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New look: Super Rugby
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- Australia
- New Zealand
Also see
- All the fixtures for the 2011 Super Rugby tournament
SANZAR on Monday unveiled details of the new-look competition format and the 2011 draw for Super Rugby, the southern hemisphere's premiere inter-provincial rugby competition.
At a launch event in Sydney, new SANZAR CEO-designate, Greg Peters, unveiled the new name, logo and colours that will underpin the rollout of Super Rugby across all three SANZAR territories and around the world via SANZAR's broadcast partners.
"For the first time since its inception in 1996, Super Rugby will take on a whole new look in 2011," said Mr Peters.
"The fifteen teams will take part in a three-conference format which will see all of the teams in each conference tackle each other home and away; supplemented with inter-conference games and culminating in a new, six-team finals series.
"We believe this competition will deliver even more of what our fans in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are telling us that they love about Super Rugby including more local derbies, intense cross-conference competition and the expanded final series with the guarantee of a home final for each of the conference winners."
Mr Peters was joined for the launch by players from some of the Australian franchises including the new Melbourne Rebels franchise.
And the new-look competition format and the draw for 2011 were revealed underlining the depth and intensity of competition that will take place within the conferences, and across all 15 teams in the new competition window which will reach its peak with the Final in July 2011.
"These changes promise to take Super Rugby to a whole new level. For all of our fans and especially our younger fans who look forward seeing all of their heroes taking the field in their local colours, 2011 will be a big year in prospect."
New Competition Format
The Super Rugby competition will not only expand to 15 teams in 2011, it will also undergo a significant format revamp.
A new three-Conference system will be in place where the five teams within each country will make up nationally-based Conferences and play their four "local" rivals on a home and away basis (eight games in total).
They will also play four of the other five teams in each of the other two Conferences on a home or away basis (another eight games).
This leads to an overall program of 16 games per team in the regular season, as opposed to the current 13 - and separate Australian Conference, South African Conference and New Zealand Conference tables will chart the fortunes of teams in each country.
A three-week finals series involving six teams - as opposed to the current two-week playoffs for four teams - will further increase the length of the season.
At the end of the regular season matches, the top team in each Conference will qualify for the finals.
The other three teams to qualify will be the sides with the most number of competition points - regardless in which Conference they are based.
The Conference winners are also ensured of a home finals match. Therefore, at least one finals match will be played in each country each year.
Super Rugby Snapshot:
- An increase in overall matches from 94 to 125 (an increase of 33%)
- A 50% increase in the length of the season in non-World Cup years - from 16 weeks to 24 weeks
- A 31% increase in the length of the season in World Cup years - from 16 weeks to 21 weeks
- 40 Super Rugby regular season matches played in each country each season as opposed to 26 in Australia under the Super 14 structure and 32 or 33 in South Africa and New Zealand
- There will be 20 regular season local derbies in each country as opposed to six in Australia, 10 in South Africa and10 in New Zealand under the Super 14 format
- Half of all regular season matches will be local derbies
- Each team will play 12 of its 16 regular-season games within its own country - with only four matches overseas
Finals Series Facts:
- The top team in each Conference will automatically advance to the finals in positions 1, 2 or 3 (depending on their individual competition points totals)
- The other three teams to advance will be those with the highest number of competition points outside of the Conference winners
- The teams qualifying in 4th, 5th and 6th can come from any Conference - they could all come from one Conference
- In week one of the finals the teams qualifying 1st and 2nd will rest
- The 3rd placed team, as a Conference winner, will host the 6th placed team in a sudden death Qualifier
- The 4th placed team will host the 5th placed team in another sudden death Qualifier
- The two winners will play the top two sides in Semis the following week
- The winners of the Semis will meet in the Final
Comments
cmarshment says...
You guys are all so miserable :)
Yes there are more games in a busy season but most of the players will welcome the reduced amount of long haul travel. In my experience a 12 hour flight is at least as draining as a match (all be I've never played a Super Rugby Match).
Local derbies (at least in NZ) generate bigger crowds and superior TV ratings. I imagine it's the same in OZ (not sure about Saffa).
