The OG League Super Rugby Pacific 26 Grand Final
Algorithmic Immortality, Draft Leverage Nightmares, and the 800-Point Blockbuster
The marathon is officially over. Fourteen years of OG League history culminated in a sudden-death, winner-takes-all Grand Final that shattered data rooms and scoring records alike. In a stunning conclusion to the 2026 campaign, debutant Andrew “Claude” (Bondichi’s Team) completed the ultimate fairytale run, using a flawless draft-night ambush to dismantle Minor Premier Blake (Ofa Tu'ungaFAST & The Furious) in the highest-scoring single fixture the league has ever witnessed.
What is the OG League? For those newcomers joining us, The OG League is the founding Draft Rugby fantasy league and is in its 14th year of playing Draft Rugby. The OG League is a public and featured league on the draft rugby platform that you can follow along for the season if you have signed up to the platform. You can find it on the public leagues page featured at the top of draftrugby.com/leagues/join
Super Rugby Pacific Grand Final Top Performers
You can read about the full Grand Final team of the week here.
You can check out the Casualty Ward update for the end of the Super Rugby 2026 here.
The Grand Final Draft: The Pivot Point 🍻🃏
In our postseason rules, specialty positions like flyhalf, hooker, and scrumhalf carry immense structural weight. If you don’t secure a high-ceiling starter, you risk being backed into a corner and forced to play an understudy.
The first two picks went exactly as the pub analytics predicted: Blake took Damian McKenzie at #1 to secure his elite flyhalf, and Andrew immediately answered by taking Samisoni Taukei’aho at #2. From there, Blake faced an agonizing four-way tactical fork in the road:
Snag Cam Roigard to squeeze Andrew on two critical specialty slots.
Attack instantly by taking Ruben Love to completely monopolize premium flyhalves.
Play defense and secure Asafo Aumua to protect his front-row floor.
Ignore the squeeze entirely and grab a premium center like Billy Proctor or Quinn Tupaea.
Nobody expected the wily and experienced Minor Premier to play defense, but Blake blinked, grabbing Asafo Aumua at pick #3 because the drop-off to a bench hooker was the biggest on the board.
That single defensive move handed Andrew complete control of the draft’s priority leverage. Andrew ruthlessly pounced on Cam Roigard at pick #4, a selection masterstroke that allowed him to control the cadence of the draft rooms from that point onward. Andrew built a high-octane roster with his backline picks, grabbing Ruben Love at pick #8 and sneaking Josh Moorby at pick #22, which turned out to be an absolute golden heist.
Other standout picks from the draft included:
Blake snagged Kyle Brown as early as pick #11 to avoid a bench centre.
Ollie Norris was a steal at pick #14 for Andrew, considering his starting average was 53 going into the game.
Blake took Devan Flanders at Pick #25 on his comeback from a concussion; Homer’s nemesis topped the scores for the backrowers.
The Grand Final Match Deep Dive
Ofa Tu’ungaFAST & The Furious (1) vs. (2) Bondichi’s Team
Result: 569 – 803
In terms of raw point output, Blake did not put up a bad score. His squad delivered a robust 569 points, driven by an unbelievable, career-best 105-point performance from Jordie Barrett and a strong 71 from Asafo Aumua. Under any normal circumstances, pushing toward 600 points makes a team deeply competitive.
Unfortunately for Blake, Andrew unleashed a historic, 803-point tactical hurricane that completely blew the Minor Premier off the park. Andrew’s backline ran absolutely riot under the grand final lights. Josh Moorby went completely nuclear for 122 points, perfectly complemented by a magnificent 86 from Ruben Love and a clinical 73 from Fehi Fineanganofo. Even with Cam Roigard supplying a smooth 51 from the base of the ruck, Andrew’s team looked unstoppable.
Andrew’s Backline Explosion
Moorby: ███████████████████████ 122 pts
Love: ████████████████ 86 pts
Fehi: ██████████████ 73 pts
The massive margin was also heavily influenced by a brutal real-world concussion ward that hammered the Chiefs’ depth chart. Blake’s starting locks suffered heavily when Tupou Vaa’i was forced off early in the second half with a concussion, capping him at 32 points.
Worse still, Samipeni Finau left with a concussion following a ferocious hit on Jordie Barrett, leaving Andrew with a modest 44 points but completely robbing Blake of defensive parity up front. For Andrew, Sione Ahio suffered an early concussion flag to finish on a meager 9 points, but the Claude genius managed to avoid the disaster by benching him for his two Outstanding Props, Ollie Norris (51) and Xavier Numia (64). Andrew’s selection baseline was so highly optimized that he left Brayden Iose (41) on his reserves bench without shedding a single competitive tear.
Blake will look at his own bench with immense regret, having left Isaia Walker-Leawere (62) on the pine. The only medical silver lining belonged to Blake’s Luke Jacobson, who overcame a pre-game illness that saw him miss the media scrum to play the full 80 minutes and log a gritty 31 points. But by then, the scoreboard was long gone.
The Grand Final shootout between Blake & Andrew Drafts this Thursday at 8:00 PM live at the pub. You’ll be able to follow along on the OG League Grand Final’s Public league.
Semi Final OG League Fantasy Facts
Best Player: Josh Moorby (122 points) – bondichi’s Team
Best Free Agent: Leroy Carter (62) - Chiefs.
Biggest Coaching Mistake: Blake, for leaving 62 points from Isaia Walker-Leawere on the reserves list while starting Warner Dearns (20).
The Final Decree 👑
With an all-time record score of 803 points, Andrew (bondichi’s Team) is officially crowned the 2026 OG League Premier Champion! From the bottom of the table’s algorithmic nightmare last season with Sean, to a first-year debutant storming the castle to claim the biggest crown in draft rugby history, the data has spoken.
Congratulations to Andrew on a legendary championship run, condolences to Blake for a brilliant minor premiership campaign that fell at the final hurdle, and to the rest of the league, the 2027 draft room is officially calling.
Written by Harrison Dale