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Wikipedia

Super Rugby

Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries: Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia, New Zealand and from the Pacific islands (specifically a Fijian team, and a New Zealand-based Pacifika side representing Samoan, Tongan and other Pacific communities).

Super Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
2023 Super Rugby Pacific season
Super Rugby Pacific Logo introduced for 2022
FormerlySuper 12 (1996–2005)
Super 14 (2006–2010)
Super 15 (2011-2016)
SportRugby Union
Founded1996; 27 years ago (1996)
Inaugural season1996
Owner(s)SANZAAR
CEOBrendan Morris
No. of teams12
CountryAustralia (5 teams)
Fiji (1 team)
New Zealand (5 teams)
Pacific Islands (1 team)
Former:
South Africa (8 teams)
Argentina (1 team)
Japan (1 team)
Most recent
champion(s)
Crusaders
(2022, 11th title)
Most titlesCrusaders (11 titles)
TV partner(s)Australia, Fiji and New Zealand:
Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
Sky Pacific
Sky Sport (Prime)
Stan Sport (Nine Network)
International:
Canal+
Digicel
ESPN
FloSports
Premier Sports
Sanzaarrugby.tv
Sky Italia
SuperSport
TSN
Wowow
Sponsor(s)DHL
Harvey Norman
Shop N Save Supermarket
Related
competitions
Women's Competitions
Super W
Super Rugby Aupiki
COVID-19 Regional Competitions:
Super Rugby Aotearoa
Super Rugby AU
Super Rugby Trans-Tasman
Super Rugby Unlocked
Official websitesuper.rugby

The name was changed to Super 14 with the addition of two teams for the 2006 season, and with expansion to 15 teams in the three countries for the 2011 season, the competition was rebranded as Super Rugby (with no number). In 2016 two new teams, the Jaguares from Argentina and Sunwolves from Japan, joined the competition, playing in two newly separated African groups.

In 2018, the competition underwent another change in format, this time dropping two teams (the Cheetahs and Kings) from the South African conference, and one (Western Force) from the Australian conference. This left the competition with 15 teams.

The Sunwolves left the competition for financial reasons before the conclusion of the 2020 season.[1][2] The 2020 Super Rugby season was subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[3] and this led to a mass-scale restructuring of the competition. Due to international travel restrictions relating to the pandemic, the competition was unable to resume in its multinational format, prompting Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby to launch domestic tournaments, Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa respectively.[4][5] Both these tournaments will continue in 2021, to be followed by Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, a crossover tournament.[6]

In September 2020, the South African Rugby Union announced the withdrawal of their four Super Rugby franchises from the competition, with plans for them to join an expanded PRO14 (which would become the United Rugby Championship).[7] The Argentinian Jaguares also would take no further part in Super Rugby competitions.

The long-term future of Super Rugby in 2022 and beyond was confirmed in August 2021, with a 12-team format confirmed. The competition sees the addition of a Fijian side and a team representing the Pacific Islands, and will return to a format similar to what was played pre-COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament for 2022 and 2023 will be named Super Rugby Pacific.[8][9]

The competition has been dominated by New Zealand teams, who have won 18 times in 26 years. The Crusaders have won most often, with 11 titles.

Organisation and format

SANZAAR

SANZAAR is the body that administers Super Rugby, and has the Australian, New Zealand, South African and Argentine rugby unions as its sole members. SANZAAR also runs the Rugby Championship tournament that is contested by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa following the conclusion of the Super Rugby tournament; the Tri-Nations preceded the Rugby Championship before Argentina joined the competition. The organisation was formed in 1996 to establish and run the Super 12, and Tri-Nations Tournament.

Competition format

 
Western Force (Blue) kicking off to the New South Wales Waratahs (White).

Prior to 2011, Super Rugby was a round-robin competition where each team played with every other team once; a team had six or seven home games, and six or seven away games each. The winner received four competition points; if the game was a draw two points were awarded to each team. The Rugby union bonus points system was also used, where any team scoring four or more tries, and/or losing by seven points or less, receives an extra competition point. In 2016, the try bonus changed. A team now has to score three more tries than their opponents. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin phase then played semi-finals – the first placed team hosting the fourth placed team, and the second placed team hosting the third placed team.[10] The two winners then played the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed.[10] There were 91 regular season games in total.[11] Games were held over 14 weekends with each team receiving one bye.

From 2011 – 2015 the format changed, with each country forming its own conference. Each team within a conference played each of the other teams in its conference twice, once at home and once away. Each team then played four out of the five teams from each of the other conferences once. Competition points were awarded on a similar basis as before. The format of the finals also changed; it involved six teams: the top team in each of the three conferences plus the three next teams with the highest total number of points, regardless of conference. The four lower ranking teams were paired in two sudden death games; the winners of those two games each played one of the two top ranked teams (which received a bye at the start of the finals). Those winners played for the championship.[12]

For the 2016 and 2017 seasons the format changed again, with three more teams joining, one each from Argentina, Japan and South Africa. There were four conferences, with Africa getting two conferences. The finals had eight teams with each conference winner getting a home quarter final. They were joined by four wild card teams, three from the Australasian group and one from the South African group.

From the 2018 season the format changed again, with two South African teams and an Australian team being dropped. There were three conferences, one containing the five New Zealand teams, a South African one including Argentina's team and an Australian one including Japan's team.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the competition had to undergo a change in structure and be split into regionalised tournaments. There are currently two national competitions, Australia's Super Rugby AU and New Zealand's Super Rugby Aotearoa, and these will be followed by Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in 2021, a crossover competition involving the five Australian sides playing the five New Zealand sides. Super Rugby currently only consists of Australian and New Zealand sides, with the Japanese Sunwolves departing the competition after the 2020 season, the South African sides voting to leave to join an expanded PRO14, and the Argentinian Jaguares not set to compete in any Super Rugby tournament in 2021.

From 2022, the tournament will revert to round robin format featuring 12 teams, with the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika joining the competition. There will be no divisions from 2022 onwards, with one main log being used instead, and top 8 teams qualifying for the playoffs.

History

Background

Before 1996, a number of transnational competitions involving regional and provincial rugby union teams had taken shape in the southern hemisphere. The earliest of these was the South Pacific Championship, which was launched in 1986 and continued until 1990.

Super 6 Champions
Season Champions
1992 Queensland

Super 6

After the demise of the South Pacific Championship, with no tournament played in 1991, the competition was relaunched as the Super 6 in 1992. The original Super 6 competition consisted of three provincial teams from New Zealand: Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington; along with two Australian state teams: Queensland and New South Wales; and also the Fiji national team.

Super 10

Super 10 Champions 1993 – 1995
Season Champions
1993 Transvaal
1994 Queensland
1995 Queensland

In 1993, the Super Six competition was revamped and expanded into the Super 10 tournament. With South Africa being readmitted into international sport following the dismantling of apartheid, there was an opportunity to launch an expanded competition which would also feature South Africa's top provincial teams. The inaugural competition featured the following teams: Waikato, Auckland, Otago and North Harbour (New Zealand); Natal, Transvaal and Northern Transvaal (South Africa); Queensland and New South Wales (Australia) and Western Samoa (Pacific Tri-Nations winner). The Super 10 was won by Transvaal (South Africa) in 1993, and by Queensland (Australia) in 1994 and 1995.

SANZAR era

Super 12 (1995–2005)

The official declaration of professionalism in rugby union in August 1995 led to a restructuring of the Super 10 competition. Following the success of the 1995 World Cup, the rugby boards of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa formed SANZAR (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby) to administer an annual 12-team provincial/franchise based competition pitting regional teams from the three nations against each other. In addition it was decided to hold an annual Tri-Nations Test Series between the three countries. A significant reason for the development of the Super 12 was the threat to rugby union from rival football code rugby league: part of the business model for the Foxtel pay TV network in Australia was to attract subscribers by offering an exclusive product (such as rugby union) which could not be seen on free-to-air broadcast television. By setting up the Super 12, the Unions had a product that was in demand from viewers, enabling them to sell a 10-year contract for exclusive television rights to News Corp for US$555 million, giving them both coverage and financial support to kickstart the new competition.[13]

 
The Super 12 logo used from 1996 to 2005.

With significant sponsorship, and rugby turning a professional sport in August 1995, the Super 12 competition successfully kicked off in 1996 with five New Zealand franchises, four South African provinces and three domestic Australian teams competing. New Zealand's dominance of the competition began in the first year when the Auckland Blues won the inaugural competition defeating South African side the Sharks 45–21 in a home final. The Blues would repeat the success of 1996 beating Australian side the ACT Brumbies 23–7 in the 1997 final.

The Blues then reached their third successive final in 1998 but went down to fellow countrymen the Canterbury Crusaders 13–20. This would mark the beginning of the Crusaders' three-year dominance as they went on to win the 1999 and 2000 finals over the Otago Highlanders and ACT Brumbies respectively. The 2001 season was the first in which no New Zealand franchise reached the final, being contested between the ACT Brumbies and Sharks with the Brumbies convincing winners, with a 36–6 scoreline.

The Crusaders won their 4th final in 2002 winning all 11 matches and missed out on their 5th in 2003 with a four-point loss to fellow countrymen the Blues. In 2004 the Brumbies took revenge on their 2000 final loss to the Crusaders defeating them 47–38 in front of a home crowd. The Crusaders would bounce back to win the 2005 final 35–25 against the Australian side the New South Wales Waratahs who reached their first-ever final. This was the last year of the 12 team format.

From the early 2000s Australia had started to push for the inclusion of a fourth Australian team, and South Africa for another team from its country. There was also speculation of including a team from the South Pacific Island nations, such as Fiji; or a combined Pacific Islanders team from Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga. Argentina was also pushing for inclusion in the Super 12. In the early 2000s the provincial names from the New Zealand franchises were dropped, so, for example, the Canterbury Crusaders became The Crusaders. Also South Africa followed the New Zealand franchise model, where previously South African participation was decided by the previous year's Currie Cup placings.

Super 14 (2006–2010)

SANZAR announced in December 2004 that a new five-year television deal had been signed that would cover 2006 to 2010, with News Corporation winning the rights for the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and SuperSport winning rights for South Africa. The contract was worth US$323 million over five years, a 16% annual increase compared to the previous deal.[13] It covers international fixtures as well as the Super 14. SANZAR remained free to negotiate separate deals for other markets, such as France, Japan and the Americas.

 
The Super 14 logo used from 2006 to 2010.

The TriNations is the "cash cow" for the SANZAR partners as it provides nearly 60 per cent of the money from News Ltd.[needs update] The Super 14 made up about 30 per cent of the deal.[citation needed] Under the new deal, Australia and South Africa each got one extra team in the competition, and a third round of fixtures was added to the Tri Nations Series. The new Australian team in the competition was based in Perth and was named the Western Force.

The addition of the new South African team led to considerable controversy, including government involvement. Finally, the five teams for 2006 were confirmed to be the country's existing four teams plus the Cheetahs, which draws its players from the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces. For the 2007 season, the Southern Spears, based in Port Elizabeth, were originally intended to replace the lowest-finishing South African team from the 2006 competition. However, the existing South African Super 14 franchises opposed the plan, which was pushed through by controversial president of the South African Rugby Union, Brian van Rooyen. After van Rooyen was ousted as president, SARU announced that the Spears would not enter the competition.[14] SARU investigated the viability of the Spears after discovering serious financial irregularities.[15] A High Court of South Africa ruling stated that the Spears had a valid contract to compete in the Super 14 and Currie Cup. However, because of the organisation's financial and administrative troubles, in November 2006 a settlement was reached. The Spears abandoned their legal case, and will continue to exist, but not compete in the Super 14.[16]

SANZAR rejected a proposal to split the Super 14 into two seven-team divisions, and decided to keep the competition in its traditional single-table format. Argentina and the Pacific Islands remained shut out of the competition.

