Phil Gifford: Six talking points from Super Rugby Pacific

The Drua will play all of their home matches in Fiji next season. Photo / Getty

OPINION:

Phil Gifford presents his six talking points from the last round of Super Rugby Pacific, one that sees five New Zealand teams into the quarter-finals.

The best news from the week

Although the Fijian Drua lost 35-34 to the Chiefs in Lautoka, their magnificent fightback, and Moana Pasifika stunning the Brumbies 32-22 at Mt Smart Stadium, meant the last round belonged to the new teams from the Pacific.

Better still was the announcement during the week that the Drua will play all their home games next year in Fiji. In front of sellout home crowds the Drua are a different side, as the Chiefs discovered, gasping in 30C temperatures and 90 per cent humidity at Churchill Park.

In the last minute the Chiefs found themselves staring at the back of a massive prop, Timoci Sauvoli, as he sprinted away from them to score under the posts, just too late to save the game for the Drua.

Add the Chiefs game to the thriller in Suva in April when the Highlanders squeaked past the Drua, and it's clear every game in Fiji next year should be appointment viewing.

Emotional overdrive

Since Super Rugby began in 1996, no side has had to climb mountains the way Moana Pasifika have had to.

So bravo for the fact that after the potential body blow of their captain Sekope Kepu being red carded for a high shot in just the 11th minute against the Brumbies, Moana had the grit to hang on, and make the Brumbies look increasingly off the pace.

Let's hear it too for Moana's giant centre, Levi Aumua, who at 27, after a career that's darted from his birthplace of Auckland, to Bordeaux to Brisbane to Tokyo to Nelson, has found his happy place with Moana. At 118kg, with rugby smarts and a dynamic turn of pace, he's a massive threat to any defensive line.

Luke Romano was battered but not beaten. Photo / Getty

The kids are alright

The baby Blues, led by a grizzled, fierce taskmaster in Luke Romano, showed in Sydney that there's still a talent gap between Australian and New Zealand rugby by battling to a 20-17 win with an 80th-minute Zarn Sullivan drop goal.

It was a dream end to the round robin games for the Blues, who will now face the Highlanders on Saturday in what should be the Blues' first step on the way to a final at Eden Park.

The real show's on Friday

Exciting rugby was rare in the Crusaders 28-15 victory over the Reds.

But bet the farm on the Crusaders winning next week's quarter-final in the same place, same time, again against the Reds. What was nerve-wracking for Crusader fans, 15,500 of whom turned up for Friday night's game, was seeing Pablo Matera yellow-carded for upending Reds' centre, Jordan Petaia.

At a time when officials are really clamping down on tip tackles, it'll be a relief to Matera and the Crusaders that no further action is going to be taken.

Jeremy Thrush of the Force hauls in a lineout throw. Photo / Getty

Kissing a sister

Steve Hansen was talking about a drawn game when he once said "it was like kissing your sister" but the Western Force's 27-22 victory over the Hurricanes in Perth provided much the same level of excitement.

Nevertheless, for the Canes there's the realistic possibility of going to Canberra on Saturday night and turning over a Brumbies team who have hit a form slump at the worst time.

In the end the edge for the Force may have come down to the fact they needed to win to have an outside chance of making the playoffs. Down in Melbourne, where the Rebels had to beat the Highlanders by eight points or more for the Force to go through, the dream was almost a reality. But not quite.

Sneaking in

The Highlanders had flashes of brilliance from super-sub Folau Fakatava and dynamic No 8 Marino Mikaele-Tu'u in their 31-30 loss to the Rebels. But there were grim signs as they head to Eden Park to play the Blues.

The Rebels won by capitalising on defensive lapses from the Highlanders. If the Landers make the same errors against the Blues, that game could be grim viewing for southern fans.