Ardie Savea celebrates during Moana Pasifika's win. Photo / Photosport
Ardie Savea celebrates during Moana Pasifika's win. Photo / Photosport
It might have taken more than three years to achieve, but the significance of Super Rugby Pacific’s newest sides both winning on the same night cannot be understated, amid a rising trend.
In a competition that has been dominated by New Zealand since its inception nearly30 years ago, Kiwi fans have long wanted a Super Rugby format in which their sides were tested.
Of the 29 years Super Rugby has been played – across multiple formats – just seven have seen a side based outside Aotearoa claim the title.
And while innovations and structures weren’t designed to limit the success of the five New Zealand teams, including a conference system intended to ensure Australian and South African finals representation, nothing has stopped the five Kiwi teams playing in the right place at the right time of the season.
This weekend, though, in Super Rugby Pacific’s first year as an 11-team competition, the long-awaited shift looks to finally be happening.
And unless the Crusaders can overcome the Reds on Sunday afternoon, the Highlanders will be the only Kiwi side to have avoided defeat this round – albeit from the safety of a bye.
Only the Chiefs and Highlanders will finish the round in a top-six finals spot, with the Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders all languishing towards the bottom of the ladder.
“It does feel like there’s been a shift,” he conceded. “Long may it continue.”
“The last thing we want as a competition is runaway teams. As hard as it is for us tonight, Moana winning and the Drua winning today is what the competition needs and wants.
“It’s frustrating for us tonight, but fair play to Moana.”
The rise of the rest of the competition shouldn’t come as a surprise. As Super Rugby’s newest sides, both the Drua and Moana Pasifika have added an element of flair and unpredictability, even if it has taken time to consistently produce results.
The Drua have turned their home games into must-watch affairs, and boast arguably the best crowds of the competition – helped by the fact Lautoka and Suva have effectively also become fortresses.
While Savea’s arrival has predictably coincided with an upturn in performances, it’s fitting that their first win of the season came with their best player absent for the second half with a hamstring complaint.
Make no mistake, neither the Drua nor Moana are the finished product.
But as New Zealand continues to come to terms with the fact rugby might actually have taken a hit as its premier code, the presence of both the Drua and Moana – representing people and cultures who have long deserved more than they’re given from the game – cannot be overlooked.
Miracle Fai'ilagi scores a try. Photo / Photosport
“It’s great when you have Super Rugby Pacific, and the Pacific teams are winning,” said Moana coach Tana Umaga. “It makes you feel good for all our people out there.”
“We just don’t want to be [winning] now and then, we want to be consistent all the time. There’s work for us to do.
“We won’t get ahead of ourselves, we can’t. That’s only our first win. There’s plenty more for us to do.”
Across the ditch, the demise of the Melbourne Rebels – while sad for rugby in the city and the state of Victoria – has significantly boosted the other four Australian sides.
The Waratahs have already won more games in 2025 than they did in all of 2024. One of those victories came against the Highlanders, too.
The Brumbies, who have long been Super Rugby’s best of the rest outside the Kiwi sides, have lost in the last four in every year of the competition’s current format.
On Friday, though, Stephen Larkham’s side travelled to Eden Park and defeated the champions for just their third win in Auckland in the last 24 years.
Even then, the Brumbies boast a 2-2 record, and their coach knows what his side will have to face in their own backyard.
“There’s a whole season ahead of us,” said Larkham. “We’ve got some challenging games coming up.
“We’ve got the Drua, and then we’re into the Waratahs, who’ve been playing exceptionally this year.
“All the Australian teams are starting to play better this year. There’s more depth in the teams in Australia. So there’s some challenges for us coming up.”
While Kiwi teams have so far struggled in 2025, it will take a generational shift before the five New Zealand sides do not enter each season as favourites.
You’d still be hard-pressed to find any fan of Super Rugby who’d confidently say one of the five New Zealand sides won’t lift the trophy in June.
But, as had been wanted for so long, having teams from Australia and the Pacific able to challenge New Zealand teams is genuinely what the competition has realistically demanded since the exodus of the South African sides after Covid-19.
Now, the onus is on Super Rugby’s traditional heavyweights to rise to the level and the challenge that has presented itself.
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Alex Powell is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