The two new teams didn't perform all that well, the South African franchise the Cheetahs did the better of the two teams finishing 10th on the ladder notching up 5 season wins. The Australian franchise the Western Force only managed one victory and ended winning the wooden spoon as last placed 14th. The highlight for the Force was a 23-all draw against eventual champions the Crusaders, who defeated first-time finalists the Hurricanes 19–12.

 
The Cats (now the Lions) playing the Sharks.

During the 2007 season, 22 All Blacks missed the competition's first seven rounds as part of an All Black "conditioning programme" that was a part of the All Blacks' 2007 Rugby World Cup preparations, and every New Zealand franchise was without players for the first seven rounds.[17][18][19] At the end of the regular season, for the first time since 1998, no Australian franchise had made the semi-finals. Although the Brumbies were strong and the Western Force experienced vast improvement, it was a poor season for the Queensland Reds and Waratahs who finished last and second last respectively. Also, the competition featured the first all-South African final as the Sharks and Bulls, who finished 1–2 on the season ladder, both won their respective semi-finals. The final, held in Durban, saw the visiting Bulls win 20–19.

During the time the competition was branded as the Super 14, only two teams won the tournament. The Crusaders winning the 2006 and 2008 tournaments; while the Bulls ended victorious in 2007, 2009, and 2010 respectively.

Super Rugby: 15 teams (2011–2015)

SANZAR unveiled in 2009 its model for an expanded season that would begin in 2011. This model was based around the original ARU proposal for three national conferences: each side were to have played the other four teams from their own country twice and the other ten teams once each; the season has to end with a six-team finals series.

 
The Super Rugby logo used from 2011 to 2021.

There were four major compromises, however, designed to accommodate certain wishes of each country, that somewhat complicated the model:

  • Each team would only play four, instead of all five, teams in each of the other two national conferences, making sixteen regular season games for each team instead of eighteen, and allowing for a late February start, somewhat placating the ARU and NZRU who wanted a March start.
  • There would be a three-week gap for the June test (international) matches favoured by the SARU.
  • The season would finish in early August so as not to overlap new streamlined versions of New Zealand's and South Africa's domestic competitions.
  • The three conference winners and the three best performers of the remaining teams would qualify for a three-week finals series, with seedings deciding the match-ups. This system is a hybrid of the conference-based qualification system favoured by the SARU and the 'top six' model favoured by the ARU and NZRU.

SANZAR announced in 2009 the addition of a fifth Australian team that would play in the expanded "Super Rugby" competition in 2011. The licence was awarded to Victoria, Australia, and the team's name announced as the Melbourne Rebels. The Australian start-up franchise was given the nod ahead of South Africa's Southern Kings.[20] Brian Waldron, former CEO of the NRL club the Melbourne Storm, was confirmed as the new CEO of the Rebels on 11 January 2010, but resigned on 23 April after a salary cap breach was uncovered at the Storm.[21]

SANZAAR era

Expansion: 18 teams (2016–2017)

In February 2012, SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters announced that the organisation was considering adding franchises in Argentina, Japan and the United States in 2016, the first year of SANZAR's next television contract. This was also the year that rugby sevens entered the Olympics, which contributed towards increased interest in the sport in many countries, including Japan and the US.[22]

Australian sports broadcasting analyst Colin Smith noted that the addition of Japanese and American teams could result in a TV deal worth more than A$1 billion beyond 2020. Specifically, he stated, "You could have a deal comparable to the other major sports in Australia. Rugby is a college (university) sport in the US, if soccer can create its own league there and sell teams for $40 million, imagine what you could do in 10–12 years with rugby in that market."[22] By comparison, the largest TV deal in Australian sport, that of the Australian Football League (Australian rules), is worth A$1.26 billion from 2012 to 2016. Even that figure was dwarfed by the TV contracts of the NFL, for which contracts at the time were worth more than US$4 billion annually.[23]

Peters added that the conference-based structure was ideal for expanding the competition to new territories, either by adding new conferences or by adding teams to the current conferences. He also discussed the possibility that offshore Super Rugby teams could be a home for surplus players from the SANZAR countries, keeping them in the SANZAR fold and away from European clubs.[24]

Prior to Super Rugby's broadcast contracts expiring after the 2015 season, SANZAR considered several alternatives for the competition's future organisation: [25]

  • Retention of the conference system that was in place for 2011–15.
  • Expansion of the structure to include teams from Asia, the United States and/or Canada.[26]
  • A split of the competition, with South Africa forming one competition with the likely addition of at least one Argentine side, and Australia and New Zealand forming another, with the possibility of including Asian teams.

The last proposal, made by the SARU, was reportedly driven by internal union politics. With only five guaranteed places in Super Rugby but six active franchises, the bottom team in the South African Conference faced a promotion/relegation playoff with the sixth franchise for a place in the next season's competition. Australia and New Zealand warmed to the SARU proposal, as a trans-Tasman competition would potentially allow for more regional derbies, fewer time zone complications and less player travel.[25] However, NZRU chief executive Steve Tew indicated that a competition that did not include South African teams was a commercial non-starter because of large broadcast revenues from that country and because the NZRU considered Super Rugby matches in South Africa to be critical for national team development.[26]

SANZAR announced on 4 September 2013 that South Africa would be granted a sixth franchise starting in the 2016 season, negating the need for relegation play-offs involving the sixth South African franchise.[27] SANZAR then announced on 20 November 2014 that Japan and Argentina would each be allocated a team from the 2016 season onwards.[28]

In 2017, the Australian Rugby Union was rebranded to Rugby Australia.[29]

Contraction: 15 teams (2018–2020)

In April 2017, SANZAAR confirmed the competition would be reduced to 15 teams in 2018 with two South African and one Australian team to have their franchises withdrawn.[30] Subsequently, four South African teams took part: the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers, with the Cheetahs and Kings losing their spots. The Cheetahs and Kings joined the Pro 12, which became the Pro14 from the 2017–2018 season onwards.[31] On 11 August 2017, Australia announced that the Western Force had lost their licence.[32] On 21 March 2019, SANZAAR confirmed that 2020 will be the Sunwolves last season of competition in Super Rugby.[33]

COVID-19: Separate competitions and South African departure (2020–2021)

 
 
 
 
The logos for Super Rugby Aotearoa, Super Rugby AU, Super Rugby Trans-Tasman and Super Rugby Unlocked

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2020 Super Rugby competition to be cut short. As health concerns eased, other professional sports returned to play. The Super Rugby season was unable to resumed, however, due to border restrictions and the need for teams to be placed into quarantine upon arrival in each country. This resulted in New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia forming their own Super Rugby tournaments starting in June and July respectively, so that their teams could compete domestically.[34][35] South African Rugby subsequently launched its own domestic Super Rugby competition which started play in October 2020.[36]

The three competitions formed were:

 
Super Rugby AU final between Queensland Reds and Brumbies in 2021.

Super Rugby Aotearoa featured all five New Zealand teams from Super Rugby: the Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders and Hurricanes.[34] Super Rugby AU included Australia's four teams, the Reds, Waratahs, Brumbies and Rebels, as well as former Super Rugby side, the Western Force.[35] The Force had continued as a franchise after their 2017 post-season exclusion from Super Rugby and were playing in Global Rapid Rugby, also suspended due to COVID-19. The Australian and New Zealand competitions each scheduled a 20-game home and away season in 2020 but Super Rugby AU played two additional knockout matches to decide the Australian title.[35]

Super Rugby Unlocked featured South Africa's four Super Rugby teams (the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers) plus former franchise the Cheetahs as well as the Currie Cup sides Griquas and Pumas. These seven teams competed in a single round-robin domestic format in 2020.[36]

In September 2020, SA Rugby announced the withdrawal from Super Rugby of all of their teams, with plans for the four sides to join an expanded Pro14/United Rugby Championship competition.[37] Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU continued in 2021,[38][39] Super Rugby Trans-Tasman would also take place in 2021, a crossover competition featuring the Australian sides playing the New Zealand sides.[40]

Super Rugby Pacific: Fiji and the Pacific Islands join the competition (2022–)

In the longer term, a new 12-team tournament from 2022 onwards had been mooted, with the current five Australian and five New Zealand sides to be joined by Moana Pasifika, and a Fijian side.[8] New Zealand Rugby has confirmed that it intends to partner with Fiji Rugby and Moana Pasifika, along with Australia going forward.[41] In April 2021, it was announced that licences had been offered to the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika ahead of joining Super Rugby in 2022.[42] The new format was confirmed in August 2021, with the tournament branded as Super Rugby Pacific, with the competition returning to a round robin format, although the divisions will be replaced by one main log instead.[43]

Current franchises

There are twelve franchises currently in Super Rugby; five from Australia, one from Fiji, five from New Zealand, and one representing the Pacific Islands. Each franchise is representing a franchise area, with each franchise in New Zealand representing a collection of unions, compared to the Australian model of one franchise per union. This model differs from the traditional club-based model of other Australian sports; with 5 Super Rugby teams in Australia compared to the 16 Australian-based National Rugby League teams and the 18 teams of the Australian Football League. The Pacific Islands franchise, Moana Pasifika, will play mainly in New Zealand during the 2022 season.

Club City Stadium Capacity First season
  Blues Auckland, Auckland Region Eden Park 50,000 1996 (Super 12)
  Brumbies Canberra, Australian Capital Territory GIO Stadium 25,011 1996 (Super 12)
  Chiefs Hamilton, Waikato FMG Stadium Waikato 25,800 1996 (Super 12)
  Crusaders Christchurch, Canterbury Orangetheory Stadium 18,600 1996 (Super 12)
  Drua Suva, Fiji[A] Multiple venues for 2022 2022
  Force Perth, Western Australia HBF Park 20,500 2006 (Super 14)
  Highlanders Dunedin, Otago Forsyth Barr Stadium 30,748 1996 (Super 12)
  Hurricanes Wellington, Wellington Region Sky Stadium 34,500 1996 (Super 12)
  Moana Pasifika[B] South Auckland, Auckland Region Mt Smart Stadium 30,000 2022
  Rebels Melbourne, Victoria AAMI Park 30,050 2011
  Reds Brisbane, Queensland Suncorp Stadium 52,500 1996 (Super 12)
  Waratahs Sydney, New South Wales Multiple venues; Sydney Football Stadium from 2023 1996 (Super 12)
  • Notes:
  1. ^ The Drua will be based in Brisbane, Australia for the 2022 season due to travel restrictions as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  2. ^ Moana Pasifika are a team created to represent the Pacific Islands, however they are owned and run by New Zealand Rugby and will be based in Auckland for the considerable future, and therefore are listed with the New Zealand flag.

Former franchises

Champions

The following sides have won Super Rugby titles since the competitions inception in 1996.

Year No. of Teams Final Losing semi-finalists
Winners Score Runners-up 1st losing semi-finalists 2nd losing semi-finalists
1996 12   Blues 45–21   Sharks   Reds   Bulls
1997 12   Blues 23–7   ACT Brumbies   Hurricanes   Sharks
1998 12   Crusaders 20–13   Blues   Sharks   Highlanders
1999 12   Crusaders 24–19   Highlanders   Reds   Stormers
2000 12   Crusaders 20–19   ACT Brumbies   Highlanders   Cats
2001 12   ACT Brumbies 36–6   Sharks   Cats   Reds
2002 12   Crusaders 31–13   ACT Brumbies   Waratahs   Highlanders
2003 12   Blues 21–17   Crusaders   Hurricanes   ACT Brumbies
2004 12   ACT Brumbies 47–38   Crusaders   Stormers   Chiefs
2005 12   Crusaders 35–25   Waratahs   Bulls   Hurricanes
2006 14   Crusaders 19–12   Hurricanes   Waratahs   Bulls
2007 14   Bulls 20–19   Sharks   Crusaders   Blues
2008 14   Crusaders 20–12   Waratahs   Sharks   Hurricanes
2009 14   Bulls 61–17   Chiefs   Hurricanes   Crusaders
2010 14   Bulls 25–17   Stormers   Crusaders   Waratahs
2011 15   Reds 18–13   Crusaders   Blues   Stormers
2012 15   Chiefs 37–6   Sharks   Crusaders   Stormers
2013 15   Chiefs 27–22   Brumbies   Crusaders   Bulls
2014 15   Waratahs 33–32   Crusaders   Sharks   Brumbies
2015 15   Highlanders 21–14   Hurricanes   Waratahs   Brumbies
2016 18   Hurricanes 20–3   Lions   Chiefs   Highlanders
2017 18   Crusaders 25–17   Lions   Chiefs   Hurricanes
2018 15   Crusaders 37–18   Lions   Hurricanes   Waratahs
2019 15   Crusaders 19–3   Jaguares   Brumbies   Hurricanes
2020 15 / 17[A] Season cancelled, regional competitions played after cancellation
2021 10 Regional competitions played, no official champions
2022 12   Crusaders 21–7   Blues   Chiefs   Brumbies
  1. ^ 15 sides competed in the 2020 Super Rugby season, however following the tournaments cancellation regional competitions were played. The Jaguares and Sunwolves did not compete in these competitions, however the Cheetahs, Force, Griquas and Pumas competed, bringing the number of regional competition sides to 17 in total.

