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Super Rugby Pacific performers of the week for round 3
By Adam Julian
The third round of Super Rugby Pacific featured the defending champion Crusaders bouncing back from their Brumbies humiliation with a stunning 43-33 win over the Chiefs in Hamilton.
It was easily the best spectacle of the season. The Brumbies toppled the Blues by a whisker, 30-27, with Charlie Cale scoring a try in the 81st minute. It was his fifth try in three games.
Though the two-Test Wallaby topped the Brumbies tackle count with 16, he complained he “lets his teammates down” because he made “too many mistakes.”
The Fijian Dura and Queensland Reds are on the board after home wins against the Highlanders 31-14 and the Hurricanes 25-20.
The Force won their first match in eight outings, stifling Moana Pasifika 35-19 in Pukekohe. It is just their second win in their last 25 games in New Zealand.
Who were the performers of the week in the third round of Super Rugby Pacific?
Ben Donaldson (Force)
The Force ran out without their Wallaby playmaker after his mouthguard went off for an HIA late in the warm-up. Even Captain Jeremy Williams had no idea what was happening when Max Burey suddenly had the ball ready to kick off.
Fortunately for the visitors, Donaldson came on after two minutes and three minutes later set up Darby Lancaster with a kick that bounced perfectly for the 2024 Wallaby, who won an SVNS league title with the Australian Sevens in 2021/22.
Kick was the operative word in Donaldson’s display. A dozen, mostly well-placed, distance seekers or contestables helped keep a bumbling Pasikifa caged in its own territory. Donaldson was also on target with all five conversions.
It was a good night for the Force lineout, winning 16 of 17 throws, stealing a quarter of the hosts’ lineout possession, and scoring two rolling maul tries.
Wallabies openside flanker Carlo Tizzano, the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific leading try scorer, added a third try in three matches. Lock Darcy Swain also had a productive night, taking a game-high seven lineouts and making more tackles than any Force forward with 13.
The scrummaging was such a shambles that referee Paul Williams bluntly complained both packs were not up to Super Rugby standards.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (Reds)
Speaking to Stan Sport afterwards, the colossal lock dedicated his performance to his “nanny who passed away today.” The 42-Test Wallaby poured emotion and all of his 1.98cm, 123kg frame into an explosive display.
His tackle on Highlanders prop Rohan Wingham disrupted the Richter Scale, and his try in the 56th minute doubled the Reds’ advantage from 19-14 to 24-14.
After a quick lineout that left the visitors’ defence stretched, Salakaia-Loto was unstoppable from close range, ploughing through two would-be tackles. Future Wallabies coach Les Kiss described Salakaia-Loto as “brilliant.”
The Reds are turning Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane into a fortress, winning eight of their last 10 matches, including six in a row. Captain Fraser McReight was typically disruptive, topping the tackle (17) and turnover (3) counts as well as scoring a try.
The Highlanders have won only once in their last 14 matches in Australia, and have won four of 11 matches with Nic Berry as the referee. The Highlanders had a possible TK Howden try disallowed. Was their offside play in the lead-up to McReight’s try?
Regardless, the Highlanders lacked accuracy and, towards the end, ambition. Why would you kick the ball twice in the 75th minute inside the opposition’s 22 without a chase when you are down by 17 points?
Captain Timoci Tavatavanawai tried in vain to spark a second-half revival. Hooker Jack Taylor was lively. His break created the Highlanders’ first try for halfback Nathan Hasite, who otherwise suffered “Box Kick-itits.”
Taylor also pilfered a turnover, kicked a 50/22, made six tackles, delivered a game-high three offloads, and helped the lineout win 13 of their 14 throws.
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Tuidraki Samusamuvodre (Fijian Dura)
In sweltering Lautoka slop, the Dura became manic renaissance men to overcome a halftime deficit and topple the Hurricanes.
Halfbacks became wingers, props distributed like centres, and the Fijian Sevens, similarly versatile, cheered wildly from the stands.
The Hurricanes’ mantra is expect the unexpected. So it was a surprise, the visitors resembled startled ferrets when proceedings became careless, even joyously loose; they had no idea.
