Time flies, doesn’t it? We’re more than halfway through January already. There’s been some Champions Cup early in the New Year which has delivered some fascinating results, and both the Super Rugby Pacific season and Six Nations are now mere weeks away.
Make no mistake, 2025 will be another rugby year for the history books.
There’s the British and Irish Lions Series in Australia, the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, and the HSBC SVNS Series will conclude with an unmissable World Championship event at Los Angeles’ Dignity Health Sports Park.
With so much to look forward to, it’s time to get excited about the rugby year ahead if you aren’t already.
It’s not easy to predict what the next 12 months of rugby will look like but that hasn’t stopped this writer from trying for a third year in a row. There’s never been a better time to be a rugby union fan, and another big year in 2025 will prove that once again.
The All Blacks will reclaim their throne
The Springboks are the kings of men’s international rugby.
With back-to-back Rugby World Cup crowns from recent showpiece events in Japan and France, South Africa has confidently emerged as the best in the business right now, and that’s led some to debate whether they’re the greatest team of all time.
Rassie Erasmus has led the way as the mastermind behind the Springboks’ successes during this dynasty, with the rugby guru transcending what it meant to be the team’s Director of Rugby or otherwise the head coach.
Erasmus now has an aura that goes above what it means to be a mere rugby mortal.
But it’s competitive at the top.
As seen in 2024, it’s not easy to remain the world’s top-ranked side for an entire calendar year, and it seems unlikely the Springboks will be able to hold onto their spot for the entirety of 2025. So, there will be a changing of the guard at the top of the rugby world.
The All Blacks will reclaim the throne.
When the international season draws to a close many months from now, the All Blacks will stand above the rest as the top side on World Rugby’s rankings. They will return to the No. 1 slot, which they had previously occupied for more than a decade.
There was cause for concern for the men in black last season, with the New Zealanders going a worryingly significant streak of Test matches without scoring any points in the final quarter of a contest. As seen in their two Tests in South Africa, that came to haunt them at times.
But the Autumn Nations Series in 2024 should forever be looked at as the reawakening of a giant that was thought to have fallen. New Zealand held on for a tense win over England in Twickenham, stunned Ireland in Dublin, and almost knocked off France in Paris.
Yes, they lost four matches in 2024, but they’re better than that stat suggests and they will be even mightier moving forward. With youngsters like Wallace Sititi, Cam Roigard and others pulling on the black jersey, the ABs will be tough to beat under Razor.
Fiji win Men’s HSBC SVNS Series
Fiji are clearly the best team in men’s rugby sevens.
Yes, South Africa’s Blitzboks took out the SVNS Cape Town title in December, but they’ve still got a lot to prove consistency-wise before they can be viewed as a genuine overall Series champion contender in 2024/25.
Instead, let’s talk about Fiji who put on a clinic en route to the Dubai Sevens title to open the season. They smashed defending League Winners Argentina before getting the better of Spain in the big dance at The Sevens Stadium.
New Zealand, Australia and Argentina have all been a bit too hot and cold at this stage, whereas Spain has been a welcomed surprise and is a dark horse for the title. There’s also defending Series champions France who have shown plenty of fight themselves.
But, when it’s all said and done and the full time whistle sounds at the World Championship in Los Angeles later this year, it’ll be the Fijians who stand tall as worthy winners. New Zealand will reach the same grand heights in the women’s game – avenging their heartbreak from Madrid last year.
Wallabies stun highly favoured Lions
Nobody gave the Wallabies a chance before the Autumn Nations Series.
Former England halfback Ben Youngs famously suggested the British & Irish Lions would be “better off” touring South Africa, rather than going Down Under to face Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies who finished last in last year’s Rugby Championship.
Australia had started their new era under coach Schmidt with two wins over Wales and another triumph over Georgia during the July window but the gap between them and their three southern hemisphere foe proved significant enough later in the year.
That led Youngs to say what he said.
But when Max Jorgensen flew down the left wing in the 84th minute to hand the Wallabies a stunning win over England at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium, the rugby world took notice. It was enough to attract newfound interest in the sport back home in Australia.
While the Wallabies are still regarded as strong underdogs months out from the upcoming Lions Series, they’ve shown enough fight and development under coach Schmidt to suggest they’re a chance of stunning their highly favoured opponents in one of the three Tests.
All the pressure and expectation rests on the Lions.
If the Wallabies can build a lead early in front of a sea of gold in the stands in any of the three Tests, then the win could very well be theirs. But it would be ambitious at this stage to suggest they’ll win the series, as Andy Farrell’s side should still be far too good for that.
