New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa season ended on Saturday in an empty stadium with the Highlanders producing a high-octane second-half performance to beat the Hurricanes 38-21 in Dunedin.
There remains the distinct possibility the domestic-only competition could return next year.
The Hurricanes’ loss ended their five-game winning streak and denied them the chance to leapfrog the Blues for second place while the Highlander finished fourth with two wins from seven matches.
The match was played at a frenetic pace with the score locked at 14-14 at halftime before the Highlanders ran away with it in the second stanza.
Saturday’s encounter was scheduled as the penultimate clash of the 10-week round-robin tournament.
However, a fresh outbreak of coronavirus in Auckland earlier this week forced the New Zealand government to impose a lockdown on the country’s largest city and the cancellation of Sunday’s Blues match with the Crusaders.
The Crusaders had already won the title before this weekend’s fixtures, although the cancellation put a dampener on the competition that had reinvigorated crowd and fan interest in New Zealand.
The Blues said earlier this week they had sold out Sunday’s game, the second time in their four home matches they had reached the capacity of available tickets.
All five teams reported marked increases on their average crowd size as the competition produced near-Test match intensity rugby every week and helped alleviate some of the game’s financial pressures.
“It has been awesome and probably relit the passion for footy in New Zealand,” Hurricanes captain Dane Coles said after Saturday’s game.
“We have been really stoked with the crowds and … I am pretty proud to have been part of this rugby competition.”
The fresh outbreak of cases, after New Zealand had been free of community transmission for more than 100 days, highlighted that any return to a cross-border Super Rugby competition next year was far from certain.
Coronavirus is not the only factor causing uncertainty, with NZR and Rugby Australia (RA) at loggerheads over a proposed joint trans-Tasman competition from next year.
RA have also submitted bid documents to broadcasters for their future competitions and told NZR they have until September 4 to agree to a new Super Rugby format or they would organise their own domestic competition.