Super Rugby Pacific talking points: Grim finals record hangs over the Chiefs ahead of Hurricanes humdinger

Monday, 15 June 2026

The Chiefs might have vanquished some red and black ghosts, but there are more to be buried.

After all, three straight defeats in finals hang over the perennial bridesmaids as they prepare for Saturday night’s tasty decider against the Hurricanes in Wellington.

And the prospect of losing a fourth straight, and a fifth in five years, is bound to play on the minds of players and fans ahead of the battle between undoubtedly the best two teams in Super Rugby this season.

Indeed, as satisfying as it was for the Chiefs to bury the title defence of the Crusaders, who are responsible for the 2021, 2023 and 2025 anguish, it will mean very little if they don’t kick on and bag their first title since 2013.

For all their regular season success, that’s the longest title drought among New Zealand teams, leaving the Chiefs desperate to go one step further.

And there is a ton more finals pain than the losses to the Crusaders (twice) and Blues the past three years.

The Chiefs also lost the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa final against the Crusaders, and were walloped 61-17 by the Bulls in the 2009 decider.

That leaves the Hamilton-based franchise with a grim 2-5 record in finals, while they are one of just two teams - the Lions between 2016-18 are the other - to lose three straight Super Rugby championship matches.

If that makes for tough reading, the mere thought of a fourth straight runners-up medal must be difficult to process for Chiefs fans.

The ‘chokers tag’ rival fans love to throw their way won’t go away in a hurry, that’s for sure.

With the Crusaders and Blues out of the running, they’d have essentially been home and hosed any other year the past decade, too.

But, as they might curse their luck, the high-flying Hurricanes, led by gun halfback Cam Roigard, have emerged as title favourites after a decade of mediocrity following their lone crown in 2016.

That said, the Chiefs won the only regular season match between the teams - albeit in Hamilton - and have long appeared to be the best equipped team to combat the No 1 seeds.

Speaking of the Hurricanes, their nine tries to three romp over the Blues pushed their season total to 104 five-pointers, making them the first team in Super Rugby history to score at least 100 tries in a campaign.

One of the best halves in Super Rugby history

Shell-shocked, rattled, bamboozled, stunned.

The Crusaders were that and then some, as the Chiefs killed off their title defence with a barely believable first half in Hamilton.

Everything they touched turned to gold as they cut loose, running in six tries en route to to a 42-5 lead.

And some of them were sizzling, as they ran the Crusaders ragged with a cut-throat display of rugby rarely seen, particularly against a team like the red and blacks.

The 42 points the Chiefs racked up were the third most in a half in competition history, with just the Crusaders and Blues ahead of them on the list.

It’s unlikely the 63 first half points the Crusaders piled up against a quality Waratahs outfit en route to their famous 96-19 win in Christchurch in 2002 will ever be topped.

The Blues, meanwhile, racked up 47 points against the lowly Rebels in the first half of a 71-27 cake walk in 2022.

Nevertheless, to see the red and blacks, even with a bunch of key players out hurt, throttled in such spectacular fashion speaks volumes about this year’s Chiefs.

They might just be irked they didn’t take the opportunity to further rub their nemesis’ dials into the Hamilton muck, instead adding just one second half try.

GOING OUT WITH A WHIMPER

That’s all she wrote for Crusaders head coach Rob Penney and Blues counterpart Vern Cotter.

Both finished their respective three-year tenures with semifinal defeats that shouldn’t be watered down - they were dreadful.

In fact, the Crusaders’ 49-12 pasting to the Chiefs marked the proud franchise’s worst defeat in 30 years of Super Rugby.

That said, as Cotter prepares to take over the Queensland Reds, and Penney ponders his future while fishing in the Marlborough Sounds, the rest of the pack would give an arm and a leg for what they achieved.

Penney (2025) and Cotter (2024), after all, both steered their teams to Super Rugby titles.

While this will change on Saturday night, no other team has won the competition since 2016 (Hurricanes).

A 33.3% title success rate is not to be sneezed at.

SEMIFINAL RESULTS

At Waikato Stadium, Hamilton: Chiefs 49 (Kyren Taumoefolau 2, Isaac Hutchinson, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Leroy Carter, Tupou Vaa’i, Xavier Roe tries; Damian McKenzie 7 con) Crusaders 12 (Chay Fihaki, David Havili tries; Rivez Reihana con). HT: 42-5.

At Hnry Stadium, Wellington: Hurricanes 57 (Jordie Barrett, Du’Plessis Kirifri, Xavier Numia, Cam Roigard, Josh Moorby 2, Asafo Aumua, Ereatara Enari, Kini Naholo tries; Ruben Love 3 con, Jordie Barrett 2 con) Blues 21 (Patrick Tuipulotu, Payton Spencer, Eli Oudenryn tries; Beauden Barrett 2 con) HT: 19-14.