Winners & Losers: The big question facing Super Rugby after Super Round success – Christopher Reive

Now, another big question looms: how does Super Rugby capture and repurpose the magic of this weekend?

Kiwis have a habit of turning out in droves when there is a bigger moment to be a part of, but not so much when it’s business as usual – aside from All Blacks test and Warriors games, the latter being a real anomaly in the New Zealand sporting landscape.

In this instance, it was the first event held at the shiny new stadium.

Christchurch does seem like the ideal spot for Super Round, with the new venue hugely accessible in the heart of the city and being in a much more rugby-interested city than Melbourne. Making it an annual event in the Garden City could see the Super Round actually rival the NRL’s Magic Round as a highlight on the calendar for fans willing to travel, but there is the risk that the novelty wears off.

Year two – should there be a year two in Christchurch – will be telling of the concept’s future as a single-city event: You can’t open a new $683 million stadium every year.

I can’t remember the last time a rugby play left me asking my TV “what the f*** was that?”, but that was where I found myself 35 minutes into the Chiefs’ win over the Fijian Drua.

Drua fullback Ilaisa Droasese did well to clean things up after a grubber in behind the defensive line from Chiefs fullback Isaac Hutchinson was further kicked on by right wing Daniel Sinkinson into the in-goal area. After cleaning up and under pressure from Chiefs defenders, Droasese appeared to put a grubber kick ahead of himself to chase from inside his own in-goal area.

Had it come off, it would’ve been an incredible play. But with plenty of Chiefs in the vicinity, that was hugely unlikely. In the end, the ball didn’t get beyond the tryline as Chiefs tighthead prop Jared Proffit came flying in to ground it – getting lucky and planting it with his forearm for his first Super try.

Auckland FC have won one football game in the past two months. They are without a win in the last five fixtures and, in some strange twist of fate, their only win in their last seven came against the Newcastle Jets, who went on to hoist the Premiers Plate as the top team at the end of the regular season.

Since the end of February, the Black Knights have had four draws, two losses, one win and completely bungled another top-two finish. While they played three other sides in the top six, it was the two fixtures they had against lower-ranked teams that they lost – 2-1 to Macarthur FC (seventh) and 1-0 to the Central Coast Mariners (ninth). Because of that – and a very, very late winner by Adelaide United away to Melbourne City – Auckland slipped into an elimination game in week one of the playoffs.

Injuries haven’t been kind to the Aucklanders. They are still expected to be without Francis de Vries, Jake Brimmer and Nando Pijnaker for this weekend’s game, while Felipe Gallegos hobbled off in the first half of Sunday’s draw with Sydney FC.

There were, however, positive signs in their second-half performance in Sydney, and their defensive record is solid, conceding the second-fewest goals in the competition this season at 29. They have, however, conceded 11 of those goals in their last seven games, with just 18 in the previous 19.

But there’s no time like the playoffs to turn things around, and they will need to do just that for Saturday evening’s knockout clash with Melbourne City at Go Media Stadium – though one would hope the home-field advantage counts for something in a fixture like this.

For the first time since 2023, the Black Ferns have gone through the Pacific Four Series with a perfect record. Three wins from three tests, with an average margin of 30 points, bodes well for what shapes up as a busy schedule this year.

While a 40-5 win over the Wallaroos might not say a lot to some, given the Black Ferns have never lost to the Australians and the Wallaroos finished the series without a win, it was another display of the composure in Whitney Hansen’s team.

They didn’t have everything their own way as they struggled with early penalties and handling errors, not to mention the heavy rain, but they went about their business and eventually broke the game open to retain the Pacific Four Series title and the Laurie O’Reilly Trophy.

With a new coach, new players in the squad and new combinations forming, this series provided a solid gauge of where the group are at as they head into tests against the likes of France (three tests across New Zealand) and England later in the year.

Yes, the New Zealand Warriors’ official home ground is at Go Media Stadium. But they were made to feel more than welcome by the Wellington faithful as they turned out for Saturday night’s clash against the Redcliffe Dolphins. Home is where the heart is, and there was plenty of feeling in the capital.

The Warriors got off to an average start, scoring first but leaking a couple of tries on the left edge to trail by double digits within the opening 20 minutes.

They did not concede another point for the remaining 60. It wasn’t just scoreboard pressure they dealt with at Hnry Stadium, but the loss of key duo Mitchell Barnett and Ali Leiataua to head knocks. It was a win that exemplified what Andrew Webster’s team are about this year; finding a way to stay in the contest and, more often than not, take their chances in front of their roaring Kiwi fans.

Now second on the ladder with a 6-2 record, the next six weeks will be telling as the Warriors don’t play another game on home soil until June 13, with fixtures against two of the weaker teams (Parramatta Eels, St George Illawarra Dragons) and two of the strongest (Brisbane Broncos, Penrith Panthers), as well as two byes.

Their season could be well and truly set up when they next play at Mt Smart.

Golf is such a serious sport. All it takes is a few missed shots here and there to turn a good round into an average one and, in most cases, that shows in the focused nature of the player on the course.

Then there’s the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

An annual event on the PGA Tour calendar, it’s one that gets athletes to team up and play in different formats: best ball for rounds one and three, alternate shots for rounds two and four. It’s a format that shows a different side of the professional golfers as they present a much looser version of themselves when they team up with someone else.

It’s an event that regularly sees unfamiliar athletes in contention; being played the week before the PGA Tour kicks into a vital nine-week stretch, seeing some top players, such as New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, opt not to play it, opening spots for others. An example being American duo Trace Crowe and Ben Martin: it was Crowe’s first PGA Tour appearance of the season and Martin’s second after a missed cut in Puerto Rico last month. They finished in a tie for fourth in New Orleans. Of the top 12 teams, only two of the 24 golfers came into the event ranked inside the top 50 on the FedEx Cup rankings – American Matt McCarty (41) and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick (2).

Fitzpatrick came into the event on an absolute heater, winning the Valspar Championship and RBC Heritage tournaments, either side of a T18 at the Masters. Playing with his younger brother and DP World Tour golfer, Alex Fitzpatrick, it was four rounds of fun golf, low scores, and a third title in four tournaments for Matt Fitzpatrick. Not only that, but winning the event means Alex Fitzpatrick also earns a PGA Tour card through until the end of 2028, as well as entry into the remaining 2026 signature events, the 2026 PGA Championship and the 2027 Players Championship.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.