Introduction

SuperRugby is the largest and pre-eminent professional Rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere. After starting as the Super 10, then Super 12 and later growing into the Super 14 competition, it then expanded to 15 teams for the 2011 season and has been rebranded as Super Rugby, with no number included. It consists of teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The competition was started in 1996, and from the first season through to 2005, the competition was known as Super 12; the name was changed to Super 14 following the addition of two teams for the 2006 season. Matches are now broadcast in 41 countries.

My first attendance at a SuperRugby game May 2011. Stormers vs Crusuaders Photo by Adrian Brookes. Thanks to Marché Theron for getting the tickets to this sold out game.

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

South Africa actually used their Currie Cup teams as opposed to creating new franchises 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, it is played after the Super Rugby season, and all unions are aligned to a franchise (but not all franchises play Super Rugby, see Southern Kings), though it is mainly the big five, the Blue Bulls, Golden Lions, Natal Sharks, Free State Cheetahs and Western Province which contribute the most to the Super Rugby sides.

In New Zealand, the ITM Cup is the most prominent domestic tournament below the Super Rugby, in which all the respective Unions are also aligned with Super franchises.

In Australia, a new national club competition called the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship was launched in 2007. It was intended to bridge the gap between Super 14 and club rugby, and was similar to the Currie Cup and Air New Zealand Cup. It consisted of eight teams: Sydney Fleet, Central Coast Rays, Western Sydney Rams (from New South Wales), Ballymore Tornadoes, East Coast Aces (from Queensland), Perth Spirit (from Western Australia), Melbourne Rebels (from Victoria) and the Canberra Vikings (from ACT). [1]

The competition began on 10 August, played in a round-robin format, with the Grand Final played on 14 October. Western Sydney were the minor premiers (i.e., finished atop the league table before the playoffs), but lost in the semifinals. Central Coast won the inaugural and ultimately only Grand Final. The ARU scrapped the competition after its inaugural season, citing larger-than-expected financial losses of A$4.7 million. [2]

Conferences

Each country has its own Conference consisting of all the SuperRugby teams in their country. Standings are maintained for these individual conferences and then there is a SuperRugby standing table also.

Here is an example of the standings from the three conferences for illustrative purposes only (extract from May 2011), check here for the latest.

South African Conference	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Bye	Bonus	PD	Points
Stormers	12	9	0	3	2	4	86	48
Sharks	12	7	0	5	2	7	55	43
Bulls	12	7	0	5	2	4	29	40
Cheetahs	13	5	0	8	1	10	24	34
Lions	13	2	0	11	1	7	-119	19

New Zealand Conference	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Bye	Bonus	PD	Points
Blues	13	9	1	3	2	8	65	54
Crusaders	13	9	1	3	1	6	150	48
H'landers	12	8	0	4	2	3	7	43
Chiefs	13	5	0	8	2	6	-13	34
Hurricanes	13	4	1	8	2	8	-74	34

Australian Conference	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Bye	Bonus	PD	Points
Reds	12	10	0	2	2	6	116	54
Waratahs	12	8	0	4	2	5	97	45
Force	13	3	2	8	2	4	-90	28
Brumbies	12	2	1	9	2	6	-99	24
Rebels	13	3	0	10	2	3	-234	23

 

Format

As of the 2011 season, each team plays a total of 16 regular season matches, eight home and eight away. Each team plays all four of the other teams in their conference twice, both home and away, and play against four of the five teams in each of the other two conferences

• Internal Conference Matches – a team will play each of the four other teams in its conference on two occasions meaning a total of eight Internal Conference Matches. With one match against each team played at a home venue and one match played at an away venue this will result in four home matches and four away matches;

• Cross Conference Matches – a team will play four of the five teams from each of the other conferences on one occasion meaning a total of eight Cross Conference Matches. In playing the four teams from each of the other conferences, two of those matches will be played at a home venue and two matches will be played at away venues for a total of four home and four away

[3]

Super Rugby Standings

Example from May 2011 (check here for the latest):

Super Rugby Standing
1	Reds	Australian Conference Leader	54
2	Blues	New Zealand Conference Leader	54
3	Stormers	South African Conference Leader	48
4	Crusaders	Wildcard	48
5	Waratahs	Wildcard	45
6	H'landers	Wildcard	43
7	Sharks		43
8	Bulls		40
9	Cheetahs		34
10	Chiefs		34
11	Hurricanes		34
12	Force		28
13	Brumbies		24
14	Rebels		23
15	Lions		19

[3]

 

Highlights Stomers vs Crusuaders Week 12 Super 15 2011. Credit TTRugbyVids (via YouTube) Thanks to Nashua Telecommunications for the box ticket and Mariette for hosting.

 

Highlights Bulls vs. Rebels Week 13 Super 15 2011. Credit TTRugbyVids (via YouTube) Thanks to Marché Theron for getting me the ticket.

Past Winners

Super 10

Year	Result
1993	Transvaal
1994	Queensland
1995	Queensland

Super 12

Year	Result
1996	Blues 45-21 Natal
1997	Blues 23 -7 ACT Brumbies
1998	Blues 13 -20 Crusaders
1999	Highlanders 19-24 Crusaders
2000	ACT Brumbies 19-20 Crusaders
2001	ACT Brumbies 36-6 Sharks
2002	Crusaders 31-13 ACT Brumbies
2003	Blues 21-17 Crusaders
2004	ACT Brumbies 47-38 Crusaders
2005	Crusaders 35-25 Waratahs

Super 14

Year	Result
2006	Crusaders 19-12 Hurricanes
2007	Bulls 20-19 Sharks
2008	Crusaders 20-12 Waratahs
2009	Bulls 61-12 Chiefs
2010	Bulls 25-17 Stormers
2011	Reds 18-13 Crusaders

References

1. "Mazda Australian Rugby Championship". Australian Rugby Union. http://www.rugby.com.au/fixtures_results/australian_rugby_championship/overview,50381.html Retrieved May 27, 2011
2. "ARC scrapped after $4.7m loss". FoxSports. 18 December 2007.http://www.foxsports.com.au/breaking-news/arc-scrapped-after-47m-loss/story-e6frf33c-1111115141536 Retrieved May 27, 2011
3. International SuperRugby website http://www.superrugby.com/ Retrieved May 27, 2011