Queensland Reds are a joy to watch, but consistency in performance remains elusive

THIS IS THE CHIEFS' TITLE TO LOSE

The Chiefs took a significant step towards top seeding for the playoffs on Saturday night, and sent a major warning in the process, by running up the highest score of the Super Rugby Pacific season to date - a crushing 85-7 win over Moana Pasifika. After a dramatic and emotional win over the Blues a week earlier, Tana Umaga's side came crashing back to earth in a hurry, and now their own playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. But the Chiefs are likely to need only to beat the Highlanders on Friday, such is the tight contest the Brumbies-Crusaders clash is tipped to be, to wrap up home advantage for the playoffs. And if they find the same groove they did on Saturday evening, then they will be incredibly hard to beat at their FMG Stadium Waikato fortress. The Chiefs rode roughshod over a hapless Moana, running in 12 tries, including hat tricks to both Cortez Ratima and Leroy Carter, to obliterate their neighbours to the north. With Damian McKenzie pulling the strings at No. 10, and back-rower Wallace Sititi adding impact and energy the past few weeks on his return from injury, the Chiefs are in imperious form. It's hard to see them hitting a speedbump on Friday, despite the Highlanders' dogged fight in Christchurch, and from there it will be the Chiefs' title to lose.

TUPOU'S CURIOUS SEASON CONTINUES WITH RIDICULOUS TRIP

Just a week after coach Dan McKellar threatened a cleanout in Sydney, the Waratahs travelled across the Nullabor needing a win to keep their season alive. And while it may have taken near 90 minutes to get it, Darby Lancaster's super-point match-winner ensured NSW's season will extend into another tough road trip, this time to Auckland on Saturday. The weekend's dramatic win over the Force also saw Taniela Tupou make his first run-on start for the Waratahs in many weeks, giving the out-of-form Waratahs prop the chance to hit his stride before the British & Irish Lions arrive in a few weeks' time. While Tupou's output was up on previous weeks, he was guilty of one complete brainfade when he produced what can only be described as a football slide tackle that belonged at Old Trafford - not HFB Stadium. Tupou was rightfully yellow-carded, and the question must be asked: What on earth was he thinking? The Wallabies need Tupou in the right headspace for the Lions; but this was another worrying moment for coach Joe Schmidt.

REDS PLAY SOME SPARKLING RUGBY - DOING IT FOR LONG ENOUGH REMAINS THEIR ACHILLES HEEL

Queensland Reds missed the opportunity to nail down fourth spot, and a better shot at a second chance in the playoffs, when they were pipped 31-27 by the Hurricanes in Brisbane on Friday night. In what was a cracking contest, a sleepy 10-minute period just before halftime - insert Bledisloe Cup Test in New Zealand reference here - was ultimately what cost Les Kiss' side as they saw a one-point advantage quickly become a 13-point halftime deficit in the space of seven minutes. The Reds were gallant in climbing back that margin to lead 27-26, but Hurricanes winger Fehi Fineanganofo's 66th minute try proved the match's defining score. The Reds are a real momentum team, when they hit their stride they are incredibly difficult to stop, and are the most aesthetically pleasing outfit in the competition to watch. They play a high-tempo, high-offload game where there are often multiple ball-running options on offer, as evidenced by the superb set-play try they scored immediately after halftime. The issue is that it is difficult to play to those standards for extended periods of time. Sure, injuries have proved a constant bedfellow throughout 2025 - the list of sidelined Wallabies talent has been, and still is, long - so they have done well to guarantee themselves at least fifth spot; but if they are to take the next step and consistently challenge the elite teams in Super Rugby Pacific, it is that consistently in game Kiss needs to instill in his troops that is required.

DE GROOT INCREDIBLY FORTUNATE NOT TO SEE RED, OR BE CITED

The Highlanders may sit at the root of the Super Rugby Pacific table, but they are proving anything but easy-beats through the closing weeks of the regular season. Had it not been for some wayward goal-kicking, Jamie Joseph's team could have come away with a shock southern derby upset or at least pushed the game into super-point extra time. Alas, Cam Millar pulled a kickable penalty to the left of the posts and the Highlanders slumped to a sixth straight loss as a result. The Highlanders were, however, incredibly lucky not to lose prop Ethan de Groot to the sin-bin for what looked suspiciously like a headbutt on Jamie Hannah. After making a cleanout, de Groot then again drove forward with his head, collecting Hannah flush on the scone in the process. Incredibly, the Television Match Official did not intervene, nor has the citing officer, with SRP administrators on Monday morning confirming that no incident from the weekend had been flagged. But de Groot's challenge surely warranted further investigation. These are the type of incidents that only add weight to the northern hemisphere's view that the south is soft on foul play.

DOES RUGBY REALLY NEED A CLUB WORLD CUP?

Reports out of Cardiff over the weekend suggest a tournament to decide the world's premier club team is a step closer to becoming a reality in 2028. As referenced earlier this year by SRP chief executive Jack Mesley on the ESPN Scrum Reset podcast, officials have been working on the tournament for some time and now, at last, it might finally be a reality. There is still much to be worked out, including how an already jam-packed rugby calendar can be massaged to squeeze yet another new competition in, but there is cautious optimism that such a window can be created. The question is: Would it be a hit with the fans? If the weekend's Champions Cup final, won by Bordeaux over Northampton, told us anything, it's that there is great tribalism in European rugby. The same really can't be said about Super Rugby, at least these days, so for the tournament to be a success it's likely it would have to be staged in the northern hemisphere. And while it would finally answer the question as to who the world's greatest club team is, perhaps that could instead be easier achieved by simply having the winners of the Champions Cup and Super Rugby Pacific face off? South Africa's teams, who have struggled since joining the former tournament, might have something to say about that idea, so too those well-resourced clubs in Japan. In the end, however, it will come down to money and just whether such a tournament is not only worth staging, but whether it can drive significant revenue for its stakeholders.