Super Rugby Pacific Week 2: Key Storylines & Must-Watch Matches
Super Rugby Pacific Week 2: Key Storylines & Must-Watch Matches
Super Rugby Pacific returns with thrilling matchups! Can Kyle Preston shine again? Will the Blues bounce back? Get key insights & watch live on FloRugby!
The long-awaited return of Super Rugby Pacific last weekend did not disappoint in the slightest.
After eight months of waiting between last year’s Super Rugby Pacific final and the start of a new Super Rugby Pacific season, the action that was on display in Round 1 was full-force and fast-paced, featuring comebacks, surprising performances and a whole bunch of chaotic moments.
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Now, are you ready to do it all again? We sure are.
Here’s a look at one big thing that you need to know about every Super Rugby Pacific match this weekend, with all matches being streamed live in the United States and Canada, exclusively on FloRugby:
NOTE: The New South Wales Waratahs are on a bye this week.
Crusaders At Chiefs
Is Kyle Preston For Real?
Did you have Kyle Preston arguably being Super Rugby Pacific’s best player of the opening round? Not many did — or had even heard of the Crusaders scrumhalf prior to this past weekend — but the 25-year-old absolutely set the competition on fire in Round 1.
Preston had a hat trick in his Super Rugby Pacific debut, coming off of the bench and out of seemingly nowhere to lead the Crusaders to a come-from-behind victory over the Hurricanes at the Apollo Projects Stadium.
Having latched on with the Crusaders after winning a Bunnings NPC title with Wellington last season, Preston (who once worked as a roofer to pay the bills before turning professional) made the Wellington-based Hurricanes pay for not signing him and helped spur on the Crusaders to one of their best performances in quite some time, especially after their disastrous 2024 campaign in which they missed the playoffs.
The obvious burning question now is if Preston is here to stay as an integral part of the Crusaders’ setup, or is he just a flash in the pan.
In the meantime, the Chiefs, who won a 2024 final rematch with the Blues to open up their season last week, will be trying to end the Preston sensation before it gains any further steam.
Moana Pasifika At Queensland Reds
Reds Ready For Rekindled Moana?
The last team to make its 2025 debut (being on bye for Round 1), the Queensland Reds jump into their opening match of the campaign with high hopes, having finished fifth in last year’s table as the second highest Australian side.
However, it also could very easily end up being a final hurrah for Reds coach Les Kiss, who is starting 10 Wallabies against Moana Pasifika as he simultaneously deals with rumors that he’s the potential favorite to be the next coach of the Australian national team after Joe Schmidt leaves following the conclusion of The Rugby Championship in the fall.
Regardless of whatever may come, though, the Reds must block out the outside noise and perform this weekend against a dangerous Moana squad that lost a 45-44 barnburner last week to the Western Force in All Blacks legend Ardie Savea’s debut with the team.
Queensland will respond to that firepower by starting a debutant on the front row in promising prop Massimo de Lutiis — who was surprisingly named in the Wallabies’ training squad last month — plus noteworthy heavy hitters such as Fraser McReight and Tate McDermott, as the Reds look to build upon a good foundation they set for themselves last season.
Fijian Drua At Hurricanes
Can Drua Shake Poor Away Form?
While the Fijian Drua are near-unbeatable at home — before the Brumbies won in Suva last weekend, the Drua had only lost once in their past 10 matches at the HFC Bank Stadium — the same usually cannot be said when Fiji’s Super Rugby Pacific team has to pack up and fly to Australia or New Zealand for a match.
The Drua made the playoffs last season on 26 points with a 6-8 overall mark that featured two distinct faces of the Drua dependent on location: an energetic group that largely dominated in Fiji with a 6-1 home record and a side that just couldn’t find the same spark whenever they had to go abroad, finishing with an abysmal 0-7 away record.
Having now made the knockout rounds in back-to-back seasons, the Drua, now in their fourth season of play in Super Rugby Pacific, most definitely have the potential to be one of the competition’s most fierce teams if they can figure out how to fix their away woes.
The path to potentially doing that starts this weekend when they fly to McLean Park in Napier to face the Hurricanes, where coach Glen Jackson will be overhauling the starting XV with 13 changes from last weekend, as the Drua search for their first win of 2025.
Blues At Highlanders
A Title Hangover?
It’s safe to say that the start of the Blues' hunt toward back-to-back Super Rugby Pacific titles got off on the wrong foot in Round 1.
The lowest-scoring team of opening weekend, the pride of Auckland completely collapsed in a 2024 final rematch against the Chiefs, blowing a 14-6 lead at the intermission and failing to score in the second half, as Chiefs and All Blacks fly-half Damian McKenzie set a wet Eden Park alight when he outscored the Blues by himself in a two-try, 20-point display.
Chiefs debutant and sevens code-switcher Leroy Carter got a try partially thanks to poor discipline from the Blues via a late yellow card from Josh Fusitua, and the reigning champions must be better in Round 2 to restore confidence.
Perhaps it’s perfect timing then that Hoskins Sotutu, last season’s Super Rugby Player of the Year, is back in the No. 8 slot for the Blues for this round’s battle in Dunedin after dealing with a leg injury in preseason, with him being more than capable of giving his side exactly the type of electric boost that it needs to restore the momentum required to contend for back-to-back Super Rugby Pacific championships.
Western Force At Brumbies
Fresh Brumbies Aiming High
The Brumbies made a bold call for Round 1 that ended up going near-perfectly.
Now, Super Rugby Pacific’s most successful Australian team in history will be bringing out the big guns for Round 2 as well-rested reinforcements — and it’ll need them, considering what the Force are bringing to the table.
Head coach Stephen Larkham opted to rest some of the biggest names in his side for the Brumbies’ season-opening match last weekend against the Fijian Drua in Suva, a huge decision considering that an Australian team had never previously beaten the Drua in Fiji.
Larkham’s gamble worked (but only just) as the visitors trailed for much of the second half, before Luke Reimer capped a six-minute brace in the 75th minute, saving the Brumbies from a sloppy stretch of play throughout the middle portion of the match that almost allowed the Drua to get away.
Now, the Brumbies aren’t pulling any punches in their first match of the year in Canberra; James Slipper, Allan Alaalatoa, Nick Frost, Charlie Cale, Len Ikitau and Tom Wright (all Wallabies) are back in the lineup for this weekend’s clash, which will be well-needed for the hosts as they face a Force side that had the highest scoring total (45 points) of any team in the competition on opening weekend.
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