Reds’ loss ends Highlanders’ season

Sam Gilbert, Mitch Hunt and Scott Gregory after Friday night's loss to the Blues. Photo: Getty Images

But you can guarantee the Queensland Reds will not be getting a Christmas card from the Highlanders this year.

The formula was simple but the co-operation from their Anzac cousins was regrettably incomplete, and the Highlanders will not be appearing in the Super Rugby playoffs this season.

Some will argue that is neither a surprise nor a reason — given the reward would have been a trip to Hamilton and a likely comprehensive defeat by the Chiefs — to be particularly upset.

It is still not a great look, though, especially as the other New Zealand teams all made it, and indeed three of them will be hosting quarterfinals.

The Highlanders actually won one more game (five) than they managed last season, and missed out on the playoffs only on points differential.

They tied for eighth with the Reds. Each had five wins, so the qualifier was points differential, and the Queenslanders’ was 37 points superior. If only the Highlanders had not leaked points like a sieve in the early rounds.

Oddly, the Highlanders also tied for eighth with an Australian team (the Force) last year, but points differential worked in their favour.

Following their gutsy 16-9 loss to the Blues on Friday night, the Highlanders needed favours from three Australian teams.

The Rebels duly lost to the Brumbies, 33-17, in Canberra, and — even though the Chiefs rested half their team in Perth — the mediocre Force slumped to a 43-19 loss.

In between those ideal results was the fly in the ointment.

The Fijian Drua are so hard to beat at home, and they simultaneously sealed their first appearance in the playoffs in their second season and dashed the Highlanders’ hopes with a 41-17 win over the Reds in Suva.

The Drua wiped the Reds off the park in the second half, and if only they got to play at home, they would have a good shot of progressing in the coming weeks.

Their reward is a quarterfinal against the Crusaders in Christchurch, and while every rugby fan in his or her right mind will be pulling for Pacific power to triumph, the reality is the home team should be far too strong.

Likewise, it should be relatively smooth sailing for the Chiefs to roll right over the Reds in Hamilton.

The Blues might need to play better than they did on Friday night but they should also have few issues dealing to the Waratahs in Auckland.

Three relatively predictable quarterfinals is not ideal for those who hope in vain for a competition that throws up lots of surprises, but the fourth playoff game should be interesting.

While the Brumbies start as favourites at home, they will need to be wary of the Hurricanes, who pipped the Crusaders 27-26 on Saturday night.

It was a farewell from Wellington for long-serving Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles, who is retiring at the end of the year.

The famously niggly rake departed with a typical performance that included plenty of vigorous work in the tight as well as the usual verbal sprays for his opponents.

While a Crusaders loss is always reason to celebrate, the story of the final round was — finally — Moana Pasifika.

The battling team had lost 13 straight games but scored three good tries in the first half before beating the Waratahs 33-24 in Sydney.

Moana Pasifika is losing its coach and, regrettably, its best player (to the Crusaders, which stings).

But the concept behind the team remains worthy. Four of its losses were by three points or fewer, and it is in the whole competition’s interests to keep the Auckland-based Pasifika team alive.

Super Rugby

The quarterfinals

Friday

Blues v Waratahs  -  Auckland, 7.35pm

Saturday

Chiefs v Reds  -  Hamilton, 4.35pm

Crusaders v Fijian Drua  -  Christchurch, 7.05pm

Brumbies v Hurricanes  -  Canberra, 9.35pm

Final Standings

hayden.meikle@odt.co.nz