That means more interest and more revenue for the franchises. I for one am sold on the idea.
Oh by the way - the idea of NZ abandoning Super Franchises is absurd. The beauty of the franchise system is that the best players, irrespective of their province) get game time at the highest level. Players like Isreal Dagg, Rene Ranger and Aaron Cruden may never have got All Black Opportunities if it wasnt for the franchise system.
Posted 19:23 15th September 2010
billymutt says...
Ugh. The last thing we need is more "local derbies". The thought of watching the Bulls play the Stormers (or any other local team for that matter) several times in the Super 15, then several more times over the course of the Currie Cup, etc. - not so appealing. I just can't see how this will generate more interest, except maybe in Aus where there is no real equivalent of Currie Cup or ITM Cup. The real interest in Super Rugby has always been watching local teams compete against overseas teams. What were these guys thinking?
Posted 18:27 15th September 2010
brazilrugger says...
@asianmo, i couldn't agree with you more, friend. its so ridiculous to have the markerters do all this nonsense so blatantly for financial reasons. it would have been better to have the traditional unions as they were.
Posted 06:45 14th September 2010
reado15 says...
This format is purely a revenue gathering exercise. The only 2 groups that loose out are the players (playing more games in an already massive playing year) and the public (sick and tired of watching rugby).
SANZAR can put whatever spin they want on it but at the crux of the dwindling crowds problem is that there is already too many games - people have lost interest. By creating more games it just going to make it worse.
Posted 04:04 14th September 2010
DutchWing says...
@ kpe12... If you take this years result, the 6 qualifying teams would be:
1 - Bulls, 2 - Waratahs, 3 - Crusaders, 4 - Stormers, 5 - Reds, 6 - Brumbies.
So how you come up with Australia being the weaker conference I don't know.
@ asianmo... So Lions (Wellington) and Magpies (Hawke's Bay), Stags (Southland) don't qualify as animals? And the Blues (Northland) and Amber and Blacks (Taranaki) don't qualify as colours? Please stick to substantiated remarks if you want to make a statement.
I think this would be great for the competition, as Super Rugby had a way too short competition in the past.
Posted 02:43 14th September 2010
miker says...
This new format seems to be disadvantaging the NZ teams, with only the NZ Conference winner going through to the finals. The competition within the NZ Conference will be far greater, with most teams relatively evenly matched, so the opportunity to get bonus point wins will be far harder than in SA or Aus. In those Conferences there is a much greater disparity between their teams, so the top teams will score more bonus points, given them a head start on the NZ teams before the inter-Conference matches even begin.
Posted 23:17 13th September 2010
brucey9 says...
asianmo's comment... the first comment is the best ive heard in years, Spot on mate! who cares about these strange entities in nz... let them play and represent their province not random geographical ideas with no history or ties. and while we are at it stop playing 44 bledisloe cup games a yr.
Posted 18:59 13th September 2010
davodiablo says...
Ever heard the expression " Less is more " ? No .Thought so .
Posted 18:48 13th September 2010
Coconutz says...
asianmo I 100% agree you.... This exapansion only benefits Australia....and is another step to killing off the currie cup and NPC.... if NZ and SA truly values its rugby traditions....then they must look to incorporate the provinces into the super rugby format.....or let rugby at the smaller provinces to suffer further, thus losing its depth, which is what makes both these nations great rugby nations!!!!!
Posted 16:50 13th September 2010
leebok says...
Who did they ask exactly when they say "people want more local derbies".. We don't want more local derbies, we get those with the Currie Cup and NZ cup etc. We want our local teams to play overseas teams.. its all money and very American. Something us Rugby fans do not like, whether we are SA, Oz or NZ. I agree with 15 teams, 5 per nation, but make it simple, home and away, top 4 go into the semi's, winner takes all. end of!
Posted 16:39 13th September 2010
asianmo says...
I am a life-long rugby fan but I am sick and tired of "Super" rugby, and so are many people in NZ. The main reason is that there is no emotional or historical attachment to the artificial franchises. These teams were dreamed up by marketing gurus and they are nonsense.
