August 28, 2025 • 8 mins
The Super Rugby Pacific draw for 2026 was officially announced - and with it came some new changes.
The 'Lucky Loser' rule from last season has been modified, with the highest-ranked first round loser sliding to bottom seed for the remainder of the finals.
Coming off the announcement earlier today, D'Arcy spoke with Super Rugby CEO Jack Mesley to give us a rundown of all the latest news.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk zed Be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Super Rugby Pacific draw for twenty six was officially announced
today sixteen round seventy seven round robin games a super
Round at christ Church at Takaha the stadium there. Lucky
Loser has changed. There's a lot to talk about and
we're going to talk about it right here, right now.
(00:33):
The man in Judge, Jack Nessli, is the CEO of
Super Rugby Pacific, who joins the program to give us
a rundown.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Hey Jack, Hey Darcy, how are you on?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Very well yourself?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I'm great mate, Yeah, a couple of months after the season,
really excited that we announced Super Around a couple of
weeks ago and now following it up with the release
of the twenty twenty six super Uggay Pacific Draw.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was kind of leaked the weibit some of the
games anyway, that's all by design.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Right absolutely, yeah, or by design we want the clubs
to be able to have the first crack at the chairry,
bite at the cherry and get out some of their
key fixtures, which they did the other day. And now
we follow up with the main course and all games
out there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Now, lot's the talk about a couple of key features.
We'll talk about the lucky loser. First colleague Jason Pine
said to me, look, basically, a Super Rugby Pacific have
done what well. Super Rugby Pacific has been amazing the
last couple of years because you've reacted so fast to
problems and you've given it the sniff test. You've looked
at that lucky loser situation.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Ah, that stinks.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We need to do something about it, and you did.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
And you know, I think this all comes back to
just some changes in structure of how we're managing Super
these days and the desire as we've always talked about
ad nausea and about getting the fan back in the room.
It literally was a bit of a pub test, you know,
whether it was sitting in the pub down in Canberra
the night that the Canes played the Brumbies after the
(01:59):
Chiefs became the lucky loser, or being bound in Christchurch
for the final, there was clearly.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Feedback cunning at us that this this thing just didn't.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Quite look right, and you know we committed to doing
a review and doing that review pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Overall, we were really happy with the final series.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
We thought the sixteen final series which saw some unexpected results,
which for the first time in a long time, you know,
we saw some great results.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Six beating one, you know, Blues getting up over Chiefs
was just compelling rugby.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But you know we wanted to iron out a few
of the kinks, so so we've changed that for the
next season. The lucky loser, you know, will now just
become the fourth seed, ensuring that they get another chance,
but they don't get to benefits. They won't play at
home in the semi finals. And you know, we think
that's a smart way to play it.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Pragmatic of course. The trick of winning Super Rugby Pacific
titles is just don't keep beaten. Doesn't matter we are
in the drugs. Don't get beaten.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Keep winning is.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And we know how hard it is
to win away from home, right, so you know that
is tough.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And when it comes finals time, well just don't lose.
That's the point.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So how deeply did you dig into this? So you
consulted a lot of people. You said you wanted to
get done in a hurry, and plainly you did. Did
you look at teams at organizations at players that punters.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
To talk to.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think the initial feedback clearly came.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
In the form of media and fans as it was
playing out. So we took that and then within our.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Stakeholder group of the players, associations, the broadcasters, the unions,
the clubs, and ussentrally as the competition got together, reviewed
the options.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
We did go back and review some of.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
The options that other people were talking about, including going
to four teams or you know, maybe one and two
sitting out a week.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
We went back and we looked at all of those.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
But you know, with the feedback from all that stakeholder group,
we think this is the best way forward for Super.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The draws come out, the Blues have got TBC, TBC,
TBC TBC right the way through the draw. The rumor
is that they'll be taking some of their games away
from Eden part. When do you expect to confirm the
location these fixtures?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Jack, Yeah, I mean, I can't speak for the Blues
in terms of the timing of when they will announce that,
but I think they're doing a really important piece of
work in reviewing that and doing so in the best
interests of their fans.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And their stakeholder group.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
So you know, clearly the stadium picture in Auckland is complex,
you know, but we support the Blues in taking the
time to do the right thing for them and their stakeholders,
and we'll support them in announcing that as soon as
they're ready.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Complex. That's generous, Jack. You mentioned before the sex they're
top sex with a lucky loser. It's still got to
live in teams not ideal. There may have been a
thought to change that and look at expansion, expansion. How
far down the line are you with the possibility of
bringing a twelve team into the comp.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Well, I would say we're not even at the starting line, Darcy.
