The 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 27th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous seasons were replaced with Super Rugby Unlocked, Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU in 2020, and Super Rugby Aotearoa, Super Rugby AU, and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in 2021. The 2022 edition will revert to a 12-team competition, with a single pool replacing the geographical conference system, as well as introducing a new name for the reformatted competition. The season is expected to run from 18 February, with the final to be played on 18 June - culminating before the start of the mid-year international window.
With the exclusion or withdrawal of the Argentine , the Japanese , and the South African , , and sides at the conclusion of the 2020 Super Rugby season, three new teams were announced to make up the 12 team tournament. The Fiji Rugby Union's domestic team, the , having previously competed in the Australian National Rugby Championship from 2017 to 2019, were announced as one addition to the competition. The newly created franchise, representing players from Samoa and Tonga and other Pacific Islands, also successfully put forth a bid to join the competition. The also returned to Super Rugby, following their exclusion at the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season and following on from their inclusion in Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in both 2020 and 2021.
The competition was again affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the competitions fixtures being revised in December 2021, due to border restriction in New Zealand. Then in January, the announced their Round 1 and Round 4 home matches would be swapped to away matches, due to border restrictions in Western Australia. In February, it was announced that the New Zealand sides (and ) would enter a bio-bubble in Queenstown, New Zealand due to the threat of COVID-19 with all NZ-based matches being played at or . Despite this, it was announced that the Round 1 match between and the would be postponed due to COVID-19 cases within the Moana Pasifika squad.
Competition format The 12 participating teams were not divided into geographical conferences, instead playing 14 regular season games: the 12 teams facing each other once in a home-and-away format for 11 games, and the remaining 3 games played with an emphasis on derby matches; with the Fijian Drua associated with the Australian sides and Moana Pasifika with the New Zealand sides, given they were based there. It was thought likely that the Drua and Moana Pasifika would also develop a rivalry, both being Pacific Island teams.
The top eight teams at the conclusion of the regular season qualified for the play-offs. For the quarterfinals, the first-ranked team played the eighth-ranked team, the second-ranked team played the seventh-ranked, the third-ranked played the sixth-ranked and the fourth-ranked team played the fifth-ranked. The quarterfinal winners progressed to the Semifinal, and the winners of the semifinals advanced to the final. The higher ranked team hosted each playoff match.
Standings
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:center; width:55em;" |- ! Competition rules |- | Qualification: Eight teams will qualify to the finals, with their final positions in the overall log determining their seedings in the quarter-finals. The top eight teams for the quarter-finals will be seeded in order of log points gained during the group stages. In the quarter-finals, the teams seeded #1 to #4 will host the first round of the finals, with the highest-seeded conference winner (Team #1) hosting the eighth-seeded team (Team #8) in quarter-final 1, the second-seeded conference winner (Team #2) hosting the seventh-seeded team (Team #7) in quarter-final 2, the third-seeded team (Team #3) hosting the sixth-seeded team (Team #6) in quarter-final 3 and the fourth-seeded team (Team #4) hosting the fifth-seed team (Team #5) in quarter-final 4. The quarter-final winners will progress to the semi-finals, where the winners of quarter-finals 1 and 4 will play each other, as well as the winners of