The five performers of the week from Super Rugby Pacific round fifteen

The penultimate round of the Super Rugby Pacific regular season settled the playoff picture, with the exact finishing order yet to be determined.

The Hurricanes’ 11th consecutive win over the Highlanders, 45-28 in Wellington, secured the top round robin spot for the second time in the Clark Laidlaw era with a round to spare.

The Crusaders snapped the Chiefs’ seven-match winning run with a 36-32 victory in Christchurch. They could pass the third-placed Blues with a home win against the Hurricanes on Friday night and a Chiefs rebound in Hamilton on Saturday.

The Brumbies’ dogged defence denied the New South Wales Waratahs 21-14 in Sydney. It was the 150th match for Brumbies prop Allan Alaalatoa, who scored a try. Meanwhile, the Reds required a last-play try to defeat Moana Pasifika 33-31 at Albany.

The Force’s 19-15 win over the Fijian Drua in Perth had no bearing on the playoff picture.

Who were the performers of the week in Round 15 of Super Rugby Pacific?

David Havili (Crusaders)

A hoodoo called Havili sunk the Chiefs in Christchurch again. Behind 32-29 in the 73rd minute, the Crusaders captain booted a 50/22 (actually a 22 to 22) to gain vital territory for the hosts. Rookie replacement Manumaua Letiu botched the lineout throw, then Josh Jacomb inexplicably fumbled.

With starting hooker Codie Taylor on the side of the scrum, Letiu was more secure in the middle of the front row; even making a couple of vigorous carries as the Chiefs were sent backpedalling and eventually wilted when attempts to grapple Leicester Fainga’anuku (try, 18 carries, 17 tackles) proved fruitless. His one-arm offload to Havili created the winning try, though Havili would have another winning moment.

After the fulltime siren sounded, Chiefs fullback Isaac Hutchinson busted for the second time in the same attacking sequence but was sliced down near the sideline by the 30-Test All Black on the Crusaders’ 22.

The Chiefs’ menacing last salvo crumbled at the next ruck when Kyle Preston and Dallas McLeod combined for a turnover. The Chiefs cleaners were thrown off course by Hutchinson’s necessary speculator.

Havili made 13 tackles, nicked a turnover, and made a first-half line-break in his 13th victory against the Chiefs and 113th in 152 games for the Crusaders. He’s also beaten Waikato in six of seven outings for Tasman in the NPC.

The Chiefs led for 65 minutes yet left the Garden City with a thistle again. Was the penalty chipped over from five meters out to make it 32-24 in the 66th minute the wrong call? The Chiefs were faultless in the lineouts, having earlier earned a scrum penalty.

Hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho, with 18 carries and eight tackles, was immense. Josh Lord scored a try, made 14 tackles, and reigned supreme in the lineouts with seven catches, three more than Jamie Hannah, who had 19 tackles too. Hannah ranks in the top ten of the competition for tackles and lineout catches. His case for All Blacks selection is growing rapidly.

Sevu “Oh” Reece “Lightning” caught the visitors napping more than once. His juggle and offload leading up to Johnny McNicholl’s try was a work of trickery to rival “The Flying Karamazov Brothers.”

It was a huge night for both Wallace Sititi and Christian Lio-Willie, topping the tackles and carries count for their sides. Each covers all three positions in the back row, something Fainga’anuku looks like he could do too. Chiefs captain Luke Jacobson can as well, but where was he? It wasn’t bad from the 24-Test All Black, but he was overshadowed in the cut-throat loose forward logjam.

Lachlan Shaw (Brumbies)

The Brumbies made it nine wins in their last ten games against the Warathas in Sydney despite making 93 more tackles and conceding nearly double the penalties as the hosts.

Trademark Canberra grit has seen the Brumbies through to the playoffs, but where has the team that demolished the Crusaders 50-24 in Christchurch in Round 2 disappeared?

At least 200cm tall, 112kg, 23-year-old lock Lachie Shaw is an increasingly consistent and productive pillar. He’s played every minute in the last seven matches, and against the Waratahs was the bedrock of a stubborn defensive rearguard.

Shaw topped the tackle count with 20 and had more turnovers than any player on the paddock. The Brumbies’ lineout wasn’t always reliable, but with six catches, Shaw was money. The Brumbies’ more prolific lineout catcher ranks in the top five of the competition for lineouts won. Additionally, after Sam Darry (Blues) and Rory Scott (Brumbies), he ranks third for arriving first to attacking rucks.