I mean, it's not actually a focus of ours to
go and just.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Find another team.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
You know, our core focus is to make the competition
and the clubs within it right now as strong as
they can be, and we think we've still got a
lot of headroom and a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
To make sure that works.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, Thoughts about expansion, you know, they're very detailed
and they need a lot of strategic work, and you
know we are looking at that into the long term.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But right here, right.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Now, as I said, our focus is on doing the
right thing by the eleven teams within the comp and
making this comp as good as it can be.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's in the effort. It's definitely part of what
you're doing, but it's not right here right now. Maybe
over a few years.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Rugby three sixty are three sexty. Did do you guys
feel threatened by this competition? I mean, is it worth
keeping a watching brief on what they're doing. I'm not
sure if it will get up and running, it will work,
but it's in the bubble, isn't it. People are talking
about it. Do you have any worries about that deck?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, I mean absolutely we do. But you know, these
things are all speculative. I mean, we know we have
lots of competition and whether it be new competition or
existing competition, our focus is, as I said before, just
to make sure supers as good.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
As it can be. And you know what we do
know is we've got some of the biggest names in
rugby playing in our competition. In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
That Jordi Barrett, Joseph Suerley, he Will Jordans, the world's
best rugby talent is playing in Super Raby Pacific next year.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
That's what's important to us.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Obviously there's questions for the respective unions about player contracting
and eligibility. That's not in my wheelhouse. But yeh, as
we said here today releasing the twenty twenty six draw,
what we know is we've got a great season coming.
We've got great talent playing right in our own backyard
and we hope fans all across the Pacific are excited
by that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I'll tell you what. The super Round the day he
christ is going to be huge, so looking forward to that.
But are you sure the stadium is going to be finished?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Jack? Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
I mean I'm clearly not a builder, but having been
in the stadium twice and seeing the progress and just
where they're at, yeah, I mean I think it will
be ready.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know, we'll be ready super Round and we can't wait,
I know.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
We We've just released the full fixtures for the weekend,
so hopefully fans are further excited about getting down there
for a full weekend and experience all those matches and
everything that christ Church and Canterbury have to offer. Yeah,
and the stadium's looking great. I cannot wait for everyone
to go in there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And experience.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I've been lucky enough to walk around it, been down
in the change rooms, been around the concessions, all of
those things, and there is absolutely not a bad seat
in the house. So it's going to be cracking come
come April.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Brilliant. It's my old hometown. I was down there visiting,
and honestly, it looks like something out of war in
the worlds that's coming up out of the center of
Center of Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
It pretty amazing how central it is, Isn't it like
it's you know, it's just hundreds of meters away from
Riverside and all the all the new bars and restaurants
that are down there, and walking distance to hotels.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, it's it's such a great facility.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
For more from sports talk, listen Lived and News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcasts
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk zed Be.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Super Rugby Pacific draw for twenty six was officially announced
today sixteen round seventy seven round robin games a super
Round at christ Church at Takaha the stadium there. Lucky
Loser has changed. There's a lot to talk about and
we're going to talk about it right here, right now.
(00:33):
The man in Judge, Jack Nessli, is the CEO of
Super Rugby Pacific, who joins the program to give us
a rundown.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Hey Jack, Hey Darcy, how are you on?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Very well yourself?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
I'm great mate, Yeah, a couple of months after the season,
really excited that we announced Super Around a couple of
weeks ago and now following it up with the release
of the twenty twenty six super Uggay Pacific Draw.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
It was kind of leaked the weibit some of the
games anyway, that's all by design.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Right absolutely, yeah, or by design we want the clubs
to be able to have the first crack at the chairry,
bite at the cherry and get out some of their
key fixtures, which they did the other day. And now
we follow up with the main course and all games
out there.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Now, lot's the talk about a couple of key features.
We'll talk about the lucky loser. First colleague Jason Pine
said to me, look, basically, a Super Rugby Pacific have
done what well. Super Rugby Pacific has been amazing the
last couple of years because you've reacted so fast to
problems and you've given it the sniff test. You've looked
at that lucky loser situation.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Ah, that stinks.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We need to do something about it, and you did.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, we did.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
And you know, I think this all comes back to
just some changes in structure of how we're managing Super
these days and the desire as we've always talked about
ad nausea and about getting the fan back in the room.
It literally was a bit of a pub test, you know,
whether it was sitting in the pub down in Canberra
the night that the Canes played the Brumbies after the
(01:59):
Chiefs became the lucky loser, or being bound in Christchurch
for the final, there was clearly.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Feedback cunning at us that this this thing just didn't.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Quite look right, and you know we committed to doing
a review and doing that review pretty quickly.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Overall, we were really happy with the final series.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
We thought the sixteen final series which saw some unexpected results,
which for the first time in a long time, you know,
we saw some great results.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Six beating one, you know, Blues getting up over Chiefs
was just compelling rugby.
