The Blues had a ‘win’ after their game when a Melbourne fan won the inaugural Fantasy competition. Photo: Super Rugby Pacific
The ACT Brumbies have home ground advantage as the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition enters its finals season.
The qualifying finals action this weekend sees the third-placed Brumbies host the fourth-placed Hurricanes (Wellington) to Canberra on Saturday night.
The Hurricanes have already won in Canberra this season with a 35-29 victory during the Anzac Weekend round.
Last weekend, the Hurricanes thumped Moana Pasifika 64-12 on their home ground to confirm fourth spot.
The Brumbies were denied potential semi-final hosting rights when they lost 33-31 to the Crusaders in Canberra on Friday to finish in third place.
The Crusaders will host Queensland in Christchurch this Friday after the Reds’ 52-7 demolition of the Fijian Drua in Brisbane on Friday night.
Minor premiers Chiefs (Waikato in NZ) saw off the Highlanders 21-14 in Dunedin on Friday and will host the Auckland-based Blues, who are the defending champions.
The match is a repeat of the 2024 grand final and comes after the Blues trounced NSW 46-6 in Auckland on Saturday.
Having finished regular season in sixth position, the Blues must win three-straight Finals games away from home to defend their title.
In a competition revamp this year, the three winners of this weekend finals games will be joined in the semi-finals by the highest-seeded losing team, nicknamed the “lucky loser”.
The lucky loser will drop one seeding for the semi-finals to ensure a finals week one match-up is not repeated in week two.
The grand final will be hosted by the highest-seeded team.
FANTASY WINNER NAMED
The winner of the competition’s inaugural Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific competition has been named.
The winner is Auckland Blues fan Callum Brown, who lives in Melbourne, 14 points ahead of Colm Flaherty from Galway, Ireland. Brown won $10,000 for his efforts.
“The first season of Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific has been an outstanding success,” Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley says.
“The game has been a catalyst for increased engagement and enthusiasm from fans across the Pacific region and around the world.
“We’ve been taking note of fan feedback throughout the year and work has already begun on making it bigger and better in 2026.”
The most selected player was Ardie Savea of Moana Pasifika, Super Rugby Pacific says.
