The ACT Brumbies are through to the 2025 semi-finals. Photo: Super Rugby Pacific
The ACT Brumbies have again kept the Aussie flag flying in the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific competition.
They scored a 35-28 elimination finals win over the Hurricanes in Canberra on Saturday to advance to the semi-finals.
The game came 24 hours after the Crusaders ended Queensland’s season with a 32-12 win in Christchurch.
The Brumbies need to create history by beating the Waikato-based minor premiers Chiefs in Hamilton, NZ, this weekend to avoid a fourth straight semi-final exit against a New Zealand side.
No Australian side has won a knock-out game in New Zealand in the almost 30-year history of the competition, organisers say.
Earlier, the defending champions the Auckland-based Blues’ scored a last-gasp 20-19 win over the Chiefs.
Lock Josh Beehre stretched over the line to score a crucial try in the 82nd minute after the Chiefs led 9-3 at halftime.
The upset result had turned the Brumbies-Hurricanes game into an elimination final.
SEASON OVER FOR REDS
In Christchurch, the Crusaders improved their perfect record in home finals to 30-0 with the 32-12 victory over the Reds on Friday night.
The Reds needed to become the first Australian side in 30 years to win a play-off match in New Zealand to make the semi-finals.
They were up against history and form: Qld had lost 13 of their last 14 games against the 12-times Super Rugby champions while the Crusaders were riding a 16-match winning streak in finals stretching back to 2016.
Queensland had at least been the only Australian team in 21 trips across the Tasman to upset the Crusaders.
But the Reds’ class of 2025 proved their own worst enemies, conceding the first five penalties of the match on Friday night.
Former Reds and Wallabies playmaker James O’Connor, now a Crusader, continued to press his case for a Wallabies recall as he came off the bench.
This weekend sees a Kiwi north vs south lineup as the Crusaders take on the Blues on Friday and the Chiefs host the Brumbies on Saturday.
