The lack of improvement in Australia’s Super Rugby teams is a worry for Wallabies

After the first six rounds of Super Rugby, all four Australian teams were in the top six – but they faded badly. It paints a grim picture for the upcoming Lions series, writes JULIAN LINDEN.

Barring a sudden change in fortune or form, Australia’s long wait for a Super Rugby champion will go for at least another year.

That’s not to completely dismiss the chances of the Brumbies and the Reds, who have both qualified on merit for the playoffs, but at least one of them is going to have to win in New Zealand for an Aussie team to take the crown.

And as every long-suffering Australian rugby supporter knows, beating the Kiwis on their home turf is like trying to overtake Formula One cars during the Monaco Grand Prix: it’s a pipe dream that rarely happens in real life.

If they do come unstuck on the other side of the Tasman, all the Australian teams will only have themselves to blame because 2025 was another season of missed opportunities.

While the axing of the Melbourne Rebels was expected to boost the depth in the four surviving Australian teams, the collective was minimal at best and there’s a strong argument that they fared worse, not better.

Carlo Tizzano of the Western Force, Rob Valetini of the Brumbies, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii of the Waratahs and Jeffery Toomaga-Allen of the Reds at the 2025 Super Rugby season launch.

After the first six rounds, all four Australian teams were in the top six, but they faded badly in the back of the season and only two made the playoffs when the 14th and final round was completed on the weekend.

The Brumbies and the Reds finished in the exact same positions as in 2024 but both finished with less wins and more losses than last year.

The Waratahs and Force both improved on the ladder but neither performed any better than the Rebels before they were ditched.

The big worry for the Wallabies ahead of their upcoming series against the British and Irish Lions is that the form of Australia’s Super Rugby teams can often indicate how the Test team will perform that year.

In 2001, the year the Wallabies famously beat the Lions in a series for the first time, the Brumbies also won the Super Rugby crown that year.

In 2013, when the Wallabies pushed the Lions to a deciding third test, the Brumbies again made the Super Rugby final.

The similarity between this year’s Super Rugby and last year should be a real cause for concern because in 2024, the Wallabies finished rock-bottom in the Rugby Championship.

Tom Wright in action for the Brumbies.

Tate McDermott was one of Queensland’s best in 2025.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii had a strong season for the Waratahs.

Ben Donaldson was the Western Force’s leading pointscorer this season.

Originally published as The lack of improvement in Australia’s Super Rugby teams is a worry for Wallabies