Regionalised Competition winners

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, regionalised tournaments were played for the remainder of the 2020 Super Rugby season and the 2021 Super Rugby season. Those competitions were: Super Rugby AU (Australia), Super Rugby Aotearoa (New Zealand), Super Rugby Unlocked (South Africa) and Super Rugby Trans-Tasman (Australia and New Zealand).

Year Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby Unlocked Super Rugby Trans-Tasman
2020 Brumbies Crusaders Bulls
2021 Reds Crusaders * Blues

* South Africa withdrew from all Super Rugby competitions at the end of the 2020 Super Rugby season.

Final appearances, victories by country

In the sortable table below, teams are ordered first by number of appearances, then by number of wins, and finally by victorious seasons.

Apps Team Wins Losses Winning
percent
Season(s)
15   Crusaders 11 4 .733 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022
6   Brumbies 2 4 .333 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2013
5   Blues 3 2 .600 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2022
4   Sharks 0 4 .000 1996, 2001, 2007, 2012
3   Bulls 3 0 1.000 2007, 2009, 2010
3   Chiefs 2 1 .667 2009, 2012, 2013
3   Waratahs 1 2 .333 2005, 2008, 2014
3   Hurricanes 1 2 .333 2006, 2015, 2016
3   Lions 0 3 .000 2016, 2017, 2018
2   Highlanders 1 1 .500 1999, 2015
1   Reds 1 0 1.000 2011
1   Stormers 0 1 .000 2010
1   Jaguares 0 1 .000 2019


Team Apps Wins Losses Winning
percent
  New Zealand 28 18 10 .643
  South Africa 11 3 8 .272
  Australia 10 4 6 .400
  Argentina 1 0 1 .000
  Japan 0 0 0 .000

Semi-final appearances by team

 
Super Rugby semi-final between Jaguares and Brumbies in 2019 in Buenos Aires.

Conference winners by team

Between 2011 and 2019, teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have played in 3 separate conferences. With teams playing each team in their own conference twice (home and away) and in the other conferences playing four of the five teams. The winner of each conference is awarded a home final and their region specific conference trophy. In 2016, the South Africa conference was split in two, with Japan's Sunwolves and Argentina's Jaguares added to South Africa 1 and 2, respectively. In 2018, the South African conferences re-integrated, with Argentina's Jaguares remaining in the South Africa conference, and Japan's Sunwolves joining the Australia conference.

Salary cap

Australia

The five Australian teams playing in the competition are subjected to a $5.5 million salary cap for a squad of up to 40 players per Australian team.[44][45][46] The Australian Rugby Union decided in 2011 to introduce the salary cap because of financial pressures.[47] Originally starting in 2012 as a cap of A$4.1 million, it was later raised to $4.5 million for the 2013 and 2014 seasons to take pressure off the teams' ability to recruit and retain players.[48] The salary cap is a key component of the negotiation between the ARU and the Rugby Union Players Association over the collective bargaining agreement.[49] The fact that the Australian teams in Super Rugby face a salary cap has been attributed as a factor that makes it more difficult for Australian teams to win the title.[50]

The cap regulations have some small concessions:[51]

  • Five players on each team may be paid $30,000 each per season by team sponsors; this amount is not included in the team cap.
  • The maximum cap charge for a non-Australian player is $137,000, regardless of his actual wages.

Compared to other Australian 'rival' sporting leagues, such as the NRL and AFL, the salary cap is considerably lower. Two times lower than the AFL and only makes up %55 of the NRL salary cap. However the Australian Super Rugby salary cap stands greater than the A-League, the BBL and the NBL.

Brand and image

Trophies

 
The Super Rugby trophies

There have been several iterations of the trophy awarded to the winner of the Super Rugby competitions.

The Super 14 trophy, unveiled in New Zealand ahead of the 2006 season, was made of sterling silver with the competition logo on a globe sitting atop of a four-sided twisted spiral.[52] Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith in Nelson, New Zealand hand-made the trophy which took over two months to complete.[52]

On 30 June 2011, SANZAR unveiled the new trophy that will be presented to the winners of the Super Rugby final from 2011 and beyond,[53] was crafted from solid stainless steel and polished to a mirror finish. It has a height of 65 cm and a mass of 18 kilograms.[53] The trophy was designed by Blue Sky Design of Sydney. The trophy was manufactured by Box and Dice Pty Ltd also based in Sydney.[53]

SANZAR CEO Greg Peters said "The shape of the trophy is centred around three curved legs, each representing the Conferences involved in the Super Rugby competition . . . The champions trophy is the 'big one', and will become the ultimate symbol of Super Rugby supremacy in the years to come."[53]

The colour on each leg corresponds to the Conferences with gold for Australia, black for New Zealand, and green for South Africa.[53]

There are several other trophies contested during the competition; the Charles Anderson VC Memorial Cup between the Brumbies and Stormers, the Bob Templeton Cup between the Reds and Waratahs, the Ganbattle Trophy between Sunwolves and Rebels and the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy between the Blues and Highlanders. Every year the Super Rugby player of the year is awarded.

During the last season of the Super 12, Coast Design of Sydney was commissioned to design a new logo for the Super 14.[54] The Super 14 logo broke away from the traditional shield formats, common to many sporting codes, and used Roman numerals (XIV), which is unique for sport in the region.[55] The game's dynamism and speed are suggested by the orbiting football which has three distinct stitches, a subtle reference to the three countries of the tournament.[55]

The Super Rugby logo dispenses with numbers, featuring a large blue "S" with a white rugby ball in the centre and "SupeRugbY" below the "S". The three stitches of the previous ball are retained.

Before the expansion to the Super 14, the Super 12 used a logo in the shape of a shield, which had the sponsors name at the top, and then the words "Rugby" and "Super 12". The lower half of the logo used three different coloured stripes, green, black and gold, the respective colours of the national teams of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.[56]

Naming rights

The naming rights for the competition are different in the five countries:

  • In New Zealand, Investec Bank has naming rights starting with the 2011 season, and the competition is referred to as Investec Super Rugby. During the Super 14 era, sporting goods retailer Rebel Sport had naming rights and the Super 14 competition was referred to as the Rebel Sport Super 14. Previously the naming rights holders were U-Bix and then Telecom New Zealand (TNZ). Telecom used its ISP brand Xtra as the label in their last year of holding naming rights.
  • In Australia, telecommunications company Vodafone has been the title sponsor of Super Rugby since 2017[57] As a result, the competition is officially referred to as Vodafone Super Rugby. Prior to this, Super Rugby in Australia was sponsored by Suncorp Group through their life insurance brand Asteron Life. Vodafone were also the title sponsor of the competition during the Super 12 era. In the first season of Super Rugby, Australia had no naming rights partner. Previous to that, Investec acquired naming rights in the middle of the Super 14 era from Lion Nathan, who had named the competition the Tooheys New Super 14, after its Tooheys New beer brand.
  • In South Africa, telecommunications carrier Vodacom has naming rights, and the expanded competition is referred to as Vodacom Super Rugby. Before 1999, when cigarette advertising was banned in South Africa, the competition was sponsored by Winfield.
  • In Argentina, telecommunications carrier Personal has naming rights, and the expanded competition is referred to as Personal Super Rugby.
  • In Japan, real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate acquired naming rights in 2018, the competition referred to as Mitsubishi Estate Super Rugby.[58] The competition had no title sponsor in Japan during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Competition records

Team records

Single match

  • Highest score: 96 points – Crusaders defeated Waratahs 96–19, 2002
  • Lowest score: 0 points – Reds defeated Hurricanes 11–0, 1999; Brumbies defeated Bulls 15–0, 1999; Sharks defeated Bulls 29–0, 1999; Brumbies defeated Cats 64–0, 2000; Highlanders defeated Bulls 23–0, 2005; Blues defeated Brumbies 17–0, 2006; Brumbies defeated Reds 36–0, 2007; Crusaders defeated Western Force 53–0, 2008; Crusaders defeated Stormers 22–0, 2009; Highlanders defeated Crusaders 6–0, 2009; Stormers defeated Highlanders 33–0, 2011; Waratahs defeated Rebels 43–0, 2011; Crusaders defeated Bulls 27–0, 2011; Brumbies defeated Reds 29–0, 2015; Sharks defeated Kings 53–0, 2016; Hurricanes defeated Sharks 41–0, 2016; Crusaders defeated Highlanders 17–0, 2017; Lions defeated Waratahs 29–0, 2018; Highlanders defeated Sunwolves 52–0, 2019; Brumbies defeated Sunwolves 33–0, 2019; Crusaders defeated Rebels 66–0, 2019; Stormers defeated Hurricanes 27–0, 2020; Stormers defeated Bulls 13–0, 2020
  • Highest combined score: 137 points – Chiefs defeated Lions 72–65, 2010
  • Lowest combined score: 6 points – Highlanders defeated Crusaders 6–0, 2009
  • Highest winning margin: 89 points – Bulls defeated Reds 92–3, 2007
  • Highest score away: 83 points – Hurricanes defeated Sunwolves 83–17, 2017
  • Most tries in a match by one team: 14 by Crusaders (v Waratahs), 2002; 14 by Lions (v Sunwolves), 2017
  • Most tries in a match by both teams: 18 by Lions and Chiefs, 2010

Season or streak

  • Most consecutive wins: 16 wins – Crusaders, 2018–19
  • Most consecutive losses in a season: 13 losses – Lions, 2010
  • Most consecutive losses: 17 losses – Lions, 15 May 2009 to 12 March 2011
  • Most tries in a season: 97 tries – Hurricanes, 2017
  • Fewest tries in a season: 13 tries – Lions, 2007
  • Most wins in the regular season: 14 wins – Stormers (2012); Hurricanes (2015); Crusaders (2017); Lions (2017)
  • Most wins in a full season: 17 wins – Crusaders (2017)
  • Fewest wins in a season: 0 wins – Bulls, 2002, Lions, 2010 regular season
  • Fewest losses in a season: 0 losses – Blues, 1997; Crusaders, 2002
  • Most wins in a row at home: 36 wins – Crusaders 2018–2020
  • Most points conceded in a season: 684 – Kings, 2016
  • Largest points difference conceded in a season: 402 – Kings, 2016

Player records

 
Official match ball

Career

Season

Match

Domestic competitions

Each respective country competing in Super Rugby has a number of their own domestic leagues, which feed into Super Rugby teams.

South Africa actually used their Currie Cup teams as opposed to creating new teams during the earlier years of the Super 12. However, the Currie Cup is now the third tier of rugby in South Africa, below Test and Super Rugby; it is played after the Super Rugby season, and all unions are aligned to a Super Rugby team, though it is mainly the big six, Blue Bulls, Golden Lions, Sharks, Free State Cheetahs, Western Province and Eastern Province Elephants which contribute the most to the Super Rugby sides.