What's wrong with the top 5 provincial teams in NZ each year qualifying to play in the following season's Super 15? That would create a lot of interest in NZ. I can't imagine any other sport in the world so blatantly pushing away over a century of rivalries and culture to form artificial combined teams. Can you imagine Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton combining to form the "Manchester Magic" in the Premier League? Australia has kept their traditional state teams anyway so they love the competition, but SA and NZ have struggled to accept it and will continue to do so. The excitement generated by the NPC in NZ the last 2 years is evidence that fans are sick of the artificial franchises. And that is without any All Blacks being allowed to play in it.
The main reason I might casually watch a Super game is to see what players might be playing well enough to push for a place in the All Blacks, and which player has suffered a season ending injury.
If the NZ Rugby suits want people to be interested and passionate about Super rugby, then wake up and move it back to provincial based teams and not the current nonsense of teams named after colours, animals and weather patterns.
Posted 13:39 13th September 2010
danut says...
it is going to be ####
the super 15 will be a joke
the hunger for money will spoil rugby like it already happened with soccer
Posted 12:24 13th September 2010
Tahu_to_you_too says...
I can't wait for this season to start. It's going to be great.
Posted 10:51 13th September 2010
kpe12 says...
Although I am open to change I am not looking forward to the new format.
Local derbies is not what I want more of, it will be painful watching the Highlanders or Force or Lions get smashed twice as much because they don't have the player depth. The ITM cup, Currie cup and whatever the Aussies have is more than enough inter provincial rugby for a season, now we are doubling it up.
The SA teams might relish this format as it will mean less travel which has been and continues to be the bane of SA rugby.
Certain teams like the Highlanders will be at an automatic disadvantage having to play in more adverse conditions more often (it being colder and more likely to rain) and therefore less likely to obtain bonus points.
Certain teams will have more opportunity for bonus points playing in weaker conferences, this is not the NBA where it is a non contact sport and we play 75 games in a season and things eventually balance out, (no offense) the Australian conference will be weaker allowing the form team in Australia a better chance at #1 or 2 and they might avoid either the Crusaders or Stormers on top of that (or even both) where other teams will go head to head with those teams twice.
Super15 will also be a painfully long season. There will be a LOT of dead rubber matches at the end of the season as well.
Posted 10:30 13th September 2010
sebbb says...
The logo looks like something OCP (from Robocop) would come up with!
Posted 09:55 13th September 2010
Lostie says...
No to upset the apple cart....but, what if the competition was a super 9. Run with every team playing every other team home and away with the same finals format.
To be honest I think the finals format given above is very good. It doesn't matter to me if NZ teams don't make the finals (would be nice though).
Also (and I'm not sure how everyone else might feel about this) but, I reckon there would be an advantage to us Southern Hemisphere teams if Super Rugby was completed on the dawn of the RWC. This way our teams would not be exhausted with too much rugby and team positions would be more competitive for players showing form.
Please if anyone is thinking along these lines, comment back.
Posted 09:49 13th September 2010
gauca says...
Great to see SH club sides gonna have to play more club games, great viewing to watch more super15 games! Still only half as much club games than the NH sides though, a massive disparity in the number of games players will have compared to up here, but hey any lengthening to SH domestic season may affect your player selection for internationals as it does without fail up here. This may give my beloved NH sides a slightly improved chance of beating some of your boys for once!
Posted 09:47 13th September 2010
LFK15 says...
This sounds good for Australia but a waste of tme for NZ and SA who already have strong domestic rugby competitions.
Posted 09:20 13th September 2010
Ratman says...
Good - let's see how this format runs. One thing for certain - teams are gonna need a huge amount of player depth!
Posted 07:23 13th September 2010
Clinton says...
Hopefully this new format will force the coaches to make use of up-and-coming players more regularly now in order to rest their top players frequently. Especially in SA, there is this on-going problem where younger players don't get regular (and fair) opportunities to show their worth. So I really hope that we will see new faces all the time to inject new energy into the game. The new conference system may not be everyone's favourite idea, but I believe this is the best way to manage the expanded tournament. It should've already been done way back when it was still the Super 12.
Posted 07:04 13th September 2010