Analysis - It is a tad ironic that this reinvigorated season of Super Rugby Pacific is heading towards a far more familiar sight at the business end. The Crusaders, fresh off a ruthless 43-10 victory over the Highlanders, are looking far more like the outfit that had winning seemingly encoded in their DNA for much of the competition's history. But it also says a lot about just how bad last year was for them to get back to having that fearsome aura after all of 11 rounds.
The win in Dunedin was probably the biggest statement of intent so far, built almost entirely on committed defence, and they still had enough on attack to leave the Highlanders wondering what had happened. It took over an hour for the home side to get any points on the board - by then it was far too late and a blip in the game narrative, rather than any sort of proper comeback.
It's getting to the point now where some Crusaders players are probably starting to have an All Black call-up in the back of their minds, not least because Scott Robertson has already shown he is favourable to his old team. Ioane Moananu, who has gone from being a wider squad member to extremely capable replacement for Codie Taylor, should be one of those. His body of work this season has certainly been equal if not quite a bit more than what George Bell showed last year, and while Samisoni Taukei'aho has been playing well for the last couple of weeks, that position in the All Black squad is probably still very much up for grabs.
Eyebrows were raised over Chay Fihaki's elevation to the All Black squad last season, but really that shouldn't be the case at all if he finds himself named for the July series - his versatility may well see him into the outside back unit.
Just to make things even more manageable for the Crusaders, they get next weekend off before a potential preview of the final against the Chiefs.
Moana win Battle of the Pacific, Canes finally find themselves
This season was always going to be one where Moana Pasifika had a lot of attention focused on them, and not just because of Ardie Savea. 2025 is the year that the start up franchise had to start getting bums on seats and the fixture against the Fijian Drua seemed like their best possible chance to make that happen - not least because every Fijian in the area would show up.
Just under 9000 came through the North Harbour Stadium gates, and while it was obviously helped by the Drua's passionate supporter base, this was something that Moana organically created themselves through an evolving and adaptive marketing strategy and just general good vibes.
As for the game, it didn't quite live up to the barn-burner expectations as Moana ran out fairly comfortable 34-15 winners, but Savea certainly put on his usual brilliant performance to give the struggling Blues something to worry about before their next meeting in three weeks.
The Hurricanes put on their best performance of the year when they tipped up the Brumbies 35-29 in Canberra, amazingly the first win by an NZ team in Australia all season. The question now is whether the Canes have left their run too late. While this wins rockets them up to fifth on the ladder, they're now somewhat dependant on other results to solidify a decent play-off spot.
However, it's worth bearing in mind that Super Rugby has only ever been won twice by teams that have finished outside the top two in the regular season (Highlanders in 2015 and Crusaders in 1999, both finished fourth). So really, unless the Canes can pull off a dramatic climb up the table like they did in 2016, it's likely they're just postponing their holidays by a week.