In New Zealand, the National Provincial Championship is the most prominent domestic competition below the Super Rugby, in which all the respective Unions are also aligned with Super Rugby sides.

In Australia, the National Rugby Championship (NRC) was launched in 2014. Several teams that played in the former Australian Rugby Championship in 2007,[59] were revived for the NRC.

Argentina, until 2018, like South Africa and New Zealand, had a national championship where several provincial unions competed, the Campeonato Argentino. Another national championship, but for clubs, is Nacional de Clubes.

Japan's main domestic competition was the Japan Rugby League One (formerly Top League), featuring 16 clubs, while the second division, the Top Challenge League, featured 8 clubs.

Fiji's domestic competition is the Skipper Cup, featuring the countries top 12 provincial sides.

Media

Until 2020, in Australia, pay TV station Fox Sports showed every match live and beginning in 2016, free-to-air station Network Ten started showing a full match replay every Sunday morning of the 'Match of the Round' featuring at least one Australian team. Network Ten also showed full match replays of all finals matches featuring Australian teams. From 2021 onwards, Nine Network possesses the broadcasting rights, and any future Super Rugby seasons will have games aired live on streaming service Stan, with the potential for a number of games to be simulcast live on either Nine's flagship free-to-air channel or a multichannel, similar to the current situation with Super Rugby AU.[60]

Super Rugby is broadcast on Supersport in South Africa and is simulcast terrestrially on M-Net. Sky Sport is the official broadcaster in New Zealand. Super Rugby was broadcast in over 40 countries — in the UK on Sky Sports; in Spain it is broadcast by Digital+, and in the United States by ESPN+, which has confirmed all matches will be broadcast live or on demand. In Canada, TSN broadcasts all matches only on TSN GO, their online SD streaming platform. Following the 2020 season though, broadcasting deals with European broadcasters ended, and no new deal had been arranged for the start of the 2021 season.[61][62]

On 24 February 2021, RugbyPass announced streaming rights for the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, to be streamed in all territories in the UK & Ireland, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, totalling 100 territories.[63]

On 6 March 2021, World Rugby announced streaming for the Super Rugby AU competition, to be streamed in all territories in the UK & Ireland, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, totalling over 100 territories.[64]

On 19 March 2021, further broadcasters were announced for both competitions, with ESPN and ESPN International being announced as covering North and South America, Digicel covering the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea, Telefónica covering Spain and Wowow covering Japan.[65]

On 13 May 2021, further broadcasters were announced for Super Rugby Trans-Tasman, with RugbyPass picking up streaming services in European territories again for the tournament. Canal+ was announced as covering France, ESPN Argentina covering the United States, Premier Sports covering Southeast Asia, Sky Italia covering Italy and TSN covering Canada.[66]

On 14 February 2022, SANZAAR announced the launch of Sanzaarrugby.tv, a global streaming service for the Super Rugby competition to territories that don't have right holder broadcasters in place.[67]

The current broadcasters ahead of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season are:[68]

Broadcasters

Broadcaster Country(ies)
Canal+   France
  French Guiana
  Guadeloupe
  Luxembourg
  Martinique
  Mayotte
  Monaco
  Réunion
  Romandy
Digicel   Cook Islands
  Nauru
  Papua New Guinea
  Samoa
  Solomon Islands
  Tonga
  Tuvalu
  Vanuatu
ESPN Latin America   Argentina
  Belize
  Bolivia
  Brazil
  Chile
  Colombia
  Costa Rica
  Dominican Republic
  Ecuador
  El Salvador
  Guatemala
  Honduras
  Mexico
  Nicaragua
  Panama
  Paraguay
  Peru
  Uruguay
  Venezuela
Fijian Broadcasting Corporation   Fiji
FloSports   United States
Nine Network
Stan Sport
  Australia
Premier Sports   Bangladesh
  Bhutan
  Brunei
  Cambodia
  Federated States of Micronesia
  Hong Kong
  Indonesia
  Kiribati
  Kyrgyzstan
  Laos
  Macau
  Malaysia
  Maldives
  Mariana Islands
  Marshall Islands
  Mongolia
  Myanmar
    Nepal
  Northern Marianas
  North Korea
  Pakistan
  Palau
  Philippines
  Singapore
  South Korea
  Tajikistan
  Taiwan
  Thailand
  Timor-Leste
  Vietnam
Sanzaarrugby.tv   Abkhazia
  Akrotiri and Dhekelia
  Åland
  Albania
  Andorra
  Armenia
  Artsakh
  Austria
  Azerbaijan
  Bahrain
  Belarus
  Belgium
  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Bulgaria
  China
  Croatia
  Cyprus
  Czech Republic
  Denmark
  Donetsk
  Egypt
  England
  Faroe Islands
  Finland
  Georgia
  Germany
  Gibraltar
  Greece
  Greenland
  Guernsey
  Hungary
  Iceland
  India
  Iran
  Iraq
  Isle of Man
  Israel
  Italy
  Jersey
  Jordan
  Kazakhstan
  Kosovo
  Kuwait
  Latvia
  Lebanon
  Liechtenstein
  Lithuania
  Luhansk
  Malta
  Moldova
  Montenegro
  Netherlands
  North Macedonia
  Northern Cyprus
  Northern Ireland
  Norway
  Oman
  Palestine
  Poland
  Portugal
  Qatar
  Republic of Ireland
  Romania
  Russia
  Saudi Arabia
  Scotland
  Serbia
  Slovakia
  Slovenia
  South Ossetia
  Spain
  Sri Lanka
  Svalbard
  Sweden
  Switzerland
  Syria
  Transnistria
  Turkey
  Ukraine
  United Arab Emirates
  Wales
  Yemen
Sky Italia   Italy
  San Marino
  Ticino
   Vatican City
Sky Pacific   Fiji
Sky Sport   New Zealand
SuperSport   Angola
  Benin
  Botswana
  Burkina Faso
  Burundi
  Cameroon
  Cape Verde
  Central African Republic
  Chad
  Comoros
  Democratic Republic of Congo
  Djibouti
  Equatorial Guinea
  Eritrea
  Eswatini
  Ethiopia
  Gabon
  Gambia
  Ghana
  Guinea
  Guinea-Bissau
  Ivory Coast
  Kenya
  Lesotho
  Liberia
  Madagascar
  Malawi
  Mali
  Mauritania
  Mauritius
  Mozambique
  Namibia
  Niger
  Nigeria
  Republic of the Congo
  Rwanda
  São Tomé and Príncipe
  Senegal
  Seychelles
  Sierra Leone
  Somalia
  South Africa
  South Sudan
  Sudan
  Tanzania
  Togo
  Uganda
  Zambia
  Zimbabwe
TSN   Canada
Wowow   Japan

See also

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Bibliography

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  • McIlraith, Matt (2005). Ten Years of Super 12. Hodder Moa. ISBN 1-86971-025-8.

