Super Rugby franchise areas

The Super Rugby competition in rugby union, including teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa is based on a "franchise" system of teams. The original member countries – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – all have several regional franchises, while the expansion countries – Argentina and Japan – have one franchise each. This article provides specific detail as to the areas covered by each Super Rugby team.

Argentina has a single franchise, which participates in the South African Conference. It was included in Super Rugby for the 2016 Super Rugby season and represents all of Argentine Rugby Union; the team consists of players from various teams that participate in the Campeonato Argentino and the Nacional de Clubes, which involves clubs from URBA and from the Torneo del Interior.

In the past, Australia did not have a continent-wide rugby competition but structured the game around regional club competitions. The five Australian Super Rugby franchises have evolved from traditional state and territory representative sides. In 2007 the Australian Rugby Union launched the ARC (a national competition like the Currie Cup and the ITM Cup), in order to bridge the gap between Super Rugby and amateur club rugby. The ARU scrapped the competition after its inaugural season. From 2014, it launched the NRC, a similar competition. The rugby power-bases of New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory are joined by Australian rules football strongholds Victoria and Western Australia as the franchise locations:

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