The 2025 Shop N Save Super Rugby season will feature an extended 16-round regular season, Sunday afternoon fixtures and a more competitive six-team finals system.
Super Rugby Pacific says the 2025 season will begin on the 14th of February, a week earlier than previous years, to accommodate the additional round of Super Rugby Pacific action.
They say the season draw features family-friendly afternoon fixtures, including three Sunday afternoon games, with a view to exploring additional Sunday fixtures moving forward.
11 teams will be competing in the next season which include the ACT Brumbies, the Blues, the Chiefs, the Crusaders, the Swire Shipping Fijian Drua, the Highlanders, the Hurricanes, Moana Pasifika, the Waratahs, the Queensland Reds and the Western Force.
According to Super Rugby Pacific, teams will play 14 regular season matches, consisting of seven home games and seven away games, and be allocated two byes.
They say teams will play four teams twice, with a focus on rivalry match-ups, and the six remaining teams once.
They further say the top six teams on the table at the end of the regular season will qualify for the three-week Finals Series.
In week one of the Finals Series, Qualifying Finals will be 1 vs 6, 2 vs 5 and 3 vs 4, with the higher-seeded teams to host.
The three winners of the Qualifying Finals will progress to the Semi-Finals, and they will be joined by the highest-seeded losing team (the ‘lucky loser’), who will drop one seeding for the semi-final draw.
Semi-finals will be 1 vs 4 and 2 vs 3, with the higher-seeded teams to host.
The two winners of the semi finals will progress to the Grand Final, which will be hosted by the higher-seeded team.
Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley says they are thrilled to reveal the revamped structure, some new features and the start date for the next season of Super Rugby Pacific.
He says the fans are always infront of their mind, and while the full draw will be released soon, they wanted to give them an early insight into what they can look forward to in 2025.
Mesley says the introduction of three Sunday afternoon fixtures will make it easier for families to experience the excitement of the Super Rugby Pacific, and they can look to build on that offering in future seasons.
He adds they are particularly excited about the new Finals Series, which is designed to produce highly competitive match-ups while still rewarding the teams that finish at the top of the table.
2025 SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC FINALS SERIES
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
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