Super Rugby Pacific's rebirth can finally restore the missing All Blacks edge

It’s been a could have, should have, would have, kind of start to Super Rugby Pacific for some of the traditional heavyweights in New Zealand.

In round five, the first of the two Kiwi derbies, a low-scoring encounter between the Highlanders and Hurricanes, was decided by just two points. The second, a 2024 final rematch between the Blues and Chiefs, was decided by just one point.

The Blues’ loss was the second consecutive one-point defeat for the reigning champions. 13 of the 25 games so far across the competition have been decided by less than seven points, making them a one-score game.

With victory and defeat within reach for all teams, skillsets are put under the microscope. Rugby has a long history of punishing teams who play beyond their limits, and in the pressure cooker, reality can be a humbling experience.

Recently, in an enlightening episode of The Good, The Bad and The Rugby ANZ, Will Jordan stopped by to chat with the lads.

One of the questions posed to the All Blacks superstar, along with new Crusaders teammate James O’Connor, was what separates international rugby from club rugby, even in the big leagues.

Both players agreed on the answer.

“The game’s just magnified, it’s such small margins and a little error here where maybe you push a pass in Super Rugby, you don’t get punished for. Whereas if you’re playing the Springboks at Ellis Park, you try and run it from your 22, you get caught, all of a sudden you get penalised, they’re into the corner with a five-metre maul and we have to stop their forward pack.

“It’s just smaller margins and any mistake or decisions are just closely looked at and hugely consequential. That’s what I’ve found, you’ve just got to be nailing each moment. The game’s 80 moments, small moments just stacking up, stacking positives together is what gets you there. 

“You can’t afford to take plays off or rest."

The step up to the international arena from club rugby is always going to be significant, but how the domestic competitions prepare the players for the step up is what will have Scott Robertson licking his lips.

To Jordan’s point, round three of the 2024 Rugby Championship saw the All Blacks in Johannesburg, squaring off with the world champion Springboks for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.

The Kiwis were up 10 points with 20 minutes remaining, they remained ambitious and turned down three points for a chance to go to the corner. The lineout move didn’t work out and the second breakdown of the move saw the ball carrier left unprotected. South Africa stole possession. After the Springbok clearance, the Kiwis had another lineout near halfway but again had possession stripped by the hosts.

Aphelele Fassi made a linebreak, and while his grubber couldn’t be collected by Chelsin Kolbe, it did lead to another All Blacks lineout five metres out from their own line. Inaccuracy, while under immense pressure in the winning moments, had pushed the New Zealanders 90 metres in the wrong direction. Then, their clearance was charged. Moments later, the Springboks scored.

As the world’s No. 1 team kicked into high gear and executed flawlessly, New Zealand’s accuracy dropped off.

After losing that game, and the next in a similar fashion, a major criticism emerged over the All Blacks’ inability to perform late in games. While those concerns were largely eased by the end of The Rugby Championship and certainly done with by the time the Kiwis claimed victories over England and Ireland, the issue showed the team were starting behind the eight ball while their opponents were hitting the ground running.

The All Blacks reinvented themselves mentally after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, going from a team that struggled to perform under the brightest lights in the rugby world to a team synonymous with mental resilience. When the winning moments came around, regardless of how the game had been going up until that point, the Kiwis had the goods.

Now, in the eternal cycle of sports, the All Blacks are neither here nor there. Enter, Super Rugby Pacific. 

With results hanging in the balance and Australian opposition at their strongest in a decade, New Zealand’s teams find themselves in winning moments more and more. 

Late-game execution is deciding games more often than not, and while the lights aren’t as bright as the international stage, practice makes perfect.

Even more promising yet is the fact that it was someone like Xavi Taele, one of the most highly touted prospects to come from the 2024 New Zealand U20 campaign, who was taking the game-defining kick for the Blues against the Chiefs. The conversion was from the sideline and hit the post, but it was an invaluable experience for a 20-year-old in his first Super Rugby Pacific game. 

For the Highlanders, Sam Gilbert had two chances to get his side in front, including an extra-time drop goal, but couldn’t convert. 

Youngsters like Taele and Gilbert need to feel the weight of those situations to grow into players who can thrive in them, and with the competitive nature of Super Rugby Pacific 2025, players from across New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga are all learning what it is like to perform under pressure.

You can be a great team, but a true winning mentality is something that exists beyond strategy and talent. It’s a quality that is rarely nurtured in the transformational way needed for players to recognise the moment and step up to the plate.

Razor developed that quality within the Crusaders and clearly trusts those players in particular to bring it to the next level.

If this is the new Super Rugby standard, a generation of stress-tested athletes will be filtering into the All Blacks environment, and fans will be hoping they can restore the winning edge that's been missing.