External links

super, rugby, professional, rugby, union, club, competition, involving, teams, from, australia, fiji, zealand, pacific, islands, previously, included, teams, from, argentina, japan, south, africa, building, various, southern, hemisphere, competitions, dating, . Super Rugby is a men s professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia Fiji New Zealand and the Pacific Islands It previously included teams from Argentina Japan and South Africa Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986 with teams from a number of southern nations the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 countries Australia New Zealand and South Africa The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995 At its peak the tournament featured the top players from nations representing 16 of the 24 top three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup After the COVID 19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three the reformed competition in 2021 and beyond will only include Oceanian clubs representing Australia New Zealand and from the Pacific islands specifically a Fijian team and a New Zealand based Pacifika side representing Samoan Tongan and other Pacific communities Super RugbyCurrent season competition or edition 2023 Super Rugby Pacific seasonSuper Rugby Pacific Logo introduced for 2022FormerlySuper 12 1996 2005 Super 14 2006 2010 Super 15 2011 2016 SportRugby UnionFounded1996 27 years ago 1996 Inaugural season1996Owner s SANZAARCEOBrendan MorrisNo of teams12CountryAustralia 5 teams Fiji 1 team New Zealand 5 teams Pacific Islands 1 team Former South Africa 8 teams Argentina 1 team Japan 1 team Most recentchampion s Crusaders 2022 11th title Most titlesCrusaders 11 titles TV partner s Australia Fiji and New Zealand Fijian Broadcasting Corporation Sky Pacific Sky Sport Prime Stan Sport Nine Network International Canal Digicel ESPN FloSports Premier Sports Sanzaarrugby tv Sky Italia SuperSport TSN WowowSponsor s DHL Harvey Norman Shop N Save SupermarketRelatedcompetitionsWomen s Competitions Super W Super Rugby Aupiki COVID 19 Regional Competitions Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Trans Tasman Super Rugby UnlockedOfficial websitesuper rugbyThe name was changed to Super 14 with the addition of two teams for the 2006 season and with expansion to 15 teams in the three countries for the 2011 season the competition was rebranded as Super Rugby with no number In 2016 two new teams the Jaguares from Argentina and Sunwolves from Japan joined the competition playing in two newly separated African groups In 2018 the competition underwent another change in format this time dropping two teams the Cheetahs and Kings from the South African conference and one Western Force from the Australian conference This left the competition with 15 teams The Sunwolves left the competition for financial reasons before the conclusion of the 2020 season 1 2 The 2020 Super Rugby season was subsequently cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic 3 and this led to a mass scale restructuring of the competition Due to international travel restrictions relating to the pandemic the competition was unable to resume in its multinational format prompting Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby to launch domestic tournaments Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa respectively 4 5 Both these tournaments will continue in 2021 to be followed by Super Rugby Trans Tasman a crossover tournament 6 In September 2020 the South African Rugby Union announced the withdrawal of their four Super Rugby franchises from the competition with plans for them to join an expanded PRO14 which would become the United Rugby Championship 7 The Argentinian Jaguares also would take no further part in Super Rugby competitions The long term future of Super Rugby in 2022 and beyond was confirmed in August 2021 with a 12 team format confirmed The competition sees the addition of a Fijian side and a team representing the Pacific Islands and will return to a format similar to what was played pre COVID 19 pandemic The tournament for 2022 and 2023 will be named Super Rugby Pacific 8 9 The competition has been dominated by New Zealand teams who have won 18 times in 26 years The Crusaders have won most often with 11 titles Contents 1 Organisation and format 1 1 SANZAAR 1 2 Competition format 2 History 2 1 Background 2 1 1 Super 6 2 1 2 Super 10 2 2 SANZAR era 2 2 1 Super 12 1995 2005 2 2 2 Super 14 2006 2010 2 2 3 Super Rugby 15 teams 2011 2015 2 3 SANZAAR era 2 3 1 Expansion 18 teams 2016 2017 2 3 2 Contraction 15 teams 2018 2020 2 3 3 COVID 19 Separate competitions and South African departure 2020 2021 2 3 4 Super Rugby Pacific Fiji and the Pacific Islands join the competition 2022 3 Current franchises 4 Former franchises 5 Champions 5 1 Regionalised Competition winners 5 2 Final appearances victories by country 5 3 Semi final appearances by team 5 4 Conference winners by team 6 Salary cap 6 1 Australia 7 Brand and image 7 1 Trophies 7 2 Logo 7 3 Naming rights 8 Competition records 8 1 Team records 8 1 1 Single match 8 1 2 Season or streak 8 2 Player records 8 2 1 Career 8 2 2 Season 8 2 3 Match 9 Domestic competitions 10 Media 10 1 Broadcasters 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 External linksOrganisation and format EditSANZAAR Edit Main article SANZAAR SANZAAR is the body that administers Super Rugby and has the Australian New Zealand South African and Argentine rugby unions as its sole members SANZAAR also runs the Rugby Championship tournament that is contested by Argentina Australia New Zealand and South Africa following the conclusion of the Super Rugby tournament the Tri Nations preceded the Rugby Championship before Argentina joined the competition The organisation was formed in 1996 to establish and run the Super 12 and Tri Nations Tournament Competition format Edit Western Force Blue kicking off to the New South Wales Waratahs White Prior to 2011 Super Rugby was a round robin competition where each team played with every other team once a team had six or seven home games and six or seven away games each The winner received four competition points if the game was a draw two points were awarded to each team The Rugby union bonus points system was also used where any team scoring four or more tries and or losing by seven points or less receives an extra competition point In 2016 the try bonus changed A team now has to score three more tries than their opponents The top four teams at the end of the round robin phase then played semi finals the first placed team hosting the fourth placed team and the second placed team hosting the third placed team 10 The two winners then played the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed 10 There were 91 regular season games in total 11 Games were held over 14 weekends with each team receiving one bye From 2011 2015 the format changed with each country forming its own conference Each team within a conference played each of the other teams in its conference twice once at home and once away Each team then played four out of the five teams from each of the other conferences once Competition points were awarded on a similar basis as before The format of the finals also changed it involved six teams the top team in each of the three conferences plus the three next teams with the highest total number of points regardless of conference The four lower ranking teams were paired in two sudden death games the winners of those two games each played one of the two top ranked teams which received a bye at the start of the finals Those winners played for the championship 12 For the 2016 and 2017 seasons the format changed again with three more teams joining one each from Argentina Japan and South Africa There were four conferences with Africa getting two conferences The finals had eight teams with each conference winner getting a home quarter final They were joined by four wild card teams three from the Australasian group and one from the South African group From the 2018 season the format changed again with two South African teams and an Australian team being dropped There were three conferences one containing the five New Zealand teams a South African one including Argentina s team and an Australian one including Japan s team Due to the COVID 19 pandemic the competition had to undergo a change in structure and be split into regionalised tournaments There are currently two national competitions Australia s Super Rugby AU and New Zealand s Super Rugby Aotearoa and these will be followed by Super Rugby Trans Tasman in 2021 a crossover competition involving the five Australian sides playing the five New Zealand sides Super Rugby currently only consists of Australian and New Zealand sides with the Japanese Sunwolves departing the competition after the 2020 season the South African sides voting to leave to join an expanded PRO14 and the Argentinian Jaguares not set to compete in any Super Rugby tournament in 2021 From 2022 the tournament will revert to round robin format featuring 12 teams with the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika joining the competition There will be no divisions from 2022 onwards with one main log being used instead and top 8 teams qualifying for the playoffs History EditBackground Edit Before 1996 a number of transnational competitions involving regional and provincial rugby union teams had taken shape in the southern hemisphere The earliest of these was the South Pacific Championship which was launched in 1986 and continued until 1990 Super 6 Champions Season Champions1992 QueenslandSuper 6 Edit After the demise of the South Pacific Championship with no tournament played in 1991 the competition was relaunched as the Super 6 in 1992 The original Super 6 competition consisted of three provincial teams from New Zealand Auckland Canterbury Wellington along with two Australian state teams Queensland and New South Wales and also the Fiji national team Super 10 Edit Super 10 Champions 1993 1995 Season Champions1993 Transvaal1994 Queensland1995 QueenslandMain article Super 10 Rugby In 1993 the Super Six competition was revamped and expanded into the Super 10 tournament With South Africa being readmitted into international sport following the dismantling of apartheid there was an opportunity to launch an expanded competition which would also feature South Africa s top provincial teams The inaugural competition featured the following teams Waikato Auckland Otago and North Harbour New Zealand Natal Transvaal and Northern Transvaal South Africa Queensland and New South Wales Australia and Western Samoa Pacific Tri Nations winner The Super 10 was won by Transvaal South Africa in 1993 and by Queensland Australia in 1994 and 1995 SANZAR era Edit Super 12 1995 2005 Edit The official declaration of professionalism in rugby union in August 1995 led to a restructuring of the Super 10 competition Following the success of the 1995 World Cup the rugby boards of Australia New Zealand and South Africa formed SANZAR South African New Zealand and Australian Rugby to administer an annual 12 team provincial franchise based competition pitting regional teams from the three nations against each other In addition it was decided to hold an annual Tri Nations Test Series between the three countries A significant reason for the development of the Super 12 was the threat to rugby union from rival football code rugby league part of the business model for the Foxtel pay TV network in Australia was to attract subscribers by offering an exclusive product such as rugby union which could not be seen on free to air broadcast television By setting up the Super 12 the Unions had a product that was in demand from viewers enabling them to sell a 10 year contract for exclusive television rights to News Corp for US 555 million giving them both coverage and financial support to kickstart the new competition 13 The Super 12 logo used from 1996 to 2005 With significant sponsorship and rugby turning a professional sport in August 1995 the Super 12 competition successfully kicked off in 1996 with five New Zealand franchises four South African provinces and three domestic Australian teams competing New Zealand s dominance of the competition began in the first year when the Auckland Blues won the inaugural competition defeating South African side the Sharks 45 21 in a home final The Blues would repeat the success of 1996 beating Australian side the ACT Brumbies 23 7 in the 1997 final The Blues then reached their third successive final in 1998 but went down to fellow countrymen the Canterbury Crusaders 13 20 This would mark the beginning of the Crusaders three year dominance as they went on to win the 1999 and 2000 finals over the Otago Highlanders and ACT Brumbies respectively The 2001 season was the first in which no New Zealand franchise reached the final being contested between the ACT Brumbies and Sharks with the Brumbies convincing winners with a 36 6 scoreline The Crusaders won their 4th final in 2002 winning all 11 matches and missed out on their 5th in 2003 with a four point loss to fellow countrymen the Blues In 2004 the Brumbies took revenge on their 2000 final loss to the Crusaders defeating them 47 38 in front of a home crowd The Crusaders would bounce back to win the 2005 final 35 25 against the Australian side the New South Wales Waratahs who reached their first ever final This was the last year of the 12 team format From the early 2000s Australia had started to push for the inclusion of a fourth Australian team and South Africa for another team from its country There was also speculation of including a team from the South Pacific Island nations such as Fiji or a combined Pacific Islanders team from Fiji Samoa and Tonga Argentina was also pushing for inclusion in the Super 12 In the early 2000s the provincial names from the New Zealand franchises were dropped so for example the Canterbury Crusaders became The Crusaders Also South Africa followed the New Zealand franchise model where previously South African participation was decided by the previous year s Currie Cup placings Super 14 2006 2010 Edit SANZAR announced in December 2004 that a new five year television deal had been signed that would cover 2006 to 2010 with News Corporation winning the rights for the UK Australia and New Zealand and SuperSport winning rights for South Africa The contract was worth US 323 million over five years a 16 annual increase compared to the previous deal 13 It covers international fixtures as well as the Super 14 SANZAR remained free to negotiate separate deals for other markets such as France Japan and the Americas The Super 14 logo used from 2006 to 2010 The TriNations