The winning try was scored by blindside Etonia Waqaa on the wing after 35-year-old prop Peni Ravai delivered an offload in the grip of two defenders.
Before Waqaa’s winner, Tuidraki Samusamuvodre snatched an interception and galloped 30 metres for a converted try that tied the scores. Samusamuvodre has only scored two tries in 24 appearances for Dura. In round one, he crossed the stripe against Moana Pasifika.
The 28-year-old has covered first-five, wing and fullback during his career. On Saturday, he ran brutishly and beat more defenders than anyone from centre. He also tackled with the sturdiness of a flanker, making seven punishing shots and snaffling a textbook ruck turnover.
George Bell (Crusaders)
When the Crusaders fell behind 14-0 in six minutes, they had conceded 33 unanswered points in 14 minutes. This included the collapse in the last eight minutes against the Brumbies six days earlier in Christchurch.
The Crusaders needed a spark, and it arrived from George Bell. The energetic young hooker broke a weak tackle from fellow All Black Simon Parker and charged 15 metres to score a try under the posts in the 19th minute, sparking a stunning revival.
The Crusaders scored 43 of the next 50 points with Bell fervent. In the lead-up to another try, he contributed four carries, effective at both rumbling in tight and roaming on the flanks.
The lineout was not spotless, but, at 80 per cent accuracy, it improved from the previous fortnight. The Crusaders’ scrum was an important catalyst in the turnaround. Crusaders coach Rob Penny acknowledged:
“He’s highly regarded. We love him. You saw all his attributes today. He could have gone 80 minutes if he hadn’t gotten hurt.”
Christian Lio-Willie recorded his first first-class hat-trick, becoming the first Crusader to score three tries against the Chiefs, all from forceful pick-and-go plays. He also led the Crusaders in carries (16) and tackles (14).
Other Crusaders forwards to score three tries in a match are George Whitelock in 2013 against the Southern Kings (55-20) and Ross Filipo in 2007 against the Force (53-0), both in Christchurch.
In postcard conditions, there were only 42 kicks. Robotic, gormless “Box Kick-itis” was abandoned, and guess what, the rugby was fast, imaginative, skilful and captivating. The game can be this good when players express themselves.
In a buffet of attacking brilliance, 22-year-old first-five Taha Kemara dazzled. He has recovered from a serious ACL injury. It was unsurprising that dashing Will Jordan reigned supreme.
He had three line breaks, was involved in two tries, and ran down Leroy Carter in a length-of-the-field chase and tackle.
“It was my 28th birthday last week. You never know when that speed is going to come to an end. It’s good to know I’ve still got it,” the 54-Test All Black said.
The most points the Crusaders have scored against the Chiefs is 57 in 2019. In that game, Jordan and Codie Taylor scored two of the Crusaders’ nine tries in a 29-point thrashing.
Caleb Clarke (Blues)
Even though the Blues lost, the Brumbies were humble enough to admit they were lucky victors.
Part of their problem was their inability to contain Caleb Clarke. The All Blacks winger was potent, scoring two long-range tries running almost double the number of metres as the next best player in the match, Cole Forbes. Clarke looks leaner, swifter and more confident than he’s ever been. He’s also increasingly secure underneath the high ball.
In his 100th match for the Blues, skipper Dalton Papali’i did everything he could by scoring a try and making the most tackles, alongside lock Sam Darry, 19.
How did the Brumbies win? Stephen Prefoeta’s yellow card in the 70th minute when the Blues were ahead 27-18 was costly. Wallaby Luke Reimer won two huge turnovers from the bench. The largely rusty Brumbies were clinical when it counted.
Starting props James Slipper and Rhys Van Nek were excellent outmuscling the Blues in the scrum until both were replaced.
Van Nek carried and tackled aggressively, while Slipper executed an outrageous length-of-the-field kick that led to a Declan Meredith, a work of art commentator Justin Harrison suggested belonged in the Louvre. Slipper joked, “I haven’t kicked for about eight years, even in training.”
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