Speaker 4 (02:27):
But you know we wanted to iron out a few
of the kinks, so so we've changed that for the
next season. The lucky loser, you know, will now just
become the fourth seed, ensuring that they get another chance,
but they don't get to benefits. They won't play at
home in the semi finals. And you know, we think
that's a smart way to play it.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Pragmatic of course. The trick of winning Super Rugby Pacific
titles is just don't keep beaten. Doesn't matter we are
in the drugs. Don't get beaten.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Keep winning is.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And we know how hard it is
to win away from home, right, so you know that
is tough.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
And when it comes finals time, well just don't lose.
That's the point.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So how deeply did you dig into this? So you
consulted a lot of people. You said you wanted to
get done in a hurry, and plainly you did. Did
you look at teams at organizations at players that punters.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
To talk to.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Yeah, I mean, I think the initial feedback clearly came.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
In the form of media and fans as it was
playing out. So we took that and then within our.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Stakeholder group of the players, associations, the broadcasters, the unions,
the clubs, and ussentrally as the competition got together, reviewed
the options.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
We did go back and review some of.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
The options that other people were talking about, including going
to four teams or you know, maybe one and two
sitting out a week.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
We went back and we looked at all of those.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
But you know, with the feedback from all that stakeholder group,
we think this is the best way forward for Super.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
The draws come out, the Blues have got TBC, TBC,
TBC TBC right the way through the draw. The rumor
is that they'll be taking some of their games away
from Eden part. When do you expect to confirm the
location these fixtures?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Jack, Yeah, I mean, I can't speak for the Blues
in terms of the timing of when they will announce that,
but I think they're doing a really important piece of
work in reviewing that and doing so in the best
interests of their fans.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
And their stakeholder group.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
So you know, clearly the stadium picture in Auckland is complex,
you know, but we support the Blues in taking the
time to do the right thing for them and their stakeholders,
and we'll support them in announcing that as soon as
they're ready.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Complex. That's generous, Jack. You mentioned before the sex they're
top sex with a lucky loser. It's still got to
live in teams not ideal. There may have been a
thought to change that and look at expansion, expansion. How
far down the line are you with the possibility of
bringing a twelve team into the comp.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Well, I would say we're not even at the starting line, Darcy.
I mean, it's not actually a focus of ours to
go and just.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Find another team.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
You know, our core focus is to make the competition
and the clubs within it right now as strong as
they can be, and we think we've still got a
lot of headroom and a lot of opportunity.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
To make sure that works.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You know, Thoughts about expansion, you know, they're very detailed
and they need a lot of strategic work, and you
know we are looking at that into the long term.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
But right here, right.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Now, as I said, our focus is on doing the
right thing by the eleven teams within the comp and
making this comp as good as it can be.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's in the effort. It's definitely part of what
you're doing, but it's not right here right now. Maybe
over a few years.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Rugby three sixty are three sexty. Did do you guys
feel threatened by this competition? I mean, is it worth
keeping a watching brief on what they're doing. I'm not
sure if it will get up and running, it will work,
but it's in the bubble, isn't it. People are talking
about it. Do you have any worries about that deck?
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Yeah, I mean absolutely we do. But you know, these
things are all speculative. I mean, we know we have
lots of competition and whether it be new competition or
existing competition, our focus is, as I said before, just
to make sure supers as good.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
As it can be. And you know what we do
know is we've got some of the biggest names in
rugby playing in our competition. In twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
That Jordi Barrett, Joseph Suerley, he Will Jordans, the world's
best rugby talent is playing in Super Raby Pacific next year.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
That's what's important to us.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Obviously there's questions for the respective unions about player contracting
and eligibility. That's not in my wheelhouse. But yeh, as
we said here today releasing the twenty twenty six draw,
what we know is we've got a great season coming.
We've got great talent playing right in our own backyard
and we hope fans all across the Pacific are excited
by that.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I'll tell you what. The super Round the day he
christ is going to be huge, so looking forward to that.
But are you sure the stadium is going to be finished?
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Jack? Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:54):
I mean I'm clearly not a builder, but having been
in the stadium twice and seeing the progress and just
where they're at, yeah, I mean I think it will
be ready.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
You know, we'll be ready super Round and we can't wait,
I know.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
We We've just released the full fixtures for the weekend,
so hopefully fans are further excited about getting down there
for a full weekend and experience all those matches and
everything that christ Church and Canterbury have to offer. Yeah,
and the stadium's looking great. I cannot wait for everyone
to go in there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And experience.
Speaker 4 (07:23):
I've been lucky enough to walk around it, been down
in the change rooms, been around the concessions, all of
those things, and there is absolutely not a bad seat
in the house. So it's going to be cracking come
come April.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Brilliant. It's my old hometown. I was down there visiting,
and honestly, it looks like something out of war in
the worlds that's coming up out of the center of
Center of Christ.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
It pretty amazing how central it is, Isn't it like
it's you know, it's just hundreds of meters away from
Riverside and all the all the new bars and restaurants
that are down there, and walking distance to hotels.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
You know, it's it's such a great facility.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
For more from sports talk, listen Lived and News Talks.
It'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcasts
on iHeartRadio.
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