Super Rugby Pacific: Should a Chiefs title carry a big, fat asterisk?

Thursday, 19 June 2025

Judging by the way some Chiefs fans took the idea of cowbells being barred from the Super Rugby final, the following question is sure to go down like a bucket of cold sick.

If the Chiefs beat the Crusaders and are crowned Super Rugby Pacific champions, should the title be accompanied with a big, fat asterisk?

Somewhere those cowbell-loving fans who sent Crusaders boss Colin Mansbridge threats this week are losing their marbles.

However, the Chiefs would be the first champions in competition history to have lost a playoff match - this month’s qualifying final against the sixth-seeded Blues in Hamilton.

Until this year, that would have sent the Chiefs packing, their lengthy title drought extended, head coach Clayton McMillan’s tenure buried without a title.

But not in 2025. McMillan’s team survived courtesy of being the first Lucky Loser in Super Rugby history, a Get out of Jail card reserved for the highest seeded loser in the qualifying finals.

The Lucky Loser concept drew criticism from the moment it was announced last year, when the reduction to an 11-team competition prompted the number of playoff teams to shrink from eight to six.

There was a compelling argument that the top two seeds after the regular season should simply advance to the semifinals and get a week off, as was the case during the six-team playoff format featured in Super 15 between 2011-2015.

But money talks. Broadcasters need action.

So, forget a hard-earned week off and sudden-death playoff rugby. A loser was always going to feature in the semifinals.

Few expected the Chiefs, undoubtedly the best team during the regular season, to require it to keep their hopes of winning their first title since 2013 alive.

And the only repercussion for utilising it was dropping one piddly seed.

That sure irked some talking heads across the ditch, who found it absurd the third-seeded Brumbies, winners against the Hurricanes in the qualifing finals, still had to travel to Hamilton to face the Chiefs in the semis.

They had a point.

It’s not a stretch to suggest the punishment for losing a qualifying final should be more significant than dropping a lone seed, which would still have enabled them to host the final had the Crusaders tripped up.

How about dropping to the No 4 seed? In this case, the new No 1 seeds, the Crusaders, would have hosted the Chiefs in a semifinal last weekend.

The good news is Super Rugby Pacific administrators will review the format during the off-season, with chief executive Jack Mesley telling Stuff on Thursday they would look at just that option, which he admitted would be the easiest change to make, as well as the potential to award the top two teams a first round bye.

“We’re not saying there’s definitely going to be change,” he said.

“We will look at those things. Some of the things around it are yes, you want one and two to have an advantage. But how big of an advantage? This is a tough competition to win, you look at the track record of home finalists, is there too much advantage if you had a rest?

“I think the other thing on the resting one and two, someone has a bye in round 16. So, possibly you could have two weeks off, which would be absolutely ridiculous.”

To be fair to the Chiefs, they’re simply playing what’s in front of them, and it’s not like teams haven’t benefited from dubious formats in the past.

Think Super 18 during 2016-2017, when a four conference system rewarded mediocrity and especially grated the Hurricanes after they went 12-3 and amassed 58 competition points in 2017, only to finish 5th behind the Stormers (43) and Brumbies (34) and were forced to play the latter in a quarterfinal in Canberra.

Indeed, if you thought this year was bad, due to the winners of each conference - NZ, Australia, South Africa 1 and South Africa 2 - being guaranteed a home quarterfinal, even the ninth-placed Blues (37) mustered more points than the Brumbies in 2017.

And the final format - Super 15 (2018-2020) - before Covid-19 changed everything, had the same problem, even after the Cheetahs, Kings and Force were culled.

Both the Hurricanes and Chiefs amassed more points than the Lions and Waratahs in 2018, but finished behind them due to the conference system.

Just what Super Rugby officials decide for 2026 will be decided within weeks of the season finishing, Mesley said, after feedback has been gathered from stakeholders, including franchises and broadcasters.

In the meantime, if the Chiefs do what no other side has done in history - beat the Crusaders in a home playoff game - that, and a 3-0 sweep of the red and blacks this season - has to count for something.

Even if some might feel the need to plonk an * next to their name.