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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Angus Fontaine

Australia’s Super Rugby revival helping to prime Wallabies for Lions challenge

Lions RA Rugby Super Rugby Wallabies Australia Jack Mesley Fraser McReight Waratahs
Fraser McReight of the Reds takes on the Waratahs defence during round five of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season.
Wallabies star Fraser McReight of the Reds takes on the Waratahs defence during round five of the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season. Photograph: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Fatigue. Jeopardy. Fantasy. These are the buzzwords driving Super Rugby Pacific’s remarkable surge in 2025, with faster games, tighter margins and nifty law changes boosting crowd attendances, TV ratings and greater success for Australian sides.

After five weeks of competition, Australia and New Zealand each have three teams in the top six, a remarkable level of parity given NSW finished with the wooden spoon in 2024, no Australian side has won the Super Rugby competition in over a decade and the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup hasn’t left the All Blacks’ stranglehold since 2002.

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