The Super Rugby Pacific competition organisers have released data at the halfway stage of pool play which they say proves this year's edition is faster and more exciting than ever.
A combination of law innovations designed to speed up the game, plus game management from the officials, has contributed to reduced stoppages and quicker re-starts, making for a better product.
What the organisers described as "positive trends" in metrics from data provider Opta "are being matched by increases in viewership, digital engagement and crowd numbers across the competition".
According to Super Rugby Pacific:
• Static time has been reduced by 1m 13s per game, with average match duration 1m 39s shorter than last season.
• Currently the highest-scoring season of all time, with an average of 61 points and 8.8 tries per game.
• The average winning margin of 11.6 points is the sixth smallest in competition history, with almost half of matches decided by seven points or fewer.
• Increased jeopardy within games with an average of 4.3 lead changes per match, and more than a quarter of games (28.2%) featuring a lead change in the final 10 minutes*.
• That jeopardy extends to match results, with more than half of games (59%) reversing a result from 2024* and the 11 teams currently sitting an average of 4.2 ladder positions away from where they finished last season.
• A historically low average of 2.2 penalty goal attempts per game reflecting teams favouring attacking, running rugby.
• A 21.5% increase in average game attendance across the competition to Round 8.
• Strong growth in TV audiences across Australia (30% increase in Nine viewership to Round 8), New Zealand (12% increase in Sky Sport viewership to Round 3) and Fiji (395,436 peak Walesi App viewership in Round 4 – more than a third of the Fijian population).
• Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific has reached 70,000 registered users, with over 2.5 million player transfers made by team managers, reflecting strong week-to-week fan engagement.
• A 55% increase in follower growth across Super Rugby Pacific social media channels.
Super Rugby Pacific chief executive Jack Mesley said the on and off-field results were a strong endorsement of the strategic direction of the competition in 2025.
“As a competition we’re aligned on delivering fast, dynamic and exciting rugby which seeks to capture the imagination of the fans,” he said.
“This season is producing incredible on-field drama every week with close and high-scoring contests, remarkable comebacks, unexpected results, and underdogs regularly rewriting the record books.
“The numbers we’re seeing on broadcast and in stadiums, along with our digital engagement through Fantasy and social media, tells us we’re very much heading in the right direction.
“We anticipate the back half of the season will deliver more of the same as the teams scrap and scramble to make the top six, and to finish as high as possible on the ladder to potentially secure an all-important second chance in the finals.”
Significant time savings have been made at the set piece compared to the 2024 season, with scrums packing 19 seconds quicker and lineouts forming eight seconds faster.
Goalkickers have also been doing their part with a near 30-second reduction in the time taken for penalty goal attempts and 14 seconds saved on conversion attempts.
Another indication of the closeness of the competition is the fact Moana Pasifika last weekend won two matches in a row for the first time in their history, and only six competition points separate the top four. No team has gone through the first eight rounds undefeated, with the Chiefs on top with only one loss.
Super Rugby Pacific – shape of game metrics
Game Length (excluding half-time): 1h 29m 28s (2025), 1h 31m 7s (2024)
Static Time (excluding half-time): 54m 51s (2025), 56m 04s (2024)
Penalty Kick Time: 40s (2025), 1m 8s (2024)
Conversion Kick Time: 55s (2025), 1m 9s (2024)
Scrums (mark to “crouch”): 26s (2025), 45s (2024)
Lineout (mark to formed): 17s (2025), 25s (2024)
Points per game: 61 (2025), 53.7 (2024)
Tries per game: 8.8 (2025), 7.3 (2024)
* Data provided by Professor Dimitri Perrin, Co-Director QUT Centre for Data Science and Queensland Reds Head of Data Science
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