And on the second week, the Super Rugby gods said ‘for your years of patience in the face of slow play and grinding games, you will now have tries and those tries will be spectacular. For your dedication in trying times and one-sided contests, children of SR, you are now to enjoy thriller after thriller, for this is 2025 and you deserve it.’

Praise the gods people, they have delivered a fortnight of gold for us to drink in on a Monday and It’s now hard knowing where to start with our weekly rapid recap.

The weekend gone saw two enormous upsets, a tear-jerking celebration of life, a star arrival out of the Pacific and the return of the Queensland Reds.

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You know what, let’s get cracking in Canberra.

5060 DOG DAYS ARE OVER

As Saturday’s game drew closer and closer to a finish I must’ve buttoned on four or five times to ‘Producer Pitbull’ to confirm it had, in fact, been 5060 days since the Force last beat the Brumbies in Canberra.

It was right there in the media kit, but it didn’t seem right, couldn’t be.

‘Pitbull, just confirming, 100 per cent, without question, 5060 days since they beat them here?’

‘Yes mate.’

‘Can’t be right.’

‘It is mate.’

‘Maaaaaaate.’

Of course, the stat was indeed correct and the Western Force made it two in a row to start a season for the first time ever.

So, how did they land their biggest upset road victory in Australia?

The key moment came with ten to play. Down by four, Reduced to 13 men and camped on their own line with the Brumbies feeding the scrum.

Somehow, Brendan Paega-Amosa and his forwards won a tighthead, they kicked to touch and then scored at the other end. Wild.

Morgan Turinui described it as one of their greatest victories and the reaction from across West has been wonderful.

Amongst the starring performances from Ben Donaldson, Carlo Tizzano and Darcy Swain, there was a also Tim Horan’s observation that Force winger Dylan Pietsch’s great form could be attributed to the arrival of his ragdoll cats in Perth.

Meow, meow meow as the kids say.

Watch all the action from the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season on Stan Sport, the only place to watch every match ad free, live and on demand

NO DRAKE, NO DRAMAS

There was plenty of anticipation for both the Queensland Reds opener and Drake’s arrival at Suncorp Stadium.

A box had been set aside for the Canadian rapper and all the chat was the drone enthusiast would be on hand to watch Fraser McReught and his men.

His entourage fronted, but no Drake, leaving much loved, rugby mad NZ band Six 60 to cover the celebrity musician front.

In fact, bad member Hames and his daughter Fleur delivered the match ball.

What followed was another entertaining points scoring bonanza which saw the home team eventually run in 50+ points in really slippery conditions.

Moana came up short however they’ve unearthed a legit gun in Kyren Taumoefolau.

The 21-year-old has been an attacking nightmare across the last few weeks and is without doubt one of the best finishers in the competition.

He scored two tries and looks set for a while lot more on the end of a potent backline.

Tongan born, he played for his country at the 2023 RWC before representing Moana.

A FAREWELL TO REMEMBER

The Highlander’s Connor Garden-Bachop tragically and unexpectedly passed away last year leaving the club reeling.

On Saturday afternoon in front of a huge Dunedin crowd, his team sang Country Road alongside the fans to celebrate his life. The highlanders then performed a haka before both they and the Blues presented brother Toby with jerseys.

It was a tearful watch and then, against all odds, the locals rolled the defending champs.

Reduced to just 13 men, the Dunedin-based side found a way to dig in the back of five star performances from Timoci Tavatavanawai and newbie, Finn Hurley.

Hurley, dubbed ‘The Finisher’ by Sky Sport’s Jeff McTainsh and Joe Wheeler, was phenomenal with his two scores.

Jamie Joseph’s men look likely to take a few more scalps this year which further validates the Waratahs last second win against them in week one.

Well done again to the Highlanders for their celebration of Connor, truly memorable.

HURRICANES DODGE DRUA

Fiji will have to wait a few weeks longer until they grab an elusive road win in NZ after going oh so close against the Hurricanes.

Again, they led late only to be caught out following a failed restart.

It’s now an 0-2 start to the season for the Drua, but they’re leading on the fan front by a mile. Their opening home game was a sell out and they were there again in huge numbers at Maclean Park in Napier.

It sounded like a Fiji home game on occasion they generated so much noise.

Next up it’s the Tahs in Sydney, hopefully they fill the SFS on Friday night.

Toso Fiji fans, Toso.

BOK BRINGS UP 100

Refereeing is like commentary, favourite ice cream flavours and coffee of choice – entirely subjective.

Everyone will always have a different option and mine is that I like NZ ref Ben O’Keefe.

He ran up his 100th Super Game on the weekend in Canberra and oversaw one of the best games on Aussie soil we’ve seen in a long while.

It’s a trend that has gone back a while with O’Keefe in charge, games have more often than not been high paced with the match decided late.

That to me, is a good whistleblower. Congrats Benny.

BETWEEN TWO POSTS BIG NAMES

Huge couple days inbound in Between Two Posts with Super Rugby Champ, Wallaby and now Green Rocket Nick Phipps joining Morgs and I to wrap Super Rugby and Six Nations.

BTP Extra stars world Rugby Sevens player of the year Maddi Levi for an in depth chat on her rise to the top of the charts and her potential tail switch to 15s for this year’s WC.

See you on set!