Originally from Brisbane, Shaw debuted for the Brumbies in 2024, the same year he spent a season with Manawatu in the NPC honing his craft. With Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Rory Scott, Jeremy Williams, Josh Canham, Darcy Swain, and even Charlie Cale when he returns, the Wallabies aren’t short of options at lock.

However, in contrast to the vibrance, skill and intensity of the Chiefs-Crusaders game, this and other recent marquee Australian “derbies” have been dire spectacles. Australia haven’t beaten the All Blacks in 11 Tests, and judging by Super Rugby form alone, New Zealand doesn’t have a lot to worry about.

Jock Campbell (Queensland Reds)

Nobody in Super Rugby Pacific has gained more metres with the ball in hand than the Reds fullback. When he ran in his third try of the season in the 78th minute against Moana Pasifika, he secured the Reds a playoff spot for the 11th time and a fifth consecutive year.

With 16 carries in this match, Campbell gained 208 meters. He combined well with Tim Ryan, helping the winger score the first of his two tries. Later, he set up opposite winger Treyvon Pritchard with a perfect skip pass.

Campbell ranks in the top ten of the competition for clean breaks and defenders beaten. He will surely play his first Wallabies Test since a 39-34 win against Wales in Cardiff on November 26, 2022 – Dave Rennie’s last match in charge of the Wallabies.

Israel Leota’s try for Moana Pasifika is reason enough to snap up this 21-year-old winger when Moana presumably ceases to exist.

Brayden Iose (Hurricanes)

Following the Crusaders’ victory over the Chiefs and the Reds’ win against Moana Pasifika, the shackles were off in this game, with the Highlanders’ playoff prospects dashed and the Hurricanes only needing two points from their next two games to finish top.

Fast and loose was how it unfolded. There are few better in that environment than Brayden Iose. With 17 carries, he charged for 107 metres, the leading forward in the game and just behind fullback Josh Moorby in his 50th match overall. Included in those numbers were six beaten defenders, three line-breaks, and a 52nd-minute try galloping on the wing.

In full flight, Iose with searing speed and wonderful hands is a sight to behold. If Devan Flanders’ injury proves serious, Iose, who also made six tackles without a miss, will fill the void just as effectively, though he isn’t as adept in the lineouts.

Halfback Ere Enari has eased some concerns about Cam Roigard’s injury with two sound displays. He scored tries against both the Blues and the Highlanders, with his option-taking and distribution also sharp.

First-five Ruben Love was feeling so frisky, he scored his first try of the season with moves that would endear him to Courtenay Place, while he also poked his tongue out at the Highlanders defence when he breached them in the second half, only to get slapped in the face and earn a hilarious rebuke from referee Angus Gardner after he dropped an F-Bomb in “Kids Round.”

The Highlanders season is done and dusted. They won two more games than in 2025, but the Crusaders in the first round were the only top-four side they conquered. The most stinging defeat came on April 10, a 14-10 loss to the Brumbies in Dunedin, when a late TMO interference turned a potential victory into an agonising loss.

Noteworthy individual campaigns came from props Ethan De Groot and Angus Ta’avao, workhorse captain TK Howden, “Kerikeri Kid” Lucas Casey, and genuine All Blacks prospects Timoci Tavatavanawai, Caleb Tangitau, and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens.

However, the Highlanders’ limitations were too great to be genuine contenders. They kicked the ball incessantly and often wastefully, which worked against their greatest strength, a potent back three. While an excellent goal-kicker, first five-eighth Cam Millar lacks the fast, skilled, inventive running game to maximise that asset.

Most tellingly, the Highlanders sorely missed World Rugby’s Most Promising Player of the Year Faiban Holland. They had no luck with other lock injuries, and their lineout was at times comically bad. Remember, breakthrough halfback Adam Lennox throwing?

Brandon Paenga-Amosa (Western Force) 

The Force made 119 more tackles, resisting the Fijian Drua in an arduous struggle. Nick Champion de Crespigny (28), Vaiolini Ekuasi (26) and Carlo Tizzano (19) had monstrous counts. Hooker Paenga-Amosa was one of nine Force players with more than ten tackles.

More crucially, he won a tight head scrum in the second half that set up Ekuasi for a try that put the visitors in front. Once again, the Force lineout was sensational, operating at an efficiency nearly 30 per cent greater than the Drua. While playing for Southern Districts, Paenga-Amosa worked as a garbage collector in Sydney alongside future Wallabies hooker Folau Fainga’a.

Drua openside Kitione Salawa has played 14 of a possible 15 matches and fashioned a reputation as one of the most damaging ball carriers in the competition.