team he follows on insta

I’d take him over Tucker any day then.

It would be nice for the Canes to have a lock over 6ft

Mr Fish

@Tim said in Super Rugby 2025:

If theyr'e going to have a "lucky loser" then that team should drop to the bottom spot.

Couple of things to consider here.

1/ That effectively means whether you're seeded first, second, third or fourth, the 'lucky loser' reward is the same if you're the only loser in that contingent.

2/ Probably more importantly - and I'm sure they consulted with the teams on this - it can unfairly punish higher-ranked sides who don't lose. If the Chiefs were to lose against the Blues this weekend then suddenly the Crusaders would end up playing the minor premiers in their next match, which probably isn't an ideal outcome for them.

That's not to say this isn't a silly system at all, just that there are a lot of factors that have to be weighed up when introducting the whole lucky loser concept. There's really no good system with a six-team final.

The Silver Fern

Super Rugby 2025