The Wallabies will win a battle, but the Lions will win the war.
England avenge their Rugby World Cup heartbreak
There has never been an international team as dominant as England’s Red Roses. It wasn’t a surprise at all to see them take out the inaugural WXV 1 title in 2023, and the same can be said for their heroics last year as they repeated those heroics in Vancouver.
England sit in first place on World Rugby’s Women’s rankings with 97.56 points at the time of writing. There’s daylight between them and second-placed Canada who have 89.31 points to their name, and then New Zealand sit in third with 88.64.
But for all their dominance and success over a significant period of time, the English are still yet to become the reigning Women’s Rugby World Cup champions. The Red Roses haven’t tasted World Cup glory since taking out the 2014 World Cup with a 21-9 win over the Canadians.
They came close to ending the Black Ferns’ reign as the world champions three years ago in New Zealand, and despite going down to 14 women during that Final, they pulled up painfully short in an all-time epic World Cup decider.
It’ll be a different story this time around.
This year, on home soil, the Red Roses will have an opportunity to avenge their 2022 heartbreak with a Women’s Rugby World Cup on home soil. Following the success of the last tournament in New Zealand, this will no doubt be another milestone event for women’s sport.
England are so clearly the favourites for the World Cup crown. With reigning World Rugby Player of the Year Ellie Kildunne amongst their ranks, as well as other genuine superstars, it’ll take a lot to stop the Red Roses on home soil.
Wallaroos will turn heads at Women’s Rugby World Cup
Michaela Leonard is the first Wallaroos captain in history to lead the team to a major piece of silverware. With Australia winning all three of their matches at WXV 2 last year, they were crowned champions after an enthralling event in Cape Town.
Under coach Jo Yapp, the women in gold already showed tremendous signs of improvement – and they’ve got some world-class reinforcements on the way to shake up international rugby even further.
Nine members of Australia’s sevens side have committed to Super Rugby Women’s sides in a bid to play for the Wallaroos at the showpiece event in England. Maddison Levi, Teagan Levi, Charlotte Caslick, Isabella Nasser and Khali Henwood have all signed for the Queensland Reds.
Demi Hayes, Bienne Terita and Tia Hinds have all linked with the ACT Brumbies, while Sariah Paki is the sole member of the sevens side who have penned a deal with the NSW Waratahs. It was a significant announcement made by Rugby Australia late last year.
It remains to be seen, of course, who is good enough to make the Wallaroos squad – with many of these sevens players yet to play any 15s rugby in their lives – but there’s also no doubt they can have a significant impact if any of the nine can get things right.
If the Wallaroos click in 2025 then there’s every chance they could shock a team or two at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. On paper, they have a side that’s good enough to make it out of their pool and they could very well go further than that.
They’ll make the semis.
Five rapid predictions
Jordie Barrett will inspire Leinster’s run to Champions Cup glory: Jordie Barrett has been sensational since debuting for Leinster late last year. The All Black has helped a squad of world-class players rise to a new level. This Leinster side is finally good enough to push on for their highly sought-after Champions Cup title.
Katelyn Vahaakolo is the next Ilona Maher: Katelyn Vahaakolo is a try-scoring machine for New Zealand who is also a highly entertaining character off the field. With more than 350,000 followers and 32.8 million likes on TikTok, Vahaakolo could join Ilona Maher as one of the sport’s most recognisable stars thanks to social media and on-field stardom.
Michael Hooper will face Lions: Four-time John Eales Medallist Michael Hooper is again an active rugby player. The former Wallabies captain is off to Japan after penning a deal with Toyota Verblitz – joining a star-studded cast at the club that includes Rugby World Cup winning All Black Aaron Smith and former NRL flyer Joseph Manu. Hooper wasn’t able to have the fairytale finish at the Rugby World Cup or Olympics, but the AUNZ XV fixture against the British and Irish Lions now firms as a realistic sendoff for the all-time Wallaby great.
All Blacks extend Eden Park streak: Eden Park is a fortress. The All Blacks haven’t lost at the famed Auckland venue in 50 Test matches but they’ll face a tough test this year when the two-time defending world champion Springboks come to town. South Africa have won their last four against New Zealand but they’ll fall short of victory at Eden Park.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii wins John Eales Medal: Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii set the tone on debut for the Wallabies with a Player of the Match performance in a thrilling win over England in November. The midfielder has an incredible attacking skillet and boasts brick wall-like defence. If the Wallabies are to turn heads in 2025 then Rugby Australia’s marquee recruit needs to lead the way – Suaalii will be named the Wallabies’ best player (John Eales Medal) towards the end of the international season.