quarter-finals 2 and 3, each match hosted by the higher-seeded team. The winner of the semi-finals will progress to the Final, again to be held at the venue of the highest-seeded team. |- | Tournament points breakdown: * 4 tournament points for a win * 2 tournament points for a draw * 1 tournament bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * 1 tournament bonus point for scoring at least three tries more than the opponent in a match |- | Classification:''' Teams standings are calculated as follows: * Tournament points * Number of games won * Overall points difference * Number of tries scored * Overall try difference * Coin toss
Round-by-round The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets:
Team Progression Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 RM R7 R8 RM R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 RM R15 QF SF Final Blues 0 (7th) 1 (8th) 5 (7th) 9 (5th) 9 (7th) 13 (6th) 17 (4th) 22 (4th) 27 (2nd) 27 (2nd) 31 (1st) 36 (1st) 40 (1st) 45 (1st) 50 (1st) 54 (1st) 54 (1st) 58 (1st) Won Won Lost Brumbies 4 (5th) 9 (1st) 13 (2nd) 18 (1st) 22 (1st) 26 (1st) 26 (1st) 26 (1st) 31 (1st) 31 (1st) 31 (2nd) 35 (2nd) 39 (2nd) 43 (2nd) 43 (2nd) 44 (3rd) 44 (3rd) 44 (4th) Won Lost DNQ Chiefs 4 (4th) 4 (6th) 5 (8th) 9 (6th) 14 (5th) 14 (5th) 14 (6th) 18 (6th) 18 (6th) 18 (6th) 23 (6th) 28 (5th) 32 (4th) 32 (4th) 36 (4th) 41 (4th) 41 (4th) 45 (3rd) Won Lost DNQ Crusaders 4 (3rd) 9 (2nd) 14 (1st) 15 (3rd) 15 (4th) 19 (3rd) 19 (3rd) 23 (3rd) 27 (3rd) 27 (3rd) 28 (4th) 33 (3rd) 34 (3rd) 39 (3rd) 43 (3rd) 48 (2nd) 48 (2nd) 52 (2nd) Won Won Won Drua 0 (12th) 0 (12th) 4 (9th) 5 (9th) 6 (9th) 6 (10th) 6 (10th) 6 (10th) 6 (11th) 6 (11th) 6 (11th) 6 (11th) 7 (11th) 7 (11th) 11 (11th) 11 (11th) 11 (11th) 12 (11th) DNQ DNQ DNQ Force 1 (6th) 6 (5th) 6 (6th) 7 (8th) 11 (6th) 12 (7th) 12 (7th) 12 (7th) 13 (7th) 13 (8th) 13 (8th) 13 (8th) 14 (9th) 14 (10th) 14 (10th) 14 (10th) 19 (9th) 23 (9th) DNQ DNQ DNQ Highlanders 0 (10th) 0 (10th) 1 (10th) 1 (10th) 1 (11th) 2 (12th) 2 (12th) 3 (12th) 8 (10th) 8 (10th) 9 (10th) 9 (10th) 13 (10th) 17 (8th) 22 (8th) 22 (8th) 22 (8th) 23 (8th) Lost DNQ DNQ Hurricanes 0 (9th) 4 (7th) 8 (4th) 8 (7th) 8 (8th) 9 (8th) 9 (8th) 10 (8th) 11 (8th) 16 (7th) 20 (7th) 24 (6th) 24 (7th) 29 (7th) 33 (5th) 38 (5th) 38 (5th) 39 (5th) Lost DNQ DNQ Moana Pasifika 0 (8th) 0 (9th) 0 (12th) 0 (12th) 0 (12th) 4 (11th) 4 (11th) 4 (11th) 4 (12th) 4 (12th) 4 (12th) 4 (12th) 5 (12th) 6 (12th) 6 (12th) 6 (12th) 6 (12th) 10 (12th) DNQ DNQ DNQ Rebels 0 (11th) 0 (11th) 1 (11th) 1 (11th) 2 (10th) 6 (9th) 6 (9th) 6 (9th) 10 (9th) 10 (9th) 11 (9th) 11 (9th) 15 (8th) 15 (9th) 16 (9th) 16 (9th) 16 (10th) 20 (10th) DNQ DNQ DNQ Reds 4 (2nd) 8 (3rd) 13 (3rd) 17 (2nd) 18 (2nd) 22 (2nd) 22 (2nd) 26 (2nd) 26 (4th) 26 (4th) 30 (3rd) 30 (4th) 31 (5th) 31 (6th) 31 (7th) 35 (7th) 35 (7th) 35 (7th) Lost DNQ DNQ Waratahs 5 (1st) 6 (4th) 7 (5th) 11 (4th) 15 (3rd) 15 (4th) 15 (5th) 20 (5th) 20 (5th) 20 (5th) 24 (5th) 24 (7th) 28 (6th) 32 (5th) 33 (6th) 37 (6th) 37 (6th) 38 (6th) Lost DNQ DNQ Key: win draw loss bye Posp. No match
Matches
The fixtures for the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific competition were released on 15 November 2021. On 23 December 2021, a revised draw was announced due to complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Finals
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
Leading point scorers No. Player Team Points Average Details 1 Stephen Perofeta 129 9.21 4 , 38 , 10 , 0 2 Richie Mo'unga 126 10.50 1 , 32 , 18 , 1 3 Bryn Gatland 122 8.13 2 , 40 , 10 , 0 4 Jordie Barrett 118 9.83 3 , 26 , 17 , 0 Noah Lolesio 118 9.83 1 , 28 , 18 , 1 6 Teti Tela 93 9.30 0 , 21 , 17 , 0 7 James O'Connor 87 8.70 1 , 21 , 13 , 0 8 Matt To'omua 78 7.09 0 , 18 , 14 , 0 9 Tane Edmed 76 6.33 1 , 22 , 9 , 0 10 Ian Prior 75 5.36 0 , 18 , 13 , 0 Source: Points
Leading try scorers No. Player Team Tries Average 1 Leicester Fainga'anuku 10 0.59 Will Jordan 10 0.67 Sevu Reece 10 0.67 4 Josh Moorby 9 0.90 Tom Wright 9 0.56 6 Jock Campbell 8 0.62 7 Caleb Clarke 7 0.78 Lachlan Lonergan 7 0.64 Alex Nankivell 7 0.50 Mark Nawaqanitawase 7 0.58 Salesi Rayasi 7 0.70 Source: Tries
Discipline