Super Rugby
Current season, competition or edition: 2017 Super Rugby season
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Super Rugby Logo introduced for 2011
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| Formerly | Super 12 (1996–2005) Super 14 (2006–2010) |
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| Sport | Rugby union |
| Founded | August 1995 |
| Inaugural season | 1996 |
| Owner(s) | SANZAAR |
| CEO | Greg Peters |
| Divisions |
Australasian South African |
| No. of teams | 18 |
| Country |
Argentina Australia Japan New Zealand South Africa |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Hurricanes (1st title) |
| Most titles | Crusaders (7 titles) |
| TV partner(s) |
ESPN Fox Sports Network Ten J Sports Setanta Sports Sky Sport Sky Sports Supersport TSN |
| Sponsor(s) |
Investec Personal Vodacom Vodafone |
| Related competitions |
Currie Cup Mitre 10 Cup National Rugby Championship Campeonato Argentino Nacional de Clubes Top League |
| Official website | SuperRugby.com |
Super Rugby (rendered in the current competition logo as "SupeRugby") is the preeminent professional men's rugby union football competition in the Southern Hemisphere and Japan. Building off various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, Super Rugby officially started with the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The competition was known as Super 12 through to the end of the 2005 season; the name was changed to Super 14 with the addition of two teams for the 2006 season; with expansion to 15 teams in the three countries for the 2011 season, the competition was rebranded as Super Rugby (no number included). By 2006, matches were being broadcast in 41 countries.
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 1995 to establish and run the Super 12, and Tri-Nations Tournament.
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. The two winners then played the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed. There were 91 regular season games in total. Games were held over 14 weekends with each team receiving one bye.
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