is the cash cow for the SANZAR partners as it provides nearly 60 per cent of the money from News Ltd needs update The Super 14 made up about 30 per cent of the deal citation needed Under the new deal Australia and South Africa each got one extra team in the competition and a third round of fixtures was added to the Tri Nations Series The new Australian team in the competition was based in Perth and was named the Western Force The addition of the new South African team led to considerable controversy including government involvement Finally the five teams for 2006 were confirmed to be the country s existing four teams plus the Cheetahs which draws its players from the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces For the 2007 season the Southern Spears based in Port Elizabeth were originally intended to replace the lowest finishing South African team from the 2006 competition However the existing South African Super 14 franchises opposed the plan which was pushed through by controversial president of the South African Rugby Union Brian van Rooyen After van Rooyen was ousted as president SARU announced that the Spears would not enter the competition 14 SARU investigated the viability of the Spears after discovering serious financial irregularities 15 A High Court of South Africa ruling stated that the Spears had a valid contract to compete in the Super 14 and Currie Cup However because of the organisation s financial and administrative troubles in November 2006 a settlement was reached The Spears abandoned their legal case and will continue to exist but not compete in the Super 14 16 SANZAR rejected a proposal to split the Super 14 into two seven team divisions and decided to keep the competition in its traditional single table format Argentina and the Pacific Islands remained shut out of the competition The two new teams didn t perform all that well the South African franchise the Cheetahs did the better of the two teams finishing 10th on the ladder notching up 5 season wins The Australian franchise the Western Force only managed one victory and ended winning the wooden spoon as last placed 14th The highlight for the Force was a 23 all draw against eventual champions the Crusaders who defeated first time finalists the Hurricanes 19 12 The Cats now the Lions playing the Sharks During the 2007 season 22 All Blacks missed the competition s first seven rounds as part of an All Black conditioning programme that was a part of the All Blacks 2007 Rugby World Cup preparations and every New Zealand franchise was without players for the first seven rounds 17 18 19 At the end of the regular season for the first time since 1998 no Australian franchise had made the semi finals Although the Brumbies were strong and the Western Force experienced vast improvement it was a poor season for the Queensland Reds and Waratahs who finished last and second last respectively Also the competition featured the first all South African final as the Sharks and Bulls who finished 1 2 on the season ladder both won their respective semi finals The final held in Durban saw the visiting Bulls win 20 19 During the time the competition was branded as the Super 14 only two teams won the tournament The Crusaders winning the 2006 and 2008 tournaments while the Bulls ended victorious in 2007 2009 and 2010 respectively Super Rugby 15 teams 2011 2015 Edit SANZAR unveiled in 2009 its model for an expanded season that would begin in 2011 This model was based around the original ARU proposal for three national conferences each side were to have played the other four teams from their own country twice and the other ten teams once each the season has to end with a six team finals series The Super Rugby logo used from 2011 to 2021 There were four major compromises however designed to accommodate certain wishes of each country that somewhat complicated the model Each team would only play four instead of all five teams in each of the other two national conferences making sixteen regular season games for each team instead of eighteen and allowing for a late February start somewhat placating the ARU and NZRU who wanted a March start There would be a three week gap for the June test international matches favoured by the SARU The season would finish in early August so as not to overlap new streamlined versions of New Zealand s and South Africa s domestic competitions The three conference winners and the three best performers of the remaining teams would qualify for a three week finals series with seedings deciding the match ups This system is a hybrid of the conference based qualification system favoured by the SARU and the top six model favoured by the ARU and NZRU SANZAR announced in 2009 the addition of a fifth Australian team that would play in the expanded Super Rugby competition in 2011 The licence was awarded to Victoria Australia and the team s name announced as the Melbourne Rebels The Australian start up franchise was given the nod ahead of South Africa s Southern Kings 20 Brian Waldron former CEO of the NRL club the Melbourne Storm was confirmed as the new CEO of the Rebels on 11 January 2010 but resigned on 23 April after a salary cap breach was uncovered at the Storm 21 SANZAAR era Edit Expansion 18 teams 2016 2017 Edit In February 2012 SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters announced that the organisation was considering adding franchises in Argentina Japan and the United States in 2016 the first year of SANZAR s next television contract This was also the year that rugby sevens entered the Olympics which contributed towards increased interest in the sport in many countries including Japan and the US 22 Australian sports broadcasting analyst Colin Smith noted that the addition of Japanese and American teams could result in a TV deal worth more than A 1 billion beyond 2020 Specifically he stated You could have a deal comparable to the other major sports in Australia Rugby is a college university sport in the US if soccer can create its own league there and sell teams for 40 million imagine what you could do in 10 12 years with rugby in that market 22 By comparison the largest TV deal in Australian sport that of the Australian Football League Australian rules is worth A 1 26 billion from 2012 to 2016 Even that figure was dwarfed by the TV contracts of the NFL for which contracts at the time were worth more than US 4 billion annually 23 Peters added that the conference based structure was ideal for expanding the competition to new territories either by adding new conferences or by adding teams to the current conferences He also discussed the possibility that offshore Super Rugby teams could be a home for surplus players from the SANZAR countries keeping them in the SANZAR fold and away from European clubs 24 Prior to Super Rugby s broadcast contracts expiring after the 2015 season SANZAR considered several alternatives for the competition s future organisation 25 Retention of the conference system that was in place for 2011 15 Expansion of the structure to include teams from Asia the United States and or Canada 26 A split of the competition with South Africa forming one competition with the likely addition of at least one Argentine side and Australia and New Zealand forming another with the possibility of including Asian teams The last proposal made by the SARU was reportedly driven by internal union politics With only five guaranteed places in Super Rugby but six active franchises the bottom team in the South African Conference faced a promotion relegation playoff with the sixth franchise for a place in the next season s competition Australia and New Zealand warmed to the SARU proposal as a trans Tasman competition would potentially allow for more regional derbies fewer time zone complications and less player travel 25 However NZRU chief executive Steve Tew indicated that a competition that did not include South African teams was a commercial non starter because of large broadcast revenues from that country and because the NZRU considered Super Rugby matches in South Africa to be critical for national team development 26 SANZAR announced on 4 September 2013 that South Africa would be granted a sixth franchise starting in the 2016 season negating the need for relegation play offs involving the sixth South African franchise 27 SANZAR then announced on 20 November 2014 that Japan and Argentina would each be allocated a team from the 2016 season onwards 28 In 2017 the Australian Rugby Union was rebranded to Rugby Australia 29 Contraction 15 teams 2018 2020 Edit In April 2017 SANZAAR confirmed the competition would be reduced to 15 teams in 2018 with two South African and one Australian team to have their franchises withdrawn 30 Subsequently four South African teams took part the Bulls Lions Sharks and Stormers with the Cheetahs and Kings losing their spots The Cheetahs and Kings joined the Pro 12 which became the Pro14 from the 2017 2018 season onwards 31 On 11 August 2017 Australia announced that the Western Force had lost their licence 32 On 21 March 2019 SANZAAR confirmed that 2020 will be the Sunwolves last season of competition in Super Rugby 33 COVID 19 Separate competitions and South African departure 2020 2021 Edit The logos for Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Trans Tasman and Super Rugby UnlockedThe global COVID 19 pandemic caused the 2020 Super Rugby competition to be cut short As health concerns eased other professional sports returned to play The Super Rugby season was unable to resumed however due to border restrictions and the need for teams to be placed into quarantine upon arrival in each country This resulted in New Zealand Rugby and Rugby Australia forming their own Super Rugby tournaments starting in June and July respectively so that their teams could compete domestically 34 35 South African Rugby subsequently launched its own domestic Super Rugby competition which started play in October 2020 36 The three competitions formed were Super Rugby Aotearoa 5 teams New Zealand 34 Super Rugby AU 5 teams Australia 35 Super Rugby Unlocked 7 teams South Africa 36 Super Rugby AU final between Queensland Reds and Brumbies in 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa featured all five New Zealand teams from Super Rugby the Blues Chiefs Crusaders Highlanders and Hurricanes 34 Super Rugby AU included Australia s four teams the Reds Waratahs Brumbies and Rebels as well as former Super Rugby side the Western Force 35 The Force had continued as a franchise after their 2017 post season exclusion from Super Rugby and were playing in Global Rapid Rugby also suspended due to COVID 19 The Australian and New Zealand competitions each scheduled a 20 game home and away season in 2020 but Super Rugby AU played two additional knockout matches to decide the Australian title 35 Super Rugby Unlocked featured South Africa s four Super Rugby teams the Bulls Lions Sharks and Stormers plus former franchise the Cheetahs as well as the Currie Cup sides Griquas and Pumas These seven teams competed in a single round robin domestic format in 2020 36 In September 2020 SA Rugby announced the withdrawal from Super Rugby of all of their teams with plans for the four sides to join an expanded Pro14 United Rugby Championship competition 37 Super Rugby Aotearoa and Super Rugby AU continued in 2021 38 39 Super Rugby Trans Tasman would also take place in 2021 a crossover competition featuring the Australian sides playing the New Zealand sides 40 Super Rugby Pacific Fiji and the Pacific Islands join the competition 2022 Edit In the longer term a new 12 team tournament from 2022 onwards had been mooted with the current five Australian and five New Zealand sides to be joined by Moana Pasifika and a Fijian side 8 New Zealand Rugby has confirmed that it intends to partner with Fiji Rugby and Moana Pasifika along with Australia going forward 41 In April 2021 it was announced that licences had been offered to the Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika ahead of joining Super Rugby in 2022 42 The new format was confirmed in August 2021 with the tournament branded as Super Rugby Pacific with the competition returning to a round robin format although the divisions will be replaced by one main log instead 43 Current franchises EditMain article Super Rugby franchise areas There are twelve franchises currently in Super Rugby five from Australia one from Fiji five from New Zealand and one representing the Pacific Islands Each franchise is representing a franchise area with each franchise in New Zealand representing a collection of unions compared to the Australian model of one franchise per union This model differs from the traditional club based model of other Australian sports with 5 Super Rugby teams in Australia compared to the 16 Australian based National Rugby League teams and the 18 teams of the Australian Football League The Pacific Islands franchise Moana Pasifika will play mainly in New Zealand during the 2022 season Brumbies Force Rebels Reds Waratahs Drua Auckland Chiefs Crusaders Highlanders Hurricanes Super Rugby teams in Auckland BluesMoana PasifikaSuper Rugby Oceania Blues Moana PasifikaSuper Rugby Auckland Club City Stadium Capacity First season Blues Auckland Auckland Region Eden Park 50 000 1996 Super 12 Brumbies Canberra Australian Capital Territory GIO Stadium 25 011 1996 Super 12 Chiefs Hamilton Waikato FMG Stadium Waikato 25 800 1996 Super 12 Crusaders Christchurch Canterbury Orangetheory Stadium 18 600 1996 Super 12 Drua Suva Fiji A Multiple venues for 2022 2022 Force Perth Western Australia HBF Park 20 500 2006 Super 14 Highlanders Dunedin Otago Forsyth Barr Stadium 30 748 1996 Super 12 Hurricanes Wellington Wellington Region Sky Stadium 34 500 1996 Super 12 Moana Pasifika B South Auckland Auckland Region Mt Smart Stadium 30 000 2022 Rebels Melbourne Victoria AAMI Park 30 050 2011 Reds Brisbane Queensland Suncorp Stadium 52 500 1996 Super 12 Waratahs Sydney New South Wales Multiple venues Sydney Football Stadium from 2023 1996 Super 12 Notes The Drua will be based in Brisbane Australia for the 2022 season due to travel restrictions as a consequence of the COVID 19 pandemic Moana Pasifika are a team created to represent the Pacific Islands however they are owned and run by New Zealand Rugby and will be based in Auckland for the considerable future and therefore are listed with the New Zealand flag Former franchises Edit Bulls Pretoria Gauteng withdrawn by the South African Rugby Union in 2020 Cats Johannesburg Gauteng renamed as the Lions in 2005 Cheetahs Bloemfontein Free State withdrawn by Super Rugby and moved to Pro14 in 2017 participated in Super Rugby Unlocked in 2020 Griquas Kimberley Northern Cape participated in Super