Havili is a different sort of player and may yet tempt the selectors.
David Havili has impressed for the Crusaders this season. Photo / Photosport
Are these basketball scores harming perceptions of Super Rugby?
Hurricanes 66, Brumbies 12. Crusaders 52, Blues 31. Chiefs 46, Reds 24. Playoffs are usually tighter affairs, marked by a lift in intensity. Maybe it was an aberration, but those three games totalled 231 points or an average of 77 points a game.
On the surface, that looks like entertainment. Another perspective: not an accurate guide to test match rugby and qualifications for same.
Take Havili, for example. For all his talent, the selectors may look at a game yielding 83 points and conclude that playing well there may not be quite as creditable as doing the business in a close derby thriller with defences approximating test intensity.
Scoring 77 points a game is way beyond the average scores in qualifying finals over the last five years:
2025 – 146 total points (average 48 points a game)2024 (four quarter-finals) – 220 points (55 per game)2023 – 229 points (57 per game)2022 – 207 points (52 per game).
In none of those other years did a team score over 50 points. Certainly, the ACT Brumbies copped a brilliant Hurricanes onslaught but were lame defensively. The Blues were in the game even after Malachi Wrampling’s red card, Anton Segner scoring to make it 14-14 with only 14 men. Then, as against the Chiefs the previous round, the Blues rather fell down the stairs.
There are other explanations for the high scores – new rules have lifted the speed of the game, referees are letting matters flow more, and fatigue is a factor. However, in all three games, the majority of points was scored in the first half. Two were decided at halftime or shortly after, losing the competitive element of playoffs rugby and raising doubts again over the benefit of Super Rugby as test rugby preparation.
Will there/who will be the fifth lock?
Jamie Hannah shone most brightly among the locks who are hopeful of cracking the first All Blacks squad, assuming there is a fifth selected behind Tupou Vaa’i, Tuipulotu, Sam Darry and Josh Lord (also assuming Fabian Holland doesn’t immediately return). Hannah is intriguing in that he has abundant ball skills and mobility and has trademarked raids in wide channels for the Crusaders.
However, will the All Blacks selectors want a lock who roves wide or one focused on grunt work and first priority at test level: gaining and retaining possession? Hannah has an undoubted engine, is proficient in the lineouts, we assume his push in the scrum is up to snuff and it’s probable his extra skills will be used at the top level at some stage in this busy season.
His head-on carries are less impactful, which is why it’s been clever using him out wide – but it’s a marked contrast to, say, the Chiefs’ Naitoa Ah Kuoi. He’s far more of a traditional lock, good at spoiling in the lineouts and a constant force in rucks, mauls and cleanouts. In other words, more like test rugby.
Who is winning the blindside flanker contest?
One of the standout candidates from last weekend was a player less regarded recently: Ethan Blackadder. It has not gone unnoticed that he and the highly influential Fainga’anuku have established a telling combination. Blackadder doesn’t have his teammate’s ability with the ball but is a non-stop tackler and makes breakdown after breakdown. His turnover led to Johnny McNicholl’s first try after a smart offload by Christian Lio-Willie, another of the Crusaders’ impressive loosies.
Ethan Blackadder was a standout for the Crusaders against the Blues. Photo / Photosport
The only black mark was when Segner scored, as Blackadder was too occupied getting rid of Finlay Christie from a ruck while Segner squeezed under him and others to score. Segner again played openside well enough but suffered in comparison to the outstanding Fainga’anuku.
Samipeni Finau came on for the injured Wallace Sititi and made an impact, particularly with his carries and a couple of molecule-altering tackles. Some will have thought Simon Parker was relatively quiet – but he is another who arrives at a multitude of rucks and mauls and moves bodies and tackles relentlessly. In other words, more like test rugby.
Parker may now need to show more with the ball in hand to head off Finau, Segner, Blackadder and another Chiefs colleague, Luke Jacobson. His core attributes of workrate and charging over the gain line were in ample evidence in the second half against the Queensland Reds, though he was outpointed by the Reds’ Fraser McReight in the first.
Blindside is the most intriguing selection in Rennie’s first squad – with Parker, Finau, Jacobson, Blackadder, Segner and Lio-Willie all vying for one or two slots, although that may depend on whether Rennie rests Ardie Savea for some or all of the July internationals.