Significant changes are ahead for Super Rugby Pacific in the upcoming season, featuring an expanded 16-round regular season, Sunday afternoon matches, and a more competitive six-team finals structure.
The 2025 season will kick off on Friday, February 14, a week earlier than in previous years, in order to accommodate the additional round of Super Rugby Pacific events.
The season schedule will include family-friendly afternoon games, with three Sunday afternoon fixtures planned, with the potential for more Sunday games in the future.
Key details of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition format include:
– 11 participating teams: ACT Brumbies, Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Fijian Drua, Highlanders, Hurricanes, Moana Pasifika, NSW Waratahs, Queensland Reds, and Western Force.
– Teams will compete in 14 regular season matches, comprising seven home and seven away games, with two bye weeks allocated.
– Each team will face four opponents twice, emphasizing rivalry matchups, while competing against the other six teams once.
– At the conclusion of the regular season, the top six teams will qualify for a three-week Finals Series.
– The first week of the Finals Series will feature Qualifying Finals: matches between the 1st and 6th seeds, 2nd and 5th seeds, and 3rd and 4th seeds, with the higher-ranked teams hosting.
– The three victorious teams from the Qualifying Finals will advance to the Semi-Finals, joined by the highest-seeded losing team, known as the “lucky loser,” who will drop one seed for the Semi-Final draw.
– The Semi-Finals will consist of matches between the 1st and 4th seeds, and the 2nd and 3rd seeds, again with the higher-seeded teams hosting.
– The winners of the Semi-Finals will progress to the Grand Final, hosted by the team with the higher seed.
Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley expressed excitement about the new structure, highlighting fan engagement and family-friendly scheduling as key focuses. He stated that the revamped Finals Series aims to enhance competitive matchups while rewarding top-performing teams.
The Finals Series for 2025 will follow this format:
FINALS WEEK ONE – QUALIFYING FINALS
1st seed vs. 6th seed
2nd seed vs. 5th seed
3rd seed vs. 4th seed
FINALS WEEK TWO – SEMI-FINALS
1st seed vs. 4th seed
2nd seed vs. 3rd seed
FINALS WEEK THREE – GRAND FINAL
1st seed vs. 2nd seed