Rugby Unlocked in 2020 Jaguares Buenos Aires Argentina not named in a Super Rugby competition for 2021 Lions Johannesburg Gauteng renamed the Cats 1998 returned to Lions name 2006 withdrawn by the South African Rugby Union in 2012 returned to Super Rugby in 2014 withdrawn by the South African Rugby Union in 2020 Pumas Mbombela Mpumalanga participated in Super Rugby Unlocked in 2020 Sharks Durban KwaZulu Natal withdrawn by the South African Rugby Union in 2020 Southern Kings Gqeberha Eastern Cape withdrawn by Super Rugby and moved to Pro14 in 2017 Stormers Cape Town Western Cape withdrawn by the South African Rugby Union in 2020 Sunwolves Tokyo Japan withdrawn by the Japan Rugby Football Union in 2020 Champions EditMain article List of Super Rugby champions The following sides have won Super Rugby titles since the competitions inception in 1996 Year No of Teams Final Losing semi finalistsWinners Score Runners up 1st losing semi finalists 2nd losing semi finalists1996 12 Blues 45 21 Sharks Reds Bulls1997 12 Blues 23 7 ACT Brumbies Hurricanes Sharks1998 12 Crusaders 20 13 Blues Sharks Highlanders1999 12 Crusaders 24 19 Highlanders Reds Stormers2000 12 Crusaders 20 19 ACT Brumbies Highlanders Cats2001 12 ACT Brumbies 36 6 Sharks Cats Reds2002 12 Crusaders 31 13 ACT Brumbies Waratahs Highlanders2003 12 Blues 21 17 Crusaders Hurricanes ACT Brumbies2004 12 ACT Brumbies 47 38 Crusaders Stormers Chiefs2005 12 Crusaders 35 25 Waratahs Bulls Hurricanes2006 14 Crusaders 19 12 Hurricanes Waratahs Bulls2007 14 Bulls 20 19 Sharks Crusaders Blues2008 14 Crusaders 20 12 Waratahs Sharks Hurricanes2009 14 Bulls 61 17 Chiefs Hurricanes Crusaders2010 14 Bulls 25 17 Stormers Crusaders Waratahs2011 15 Reds 18 13 Crusaders Blues Stormers2012 15 Chiefs 37 6 Sharks Crusaders Stormers2013 15 Chiefs 27 22 Brumbies Crusaders Bulls2014 15 Waratahs 33 32 Crusaders Sharks Brumbies2015 15 Highlanders 21 14 Hurricanes Waratahs Brumbies2016 18 Hurricanes 20 3 Lions Chiefs Highlanders2017 18 Crusaders 25 17 Lions Chiefs Hurricanes2018 15 Crusaders 37 18 Lions Hurricanes Waratahs2019 15 Crusaders 19 3 Jaguares Brumbies Hurricanes2020 15 17 A Season cancelled regional competitions played after cancellation 2021 10 Regional competitions played no official champions 2022 12 Crusaders 21 7 Blues Chiefs Brumbies Match between Crusaders and Waratahs 2011 Notes 15 sides competed in the 2020 Super Rugby season however following the tournaments cancellation regional competitions were played The Jaguares and Sunwolves did not compete in these competitions however the Cheetahs Force Griquas and Pumas competed bringing the number of regional competition sides to 17 in total Regionalised Competition winners Edit Due to the COVID 19 pandemic regionalised tournaments were played for the remainder of the 2020 Super Rugby season and the 2021 Super Rugby season Those competitions were Super Rugby AU Australia Super Rugby Aotearoa New Zealand Super Rugby Unlocked South Africa and Super Rugby Trans Tasman Australia and New Zealand Year Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby Unlocked Super Rugby Trans Tasman2020 Brumbies Crusaders Bulls 2021 Reds Crusaders Blues South Africa withdrew from all Super Rugby competitions at the end of the 2020 Super Rugby season Final appearances victories by country Edit In the sortable table below teams are ordered first by number of appearances then by number of wins and finally by victorious seasons Apps Team Wins Losses Winningpercent Season s 15 Crusaders 11 4 733 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2008 2011 2014 2017 2018 2019 20226 Brumbies 2 4 333 1997 2000 2001 2002 2004 20135 Blues 3 2 600 1996 1997 1998 2003 20224 Sharks 0 4 000 1996 2001 2007 20123 Bulls 3 0 1 000 2007 2009 20103 Chiefs 2 1 667 2009 2012 20133 Waratahs 1 2 333 2005 2008 20143 Hurricanes 1 2 333 2006 2015 20163 Lions 0 3 000 2016 2017 20182 Highlanders 1 1 500 1999 20151 Reds 1 0 1 000 20111 Stormers 0 1 000 20101 Jaguares 0 1 000 2019Team Apps Wins Losses Winning percent New Zealand 28 18 10 643 South Africa 11 3 8 272 Australia 10 4 6 400 Argentina 1 0 1 000 Japan 0 0 0 000Semi final appearances by team Edit Super Rugby semi final between Jaguares and Brumbies in 2019 in Buenos Aires 20 Crusaders 15 wins 5 losses 11 Hurricanes 3 wins 8 losses 10 Brumbies 6 wins 4 losses 8 Sharks 4 wins 4 losses 8 Waratahs 3 wins 5 losses 7 Blues 5 wins 2 losses 7 Bulls 3 wins 4 losses 7 Chiefs 3 wins 4 losses 5 Lions 3 wins 2 losses 2 losses as the Cats 5 Highlanders 1 wins 4 losses 4 Reds 1 win 3 losses 4 Stormers 1 win 3 losses 1 Jaguares 1 win Conference winners by team Edit Between 2011 and 2019 teams from Australia New Zealand and South Africa have played in 3 separate conferences With teams playing each team in their own conference twice home and away and in the other conferences playing four of the five teams The winner of each conference is awarded a home final and their region specific conference trophy In 2016 the South Africa conference was split in two with Japan s Sunwolves and Argentina s Jaguares added to South Africa 1 and 2 respectively In 2018 the South African conferences re integrated with Argentina s Jaguares remaining in the South Africa conference and Japan s Sunwolves joining the Australia conference Conference 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Australia Reds Brumbies Waratahs Brumbies Waratahs BrumbiesNew Zealand Crusaders Chiefs Crusaders Hurricanes CrusadersSouth Africa 1 Stormers Bulls Sharks Stormers Stormers Lions JaguaresSouth Africa 2 LionsSalary cap EditAustralia Edit The five Australian teams playing in the competition are subjected to a 5 5 million salary cap for a squad of up to 40 players per Australian team 44 45 46 The Australian Rugby Union decided in 2011 to introduce the salary cap because of financial pressures 47 Originally starting in 2012 as a cap of A 4 1 million it was later raised to 4 5 million for the 2013 and 2014 seasons to take pressure off the teams ability to recruit and retain players 48 The salary cap is a key component of the negotiation between the ARU and the Rugby Union Players Association over the collective bargaining agreement 49 The fact that the Australian teams in Super Rugby face a salary cap has been attributed as a factor that makes it more difficult for Australian teams to win the title 50 The cap regulations have some small concessions 51 Five players on each team may be paid 30 000 each per season by team sponsors this amount is not included in the team cap The maximum cap charge for a non Australian player is 137 000 regardless of his actual wages Compared to other Australian rival sporting leagues such as the NRL and AFL the salary cap is considerably lower Two times lower than the AFL and only makes up 55 of the NRL salary cap However the Australian Super Rugby salary cap stands greater than the A League the BBL and the NBL Brand and image EditTrophies Edit Main article Super Rugby Trophy The Super Rugby trophies There have been several iterations of the trophy awarded to the winner of the Super Rugby competitions The Super 14 trophy unveiled in New Zealand ahead of the 2006 season was made of sterling silver with the competition logo on a globe sitting atop of a four sided twisted spiral 52 Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith in Nelson New Zealand hand made the trophy which took over two months to complete 52 On 30 June 2011 SANZAR unveiled the new trophy that will be presented to the winners of the Super Rugby final from 2011 and beyond 53 was crafted from solid stainless steel and polished to a mirror finish It has a height of 65 cm and a mass of 18 kilograms 53 The trophy was designed by Blue Sky Design of Sydney The trophy was manufactured by Box and Dice Pty Ltd also based in Sydney 53 SANZAR CEO Greg Peters said The shape of the trophy is centred around three curved legs each representing the Conferences involved in the Super Rugby competition The champions trophy is the big one and will become the ultimate symbol of Super Rugby supremacy in the years to come 53 The colour on each leg corresponds to the Conferences with gold for Australia black for New Zealand and green for South Africa 53 There are several other trophies contested during the competition the Charles Anderson VC Memorial Cup between the Brumbies and Stormers the Bob Templeton Cup between the Reds and Waratahs the Ganbattle Trophy between Sunwolves and Rebels and the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy between the Blues and Highlanders Every year the Super Rugby player of the year is awarded Logo Edit During the last season of the Super 12 Coast Design of Sydney was commissioned to design a new logo for the Super 14 54 The Super 14 logo broke away from the traditional shield formats common to many sporting codes and used Roman numerals XIV which is unique for sport in the region 55 The game s dynamism and speed are suggested by the orbiting football which has three distinct stitches a subtle reference to the three countries of the tournament 55 The Super Rugby logo dispenses with numbers featuring a large blue S with a white rugby ball in the centre and Supe Rugb Y below the S The three stitches of the previous ball are retained Before the expansion to the Super 14 the Super 12 used a logo in the shape of a shield which had the sponsors name at the top and then the words Rugby and Super 12 The lower half of the logo used three different coloured stripes green black and gold the respective colours of the national teams of South Africa New Zealand and Australia 56 Naming rights Edit The naming rights for the competition are different in the five countries In New Zealand Investec Bank has naming rights starting with the 2011 season and the competition is referred to as Investec Super Rugby During the Super 14 era sporting goods retailer Rebel Sport had naming rights and the Super 14 competition was referred to as the Rebel Sport Super 14 Previously the naming rights holders were U Bix and then Telecom New Zealand TNZ Telecom used its ISP brand Xtra as the label in their last year of holding naming rights In Australia telecommunications company Vodafone has been the title sponsor of Super Rugby since 2017 57 As a result the competition is officially referred to as Vodafone Super Rugby Prior to this Super Rugby in Australia was sponsored by Suncorp Group through their life insurance brand Asteron Life Vodafone were also the title sponsor of the competition during the Super 12 era In the first season of Super Rugby Australia had no naming rights partner Previous to that Investec acquired naming rights in the middle of the Super 14 era from Lion Nathan who had named the competition the Tooheys New Super 14 after its Tooheys New beer brand In South Africa telecommunications carrier Vodacom has naming rights and the expanded competition is referred to as Vodacom Super Rugby Before 1999 when cigarette advertising was banned in South Africa the competition was sponsored by Winfield In Argentina telecommunications carrier Personal has naming rights and the expanded competition is referred to as Personal Super Rugby In Japan real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate acquired naming rights in 2018 the competition referred to as Mitsubishi Estate Super Rugby 58 The competition had no title sponsor in Japan during the 2016 and 2017 seasons Competition records EditMain article List of Super Rugby records Team records Edit Single match Edit Highest score 96 points Crusaders defeated Waratahs 96 19 2002 Lowest score 0 points Reds defeated Hurricanes 11 0 1999 Brumbies defeated Bulls 15 0 1999 Sharks defeated Bulls 29 0 1999 Brumbies defeated Cats 64 0 2000 Highlanders defeated Bulls 23 0 2005 Blues defeated Brumbies 17 0 2006 Brumbies defeated Reds 36 0 2007 Crusaders defeated Western Force 53 0 2008 Crusaders defeated Stormers 22 0 2009 Highlanders defeated Crusaders 6 0 2009 Stormers defeated Highlanders 33 0 2011 Waratahs defeated Rebels 43 0 2011 Crusaders defeated Bulls 27 0 2011 Brumbies defeated Reds 29 0 2015 Sharks defeated Kings 53 0 2016 Hurricanes defeated Sharks 41 0 2016 Crusaders defeated Highlanders 17 0 2017 Lions defeated Waratahs 29 0 2018 Highlanders defeated Sunwolves 52 0 2019 Brumbies defeated Sunwolves 33 0 2019 Crusaders defeated Rebels 66 0 2019 Stormers defeated Hurricanes 27 0 2020 Stormers defeated Bulls 13 0 2020 Highest combined score 137 points Chiefs defeated Lions 72 65 2010 Lowest combined score 6 points Highlanders defeated Crusaders 6 0 2009 Highest winning margin 89 points Bulls defeated Reds 92 3 2007 Highest score away 83 points Hurricanes defeated Sunwolves 83 17 2017 Most tries in a match by one team 14 by Crusaders v Waratahs 2002 14 by Lions v Sunwolves 2017 Most tries in a match by both teams 18 by Lions and Chiefs 2010Season or streak Edit Most consecutive wins 16 wins Crusaders 2018 19 Most consecutive losses in a season 13 losses Lions 2010 Most consecutive losses 17 losses Lions 15 May 2009 to 12 March 2011 Most tries in a season 97 tries Hurricanes 2017 Fewest tries in a season 13 tries Lions 2007 Most wins in the regular season 14 wins Stormers 2012 Hurricanes 2015 Crusaders 2017 Lions 2017 Most wins in a full season 17 wins Crusaders 2017 Fewest wins in a season 0 wins Bulls 2002 Lions 2010 regular season Fewest losses in a season 0 losses Blues 1997 Crusaders 2002 Most wins in a row at home 36 wins Crusaders 2018 2020 Most points conceded in a season 684 Kings 2016 Largest points difference conceded in a season 402 Kings 2016Player records Edit Official match ball Career Edit Points 1713 Dan Carter Crusaders Tries 60 Israel Folau Waratahs Conversions 306 Dan Carter Crusaders Penalties 322 Dan Carter Crusaders Quickest Try 8 seconds Bryan Habana Stormers Consecutive Games 104 Caleb Ralph Crusaders Most Caps 202 Wyatt Crockett CrusadersSeason Edit Points 263 Morne Steyn Bulls 2010 Tries 16 Ben Lam Hurricanes 2018 Conversions 52 Elton Jantjies Lions 2017 Penalties 51 Morne Steyn Bulls 2010 Drop Goals 11 Morne Steyn Bulls 2009Match Edit Points 50 Gavin Lawless Sharks Tries 5 Sean Wainui Chiefs Conversions 13 Andrew Mehrtens Crusaders Penalties 9 Elton Jantjies Lions Drop Goals 4 Morne Steyn BullsDomestic competitions EditEach respective country competing in Super Rugby has a number of their own domestic leagues which feed into Super Rugby teams South Africa actually used their Currie Cup teams as opposed to creating new teams during the earlier years of the Super 12 However the Currie Cup is now the third tier of rugby in South Africa below Test and Super Rugby it is played after the Super Rugby season and all unions are aligned to a Super Rugby team though it is mainly the big six Blue Bulls Golden Lions Sharks Free