BLUES
Definitely support them
They are the best team in the competition, and have basically been the best team all season. Ignore the weird brain fade that cost them a bonus point and the chance to qualify top after the round robin. They have finally matched grit and workrate with explosive power and pace, and the result is a team with basically no weaknesses. Great teams deserve to win titles.
It would be good for rugby and for this competition. The Blues play in our biggest market but, like the other teams, are struggling for sustained public interest. A glorious victory after a turbocharged final would be a shot in the arm for Super Rugby.
They’ve had the longest championship drought of all the New Zealand teams. By FAR. Weird, really. The Highlanders last won a title in 2015, the Hurricanes in 2016, the Chiefs in 2013, and the Evil Empire a year ago. If we do not count the Super Rugby Transtasman title in 2021 — and you can’t, really — the Blues have gone 21 years without a title. Yikes.
They’re not the Crusaders.
Do not support them
They’re based in Auckland. There is nothing good about Auckland.
A Blues win might, in a weird way, sort of reflect badly on the All Blacks’ chances this year. Bear with me. Hardly any of the Blues players are locked-in starters in a black jersey. Mark Tele’a, perhaps Rieko Ioane, Dalton Papali’i at a pinch. Otherwise, this is a lineup packed with fringe players and battlers. Might be something just a little unsettling about a team not stacked with test regulars winning it all.
CHIEFS
Definitely support them
They’re the underdogs. Sure, the Otago Daily Times tipped them at the start of the season to be champions. But they qualified fourth, they are playing away and they are the slightly weaker team on paper. You should always support the underdogs.
The Chiefs are sort of the Highlanders’ kindred spirits. They play in an unfashionable city, and they never get the hype that surrounds the big three.
Damian McKenzie. So fun to watch, and a championship will cement his legacy as a Super Rugby great.
They’re not the Crusaders.
Do not support them
They’re based in Hamilton. Come on now.
The Highlanders only lost to them by seven points. It will grate just a little if the Chiefs win tomorrow night and Highlanders fans think about how close their team got to them.
