Super Rugby Pacific's greatest season stained by one playoff game

Super Rugby Pacific has had a resurgent 2025 season with one of the greatest rugby seasons seen, perhaps the greatest regular season ever.

Reduced to 11 teams after losing the Rebels, the regular season had unpredictable close contests and unmatched league parity, throwing up upsets and thrillers in every round.

However, the apparent playoff structure with six teams has stained the season somewhat.

The number one seed Chiefs were upset by the sixth-placed Blues 20-19 in Hamilton in a result that has thrown the spotlight on the questionable structure of the playoffs.

Many believe the Chiefs, who required a lifeline via the ‘lucky loser’ qualification to make it into the semi-finals, should forfeit their home-field advantage for the rest of the playoffs. That is a fair argument.

But their punishment for losing in the first round was to drop only one place in the standings, to second on the ladder, meaning they retain home-field advantage over the third-placed Brumbies this weekend.

Another consequence is that the Crusaders are now considered the number one seed, with the road to the title now going through Christchurch.

Whether the Chiefs should retain any form of home-field advantage is a valid point, however also misses the bigger picture. In the realm of high-performance sport, the concept of a lucky loser is like pineapple on a pizza. It just shouldn’t be there.

The bar needed to be raised from last year, however, it hasn’t been done in the right way. In no circumstances should a losing team advance in the playoffs.

The previous Mickey Mouse playoff system invited eight teams out of a 12-team league into the knockout stages. This made the entire regular season redundant, resulting in a sleepwalk towards the pointy end of the season and gave a bunch of poor, undeserving teams a chance.

If the playoffs are to be elite performance sport with high stakes and high drama, integrity must be maintained. Letting a loser through to the next round compromises that.

The best possible playoff format for Super Rugby Pacific is a four-team playoff, with semi-finals straight into a final. This was the old format, which produced the magic back in the 1990s and 2000s. Knockout rugby was earned, not given, to only those deserving.

In 2025, the Blues don’t deserve to be here at the semi-final stage. Not after a 6-8 losing season. They should never have been given a shot at the Chiefs in the first place.

If Super Rugby Pacific wants to go down the road of a six-team playoff, the first two teams past the post could have been given a bye week, as is the case in the NFL.

Seeds 3-6 could then play off for a spot in the semi-finals, with the top two having already qualified with a week to rest up and play fresher.

The 6-8 Blues winning the title would be an embarrassment for Super Rugby Pacific. A team that won less than 50 per cent of their games would lift the trophy.

If the Chiefs win, it will always come with a disclaimer: the lucky losers gifted a lifeline.

It has been a great season for Super Rugby Pacific, but the playoff format is still broken and needs fixing for next year.

Raise the bar once again so that teams with losing records and teams that lose in the playoffs don’t get a chance at the title; it only diminishes and devalues the competition.