State Cheetahs Western Province and Eastern Province Elephants which contribute the most to the Super Rugby sides In New Zealand the National Provincial Championship is the most prominent domestic competition below the Super Rugby in which all the respective Unions are also aligned with Super Rugby sides In Australia the National Rugby Championship NRC was launched in 2014 Several teams that played in the former Australian Rugby Championship in 2007 59 were revived for the NRC Argentina until 2018 like South Africa and New Zealand had a national championship where several provincial unions competed the Campeonato Argentino Another national championship but for clubs is Nacional de Clubes Japan s main domestic competition was the Japan Rugby League One formerly Top League featuring 16 clubs while the second division the Top Challenge League featured 8 clubs Fiji s domestic competition is the Skipper Cup featuring the countries top 12 provincial sides Media EditUntil 2020 in Australia pay TV station Fox Sports showed every match live and beginning in 2016 free to air station Network Ten started showing a full match replay every Sunday morning of the Match of the Round featuring at least one Australian team Network Ten also showed full match replays of all finals matches featuring Australian teams From 2021 onwards Nine Network possesses the broadcasting rights and any future Super Rugby seasons will have games aired live on streaming service Stan with the potential for a number of games to be simulcast live on either Nine s flagship free to air channel or a multichannel similar to the current situation with Super Rugby AU 60 Super Rugby is broadcast on Supersport in South Africa and is simulcast terrestrially on M Net Sky Sport is the official broadcaster in New Zealand Super Rugby was broadcast in over 40 countries in the UK on Sky Sports in Spain it is broadcast by Digital and in the United States by ESPN which has confirmed all matches will be broadcast live or on demand In Canada TSN broadcasts all matches only on TSN GO their online SD streaming platform Following the 2020 season though broadcasting deals with European broadcasters ended and no new deal had been arranged for the start of the 2021 season 61 62 On 24 February 2021 RugbyPass announced streaming rights for the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition to be streamed in all territories in the UK amp Ireland Europe Asia and the Middle East totalling 100 territories 63 On 6 March 2021 World Rugby announced streaming for the Super Rugby AU competition to be streamed in all territories in the UK amp Ireland Europe Asia and the Middle East totalling over 100 territories 64 On 19 March 2021 further broadcasters were announced for both competitions with ESPN and ESPN International being announced as covering North and South America Digicel covering the Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea Telefonica covering Spain and Wowow covering Japan 65 On 13 May 2021 further broadcasters were announced for Super Rugby Trans Tasman with RugbyPass picking up streaming services in European territories again for the tournament Canal was announced as covering France ESPN Argentina covering the United States Premier Sports covering Southeast Asia Sky Italia covering Italy and TSN covering Canada 66 On 14 February 2022 SANZAAR announced the launch of Sanzaarrugby tv a global streaming service for the Super Rugby competition to territories that don t have right holder broadcasters in place 67 The current broadcasters ahead of the 2022 Super Rugby Pacific season are 68 Broadcasters Edit Broadcaster Country ies Canal France French Guiana Guadeloupe Luxembourg Martinique Mayotte Monaco Reunion RomandyDigicel Cook Islands Nauru Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu VanuatuESPN Latin America Argentina Belize Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama Paraguay Peru Uruguay VenezuelaFijian Broadcasting Corporation FijiFloSports United StatesNine Network Stan Sport AustraliaPremier Sports Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia Federated States of Micronesia Hong Kong Indonesia Kiribati Kyrgyzstan Laos Macau Malaysia Maldives Mariana Islands Marshall Islands Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Northern Marianas North Korea Pakistan Palau Philippines Singapore South Korea Tajikistan Taiwan Thailand Timor Leste VietnamSanzaarrugby tv Abkhazia Akrotiri and Dhekelia Aland Albania Andorra Armenia Artsakh Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria China Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Donetsk Egypt England Faroe Islands Finland Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Greenland Guernsey Hungary Iceland India Iran Iraq Isle of Man Israel Italy Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kosovo Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Liechtenstein Lithuania Luhansk Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Northern Cyprus Northern Ireland Norway Oman Palestine Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of Ireland Romania Russia Saudi Arabia Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia South Ossetia Spain Sri Lanka Svalbard Sweden Switzerland Syria Transnistria Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates Wales YemenSky Italia Italy San Marino Ticino Vatican CitySky Pacific FijiSky Sport New ZealandSuperSport Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of Congo Djibouti Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Eswatini Ethiopia Gabon Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea Bissau Ivory Coast Kenya Lesotho Liberia Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Tanzania Togo Uganda Zambia ZimbabweTSN CanadaWowow JapanSee also Edit Sports portalList of Super Rugby champions List of Super Rugby stadiums SANZAAR Super Rugby Aotearoa Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Trans Tasman Super Rugby Unlocked Super W Super Rugby AupikiReferences Edit World Rugby 22 March 2019 Sunwolves axed from Super Rugby after 2020 season Rugby World Retrieved 3 June 2020 Sunwolves confirm time in Super Rugby is over www rte ie Retrieved 3 June 2020 Super Rugby 2020 season shut down Coronavirus news SANZAAR Highlanders vs Jaguares cancelled NZ travel restriction Fox Sports 15 March 2020 Retrieved 27 December 2020 Suncorp Stadium derby to open Super Rugby AU competition www rugby com au Retrieved 27 December 2020 Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa ready to kick off in June superrugby co nz Retrieved 27 December 2020 2021 set for thrilling Trans Tasman crossover www rugby com au Retrieved 27 December 2020 SARU members vote to seek northern hemisphere future SA Rugby Retrieved 27 December 2020 a b Reports Agreement reached for 12 team Super Rugby from 2022 www sarugbymag co za Retrieved 27 December 2020 RA NZR launch new era with formation of Super Rugby Pacific Rugby com au 30 August 2021 Retrieved 30 August 2021 a b Super 12 The History planetrugby com 24 May 2001 Retrieved 16 April 2007 2007 Super 14 Fixtures super14 com Archived from the original on 30 September 2008 Retrieved 16 April 2007 Super XV Rugby Format Super Rugby News Results and Fixtures from Super XV Rugby Sports Digital Media Retrieved 23 February 2012 via Superxv com a b More for players in new SANZAR deal worldcupweb com Retrieved 17 July 2006 Spears kom straks met regsaksie Die Burger in Afrikaans 20 April 2006 Retrieved 18 October 2015 Spears se baas wil vir oulaas pleit Die Burger in Afrikaans 27 March 2006 Retrieved 18 October 2015 Spears abandon their Super conquest Planet Rugby 16 November 2006 Archived from the original on 12 September 2012 Retrieved 22 November 2006 All Blacks pulled out of the Super 14 planet rugby com 20 August 2006 Archived from the original on 29 September 2007 Retrieved 24 January 2007 Henry reveals his World Cup team planet rugby com 11 September 2006 Archived from the original on 28 February 2008 Retrieved 24 January 2007 Leggat David 22 September 2006 Getting the balance in Super 14 The New Zealand Herald Retrieved 24 September 2006 Walton Darren 12 November 2009 Melbourne granted Super licence Super Rugby Fox Sports Retrieved 23 February 2012 Rakic Josh 23 April 2010 Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 23 April 2010 a b Pandaram Jamie 11 February 2012 Super Rugby going global Sydney Daily Telegraph Retrieved 19 February 2011 Mortimer James 11 February 2012 Absolute Possibilities for SANZAR Expansion Says Peters SANZAR Retrieved 19 February 2012 Johnstone Duncan 19 February 2012 Time may be right for Sanzar to expand Super Rugby The Sunday Star Times Retrieved 19 February 2012 a b Robinson Georgina 27 July 2013 SANZAR considering splitting Super Rugby in 2016 Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 26 August 2013 a b Super Rugby to consider expansion ESPN Scrum 27 August 2013 Retrieved 27 August 2013 Adno Carly 4 September 2013 SANZAR boss Greg Peters confirms South Africa will get a sixth Super Rugby franchise from 2016 Herald Sun Retrieved 26 August 2013 Japan and Argentina officially join Super Rugby SANZAR 20 November 2014 Retrieved 2 June 2015 Australian Rugby kicks off new era as Rugby Australia 27 October 2017 Archived from the original on 27 October 2017 Retrieved 3 September 2020 Australian Rugby Union to axe Western Force or Melbourne within three days Nine s Wide World of Sports 10 April 2017 Pro14 rugby Who are the Cheetahs and Southern Kings BBC Sport 2 August 2017 Retrieved 23 August 2017 Union Australian Rugby ARU TO DISCONTINUE WESTERN FORCE SUPER RUGBY LICENCE www aru com au Retrieved 23 August 2017 Sunwolves set for Super Rugby exit SANZAAR statement on Friday www rugby com au Retrieved 18 June 2020 a b c Covid 19 coronavirus New Zealand Rugby confirm details for Super Rugby Aotearoa at alert level 2 New Zealand Herald 7 May 2020 ISSN 1170 0777 Retrieved 10 June 2020 a b c d Revealed Every match of the Super Rugby AU season Fox Sports 11 July 2020 Archived from the original on 2 November 2020 a b c Jacobs Rudolph 29 September 2020 Fixtures released as local teams gear up for Super Rugby Unlocked The Citizen Archived from the original on 5 October 2020 SARU members vote to seek northern hemisphere future SA Rugby 29 September 2020 Retrieved 11 November 2020 Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa draw announced Super Rugby NZ 10 November 2020 Retrieved 10 November 2020 Revealed Rugby Australia announce 2021 Super Rugby AU draw Rugby com au 11 November 2020 Retrieved 11 November 2020 2021 set for thrilling Trans Tasman crossover Rugby com au 13 November 2020 Retrieved 13 November 2020 New Zealand Rugby confirms Fiji Rugby amp Moana Pasifika as preferred partners allblacks com Retrieved 27 December 2020 Next steps in Pacific Island professional teams journey confirmed by NZ Rugby All Blacks 14 April 2021 Retrieved 14 April 2021 Super Rugby Pacific format confirmed Super Rugby NZ 30 August 2021 Retrieved 30 August 2021 Newman Beth 2018 a year of flux before salary cap kicks in rugby com au Retrieved 7 October 2018 Australia s Super Rugby players get pay rise Sport 24 Retrieved 7 October 2018 Intili Daniela Australian rugby announces improved pay deal women s sevens among the winners ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation Retrieved 7 October 2018 Brisbane Times Big paycuts on cards as ARU seeks salary cap 12 March 2011 http www brisbanetimes com au rugby union union news big paycuts on cards as aru seeks salary cap 20110312 1bs2k html Sydney Morning Herald Tip of the cap nudges Pocock 3 June 2012 http www smh com au rugby union union news tip of the cap nudges pocock 20120602 1zok6 html Fox Sports Uncertainty over Super Rugby salary cap could yet derail Will Genia s deal with Queensland Reds 2 May 2012 http www foxsports com au rugby super rugby uncertainty over super rugby salary cap could yet derail will genias deal with queensland reds story e6frf4qu 1226344316320 Ub5lnBy0iXI Australian Times Salary cap makes Super Rugby harder in Australia 15 February 2012 Salary cap makes Super Rugby harder in Australia Archived from the original on 3 September 2013 Retrieved 2015 01 09 Payten Iain 30 March 2011 Australian Super 15 clubs will soon enter into new salary cap era The Daily Telegraph Retrieved 18 July 2013 a b Media Release jenshansen com 8 February 2006 Retrieved 28 January 2007 a b c d e Sport 24 Sport 24 Retrieved 23 February 2012 Super 14 coastdesign com au Archived from the original on 8 December 2006 Retrieved 28 January 2007 a b SANZAR launches Super 14 logo The Sydney Morning Herald 22 August 2005 Archived from the original on 21 March 2007 Retrieved 18 January 2007 1999 Super 12 itip com au Archived from the original on 6 June 2013 Retrieved 23 February 2012 Vodafone return as naming rights partner of Super Rugby Retrieved 21 February 2014 Mitsubishi Estate scores a try to become the Sponsor of 2018 Super Rugby Title Sponsor PDF Archived PDF from the original on 24 February 2018 Mazda Australian Rugby Championship Australian Rugby Union Archived from the original on 3 June 2007 Phillips Sam 9 November 2020 Nine Rugby Australia confirm groundbreaking 100m broadcast deal The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 2 December 2020 Sanzaar reveals streaming interest in lucrative overseas broadcast rights Stuff co nz 1 February 2021 Retrieved 18 February 2021 SANZAAR without UK broadcaster naming rights sponsor before Super Rugby AU Sydney Morning Herald 18 February 2021 Retrieved 18 February 2021 RugbyPass to live stream Super Rugby Aotearoa in UK Ireland Europe Asia and ME RugbyPass 24 February 2021 Retrieved 24 February 2021 World Rugby WorldRugby 6 March 2021 Register now to watch SuperRugby AU matches live and free on t co pMUxQrECrg Available in more than 100 countries Geo restrictions apply Tweet Retrieved 6 March 2021 via Twitter Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa to screen in USA and Canada Super Rugby NZ 19 March 2021 Retrieved 19 March 2021 Where in the world can you watch Sky Super Rugby Trans Tasman Super Rugby NZ 13 May 2021 Retrieved 13 May 2021 Super Rugby Pacific goes global with sanzarrugby tv SANZAAR 14 February 2022 Retrieved 14 February 2022 Broadcast guide SANZAAR Retrieved 13 February 2022 Bibliography EditGifford Phil 2004 The Passion The Stories Behind 125 years of Canterbury Rugby Wilson Scott Publishing ISBN 0 9582535 1 X Howitt Bob 2005 SANZAR Saga Ten Years of Super 12 and Tri Nations Rugby Harper Collins Publishers ISBN 1 86950 566 2 McIlraith Matt 2005 Ten Years of Super 12 Hodder Moa ISBN 1 86971 025 8 External links Edit section, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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