Five reasons why Super Rugby Pacific is enjoying it's best season in forever

After going through the pain of losing a team last season, Super Rugby Pacific has emerged stronger in 2025 with a renewed buzz around the competition.

It seems like the competition is heading in the right direction, with crowd numbers up, television viewership up, and cracking games of rugby each week.

Credit where credit is due, here are the reasons why Super Rugby Pacific has got itself off the canvas and is heading in the right direction.

A regular season that matters

We finally have high-stakes regular season fixtures with teams fighting for their seasons as the competition progresses.

After losing the Melbourne Rebels, the 11-team competition had to reduce playoff spots from eight to six.

The Mickey Mouse playoff system that made the entire regular season redundant is thankfully gone. We have real consequences now which provide a proper race, the way it should be. The old Super Rugby competitions of the past set the bar really high, with just four of 12 teams making the semi-finals.

That made for a great regular season with all the drama that comes with having teams being eliminated from contention along the way.

2025 has that with last year's defending champion Blues fighting for their season by round six in ninth place. If this was 2024, they'd still be coasting knowing they just have to move up one spot to get a ticket into the playoffs.

High-stakes regular season games give fans another reason to tune in, and ultimately bring the best out of the players and teams.

Competition parity

The unpredictability of this season has been fuelled by increased parity among the sides. The amount of high-scoring games that have been decided by a score or less has been incredible.

The Chiefs' 32-31 win over the Blues last weekend was decided by razor-thin margins and that's just one of many games that have become thrillers.

Did losing the Rebels help the Australian sides? It's hard to say that is definitively the case. The Reds and Brumbies picked up the least amount of Rebels players and are the top two Australian sides.

The absence of the Rebels also has nothing to do with the New Zealand sides and their levels of parity. There are random occurrences that have helped with this. The Hurricanes, who went 12-2 last season, just so happen to have been decimated with injuries, impacting their strength.

The Highlanders recruited well and have discovered some breakout stars in Finn Hurley, who helped them knock over the Blues with two tries.

Competition parity this year just seems to be part luck, but we'll take it.

Pacific Power

Although the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika are sitting last and second to last respectively, it doesn't feel like they deserve that.

The Drua's first big defeat came last week against the Brumbies in Canberra but before that, they lost 36-32 to the Brumbies in Fiji, they also lost 38-34 to the Hurricanes in Napier, and 29-24 to the Waratahs.  The Drua have been mixing it with anyone and could well be 4-1, not 1-4.

Their one win has come against the competition-leading Chiefs, which is the only loss the Hamilton-based franchise has suffered.

They are not punching bags at the bottom of the ladder getting flogged.

The same goes for Moana Pasifika, who lost 45-44 to the Western Force and 31-29 to the Highlanders. They could easily be at the other end of the table.

Moana Pasifika signing Ardie Savea has been hugely impactful. Never before have Moana attracted the crowds that they are getting this year.

Savea has helped create some momentum for Moana and they are no doubt competitive with any side in the competition. They get a chance to do something great this weekend when they host the table-topping Chiefs.

Empowering on-field refs

Super Rugby Pacific has done the right thing and got rid of most TMO interventions that have plagued the game over the last few years and impacted one World Cup final.

TMOs have to stay in their lane now which stops all the random interjections and stoppages that killed momentum and game flow. This has been a masterstroke move.

Unprompted TMO involvement is limited to just two situations, otherwise, it has to be referee-driven which is the way it should be, letting the official with the whistle drive the game.

We are seeing better games as a result, plain and simple. Send the asterisk to South Africa.

No South African teams, no problem

This year has proven that the South African exodus was not the main issue with Super Rugby Pacific.

After getting everything else fixed, the competition is currently better than when the four South African clubs were involved.

Yes, that's right, it may not have the same audience size as before, but this season is far better than anything from 2012 onward.

We easily forget the convoluted conference system that propped up both South African and Australian sides who didn't deserve home playoff rights.

The 2010s saw the South African teams pumped by New Zealand teams all the time. They were uncompetitive and the results showed that.

Could Super Rugby be better with the Saffa teams in it? They have found success in the URC and add a lot to that competition, but if they were to ever come back, there can't be any charity.

If you want back in, put your hands up for some real competition, don't ask for handouts. No conference systems.