After 18 gruelling weeks of rugby the 6 teams qualifying for the super rugby play-offs are finally confirmed.
The Hurricanes topped the table and took the New Zealand conference with a magnificent record of 14 wins and just 2 losses. The defending champions the Waratahs took 2nd place and the Australian conference whilst the Stormers took third place along with the South-African Conference.
The Super Rugby format is different to other leagues where the top three places automatically go to the winners of each conference. Of those three teams the top two automatically go through to the semifinals, whilst the 3rd seeded team along with three other wild card teams have a play off for the remaining two slots in the semi-finals. In this instance the Highlanders, Chiefs and Brumbies took 4th, 5th and 6th place taking the wild card slots. As a result next week the Brumbies will travel to Cape-town to face the Stormers for a semi-final slot whilst the Chiefs will travel down to Dunedin to face the Highlanders for the second semi-final berth.
New Zealand Conference
By far the most competitive of the three conferences the Kiwis, battled it out over the course of the past 18 weeks for top honors. The Blues had an atrocious season ending with a mediocre 3 wins and 13 losses, managing to take 14th place in the overall league and 5th place in New Zealand. In 4th place was the Crusaders who had a mixed season with 9 wins and 7 losses missing out on the play-offs by just one point. Taking 3rd place in New Zealand are the 2012 and 2013 champions the Chiefs with a win/loss record of 10/6 narrowly losing out to the Highlanders who take 2nd place with a record of 11 wins and 5 losses.
The mighty Hurricanes took the New Zealand conference for the first time in franchise history qualifying for the play-offs for just 4th time. The Hurricanes were a dominant force all through the season losing only to the Waratahs 29-24 in week 10 and the Crusaders 35-18.
Australian Conference
The Australian conference was a two horse race for most of the season as the Rebels, Reds and Force all had unexceptional seasons finishing overall in 10th, 13th and 15th respectively. Brumbies and Waratahs however battled tooth and nail with no winner being crowned till the very last week. The Brumbies took second, barely qualifying for the play-offs with 9 wins and 7 losses.
The 2014 champions the Waratahs took top honors in Australia with 11 wins and 5 losses. The Tahs put some exceptional performances but struggled on occasion with consistency away from home. The Tahs lost both at home and away to the Western Force along with away losses to the Lions, Highlanders and Stormers.
South African Conference
The South African conference by far was the biggest let down of the season with all five teams having average seasons. The Cheetahs finished in last place with just 5 wins and 11 losses whilst last year’s conference winners the Sharks took 4th place with 7 wins and 9 losses. The Bulls also managed only 7 wins and 9 losses whilst the Lions had a relatively better season with 9 wins, 6 losses and 1 draw.
The Conference winners the Stormers had some patches of brilliance along with a few low points with 10 wins, 5 losses and one draw. The Stormers lost out to the Chiefs, Highlanders, Hurricanes, Cheetahs and Sharks.
