{"id":709896,"date":"2026-06-02T07:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709896\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T07:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T07:16:10","slug":"super-rugby-pacific-qualifying-finals-2026-hurricanes-vs-brumbies-chiefs-vs-reds-preview-history-opinion-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709896\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Rugby Pacific qualifying finals 2026: Hurricanes vs Brumbies, Chiefs vs Reds preview, history, opinion, analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The good news for Australian rugby fans is that the ACT Brumbies<\/a> and Queensland Reds<\/a> are due.<\/p>\n

In the 30-year history of Super Rugby<\/a>, no Australian team has won a finals match in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom Hooper of the Brumbies reacts to the loss.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

That ugly 0-21 record is a confronting reality for coaches Stephen Larkham<\/a> and Les Kiss<\/a>, as they attempt to pilot their sides past the Hurricanes<\/a> and Chiefs<\/a> respectively.<\/p>\n

Larkham\u2019s sixth-ranked Brumbies are Wellington-bound to play the minor premiers, who scorched through the regular season scoring an average of more than 40 points per game.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes won this year\u2019s clash of the capitals 45-12 in Christchurch<\/a>, with power winger Fehi Fineanganofo<\/a> scoring four tries alone.<\/p>\n

But Fineanganofo is expected to miss Friday\u2019s opening qualifying final as he recovers from a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

And while all those games were in Canberra, the Brumbies will draw some confidence from the fact that they knocked the Hurricanes out of the playoffs in 2022, 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the way the Brumbies play, they can win tight,\u201d ex-Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps told Stan Sport\u2019s Between Two Posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou certainly know that Bernie (Larkham) and his coaching staff will not be satisfied with that (regular season loss to the Hurricanes).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve also been on the end of a few sprays from Bernie in my playing days, and you don\u2019t want to let the man down twice, so there will be a completely different performance, I imagine. The mentality going through the week, how they\u2019re going to get up there. They always review the best, the Brumbies are always great at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bookmakers have written the Brumbies off as $10 outsiders after a 7-7 regular season. \u201cI think they\u2019ve just got to go back to their basics,\u201d Phipps said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir set piece is usually so good, their defence with the great Lord Laurie (Fisher) is usually so good. It is a very big ask, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any better occasion to stand up, right? Like everyone has been talking about the Hurricanes, they\u2019ve all been getting their pats on the back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s going to be an upset, if there\u2019s going to be a hell of a story, you\u2019d think this has got to be it. The boys will be firing for it, they\u2019ve got a good mix of older boys, older heads who\u2019ll know what it takes to get over there and get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Brumbies beat the other four New Zealand teams – Chiefs, Crusaders, Blues and Highlanders – this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeez, I am looking forward to it,\u201d Phipps said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be a paddling again, I reckon it\u2019ll be a lot tighter than that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Phipps played for the Wallabies when Larkham was an assistant coach under Michael Cheika.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham looks on.\u00a0Mark Metcalfe<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gives you a spray, but it\u2019s a very passive spray,\u201d Phipps explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you just sort of think he\u2019s about to erupt, but he\u2019s just like \u2018yeah mate, that really wasn\u2019t good enough.\u2019 And you\u2019re like, \u2018oh my god, this is terrifying\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even before the season kicked off, Morgan Turinui tipped the Hurricanes to win their first title since 2016. He said they deserved to start warm favourites but winter conditions in Wellington could be a real leveller for the Brumbies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve just got to make this an arm wrestle,\u201d Turinui said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got to make this the tough stuff, a lot of mauling, a lot of close quarter stuff, they don\u2019t want to go toe to toe with the Harlem Globetrotters. If it\u2019s expansive, high tempo and chaotic, then they probably don\u2019t stick with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turinui suggested promoting breakdown specialist Luke Reimer into the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just cannot let them have any quick ball. Kill every ball we have to, and if it\u2019s a 50\/50, we\u2019d rather give the penalty away than let them have fast ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turinui believed the fifth-ranked Reds, paying $8.50 to beat the Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday, were Australia\u2019s best chance of reaching the semi-finals. <\/p>\n

It could be Kiss\u2019 last game in charge of Queensland before joining the Wallabies. \u201cThis is the defining match of the Les Kiss era,\u201d Turinui said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a few years of promise, not quite getting as high up the ladder as they wanted to in terms of setting up a finals run – and always being disappointed having to go away and not being able to do it in sudden death footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reds finished the regular season with a 8-6 record after beating the Fijian Drua in Brisbane. \u201cThe cattle are there. The thing about the Reds is I still don\u2019t think we\u2019ve seen them put in one 80 minute performance this year,\u201d ex-Queensland centre Turinui said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019re talking about now, about what they could possibly do this week is potential. We know this team has a ceiling probably higher than the Brumbies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just haven\u2019t had the consistency. The Reds probably out of all the Aussie teams are the ones that can go to the greatest heights. They have it in them, but it is the great insurmountable task in Super Rugby. Aussie teams going to play sudden death finals in New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

SUPER RUGBY PACIFIC QUALIFYING FINALS<\/p>\n

FRIDAY JUNE 5<\/p>\n

Hurricanes (1) vs ACT Brumbies (6):\u00a05.05pm kickoff AEST at Hnry Stadium, Wellington<\/p>\n

SATURDAY JUNE 6<\/p>\n

Crusaders (3) vs Blues (4):\u00a02.35pm kickoff AEST at One New Zealand Stadium, Christchurch<\/p>\n

Chiefs (2) vs Queensland Reds (5):\u00a05.05pm kickoff AEST at FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton<\/p>\n

AUSSIE FINALS TALE OF WOE IN NZ<\/p>\n

Brumbies: 0\/9<\/p>\n

1997 Final – 23-7 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

2002 Final – 31-13 v Crusaders at Lancaster Park<\/p>\n

2003 Semi-final – 42-21 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

2013 Final – 27-22 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

2015 Semi-final – 29-9 v Hurricanes in Wellington<\/p>\n

2022 Semi-final – 20-19 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

2023 Semi-final – 19-6 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

2024 Semi-final – 34-20 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

2025 Semi-final – 37-17 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

Waratahs: 0\/6<\/p>\n

2005 Final – 35-25 v Crusaders at Lancaster Park\u00a0<\/p>\n

2006 Semi-final – 16-14 v Hurricanes in Wellington<\/p>\n

2008 Final – 20-12 v Crusaders at Lancaster Park<\/p>\n

2011 Quarter-final – 26-13 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

2022 Quarter-final – 39-15 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

2023 Quarter-final – 41-12 v Blues at Eden Park<\/p>\n

Reds: 0\/5<\/p>\n

2013 Quarter-final – 38-9 v Crusaders in Christchurch<\/p>\n

2022 Quarter-final – 37-15 v Crusaders in Christchurch<\/p>\n

2023 Quarter-final – 29-20 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

2024 Quarter-final – 43-21 v Chiefs in Hamilton<\/p>\n

2025 Quarter-final 32-12 v Crusaders in Christchurch<\/p>\n

Rebels: 0\/1<\/p>\n

2024 Quarter-final – 47-20 v Hurricanes in Wellington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The good news for Australian rugby fans is that the ACT Brumbies and Queensland Reds are due. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-709896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}