Super 14

The Super 14 is the largest rugby union championship in the southern hemisphere, consisting of provincial teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The fourteen sides all compete against one another, with no divisional or pool system. Each team plays 13 games during the regular season which runs for fourteen weeks.

The best four teams, finishing in the top four places on the competition ladder after the regular season, enter the finals leg of the tournament. The semi-finals are contested to decide the two finalists, which is played at the highest ranked winners' home ground, as opposed to a pre-selected neutral venue.

The current competition was inaugurated in 1996, and from the first season through to 2005, the competition was known as Super 12; the name change came about following the expansion for the 2006 season. The term Super Rugby is sometimes used when talking about the Super 14 and Super 12 collectively. Matches are now broadcast in 41 countries.

Naming rights

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

In New Zealand, sporting goods retailer Rebel Sport has naming rights and the competition is referred to as the Rebel Sport Super 14. Previously Ubix and then Telecom New Zealand (TNZ).
In Australia, the Tooheys brewery has naming rights and the competition is referred to as the Tooheys New Super 14, named after its Tooheys New brand.
In South Africa, telecommunications company Vodacom has naming rights and the competition is referred to as the Vodacom Super 14.

The competition

The Super 14 is a round-robin competition with each team playing every other team once, with six or seven home games and six or seven away games. There are 91 regular season games in total. Games are held over 14 weekends with each team receiving one bye. A team receives four points for a win, two for a draw, and none for a loss. Teams also receive a bonus point for scoring four tries, regardless of the final result. A bonus point is also earned by a team that loses a game by seven points (a converted try) or less. The top four teams at the end of the round-robin phase then play semifinals, with the first placed team hosting the fourth placed team and the second placed team hosting the third placed team. The two winners then play the final at the home ground of the top surviving seed.

The logo

The Super 14 logo was designed by Coast Design, Sydney for the new competition in 2006. The new identity breaks away from the traditional shield formats, common to many sporting codes, and uses Roman numerals (XIV) which is unique for sport in the region. The game's dynamism and speed are suggested by the orbiting rugby ball which has three distinct stitches, a subtle reference to the three countries of the tournament.

History

Following the dramatic finish to the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, professionalism became apart of rugby union, which led to the establishment of a number of professional sports leagues. Prior to 1995, regular competitive rugby union had taken shape in a number of southern hemisphere competitions, the earliest of which was the South Pacific Championship, which was launched in 1986. The original competition consisted of three teams from New Zealand; Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington along with two Australian teams; Queensland and New South Wales, and Fiji. The competition was relaunched as the Super Six (or the Super Sixes) in 1992, following Australia's win at the 1991 World Cup. The competition proved so popular that it was restructured again following the first Super Six season. The competition was renamed the Super 10 (or the Super Tens) , which introduced South African teams, as well as Western Samoa in 1993 and 1994, and Tonga in 1995, with Fiji not participating.

Another significant reason for the development of the Super 12 competition was the introduction, in Australia especially but also in other nations, of pay (or subscription) television. A key 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. Another reason is that with the establishment of the Super League, the Rugby Unions were concerned that they would lose players, who were switching codes to follow the high salaries. Therefore 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 USD 555 million, giving them both coverage and financial support.

The first Super 12 series was held in 1996, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa formed SANZAR (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby) to administer an annual 12-team provincial competition and Tri-Nations Test Series between the three countries. It was born out of the success of 1995 Rugby World Cup, pitting regional teams of the then three strongest rugby nations against each other.

From the early 2000s Australia 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 September 2004, SANZAR began negotiations for a new television deal to take effect in 2006. That December, SANZAR announced that a new TV deal had been signed, with News Corporation winning the rights for the UK, Australia and New Zealand and Supersport winning rights for South Africa. The contract is worth USD 323 million over five years, which is a 16% annual increase compared to the previous deal. 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.

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 proposal also included the possibility of splitting the updated Super 14 into two seven-team divisions, but it was decided to keep the competition in its traditional single-table format. However, Argentina and the Pacific Islands remain shut out of the competition under this proposal.

It was confirmed in 2005 that the new Australian team in the competition will be 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 Central Cheetahs, which will draw its players from the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces.

In 2007, the Southern Spears, based in Port Elizabeth, were originally intended to replace the lowest-finishing South African team in the 2006 table. As part of the same plan, the Spears were also guaranteed a place in the 2008 Super 14. After the 2007 season, the lowest-finishing South African team in that year's Super 14 table, other than the Spears, was to play a promotion/relegation test match against the team that was relegated in 2006. The plan included a similar test match in following years, with the Spears subject to possible relegation starting at the end of the 2008 season.

However, the existing South African Super 14 franchises, plus the Cheetahs, strongly opposed the plan, which many believed to have been railroaded through by the controversial president of the South African Rugby Union, Brian van Rooyen. After van Rooyen was voted out as president in 2006, SARU announced that the Spears' future presence in the Super 14 would be reconsidered. On 19 April 2006, SARU officially announced that the Spears would not enter the competition; although new SARU president Oregan Hoskins said that the Spears franchise had not been killed off, their future as a franchise is now in doubt.

SARU called for an investigation into the viability of the Spears franchise after discovering that the Spears could not account for ZAR 4.6 million (USD 750,000) in funding that SARU provided to the Spears. Spears CEO Tony McKeever has been suspended as of May 16, 2006, pending investigation irregularities in the club's finances. The Spears' inclusion in the Currie Cup is also in doubt due to an anticipated exodus of players.

On February 7th, a new Super 14 trophy was unveiled in Wellington, New Zealand for the expanded competition. It was created by the same workshop that created the gold ring in The Lord of the Rings films. In the first Super 14 final, played at Jade Stadium, in Christchurch, on May 27 2006, the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 19-12. The final was characterised by being played in dense fog, rendering much of the game invisible to both the television audience and the crowd.

Future

On Sunday May 21, 2006, New Zealand Sunday newspaper, the Sunday Star Times revealed the All Black coach Graham Henry wanted to keep around 30 of the country's top players out of the 2007 Super 14 season with the World Cup in the later stages of that year. On Monday May 22, stuff.co.nz ran an article that stated "Super 14 franchises appear ready to cop on the chin plans to keep leading All Blacks out of the first half of next year's competition".

The franchises, New Zealand Rugby Union and Henry are to meet on Wednesday to further discuss the proposal. The 2007 season is believed to be scheleduled to start in mid-January, opposed to the February 10th start for the 2006 season.

Teams

In 2006, the competing teams are:

Australia
- Brumbies - Australian Capital Territory and southern New South Wales
- New South Wales Waratahs - New South Wales north of Goulburn
- Queensland Reds - Queensland and far north New South Wales
- Western Force - Western Australia

New Zealand
- Blues - Northland Peninsula and most of metropolitan Auckland
- Chiefs - central and eastern North Island, including Hamilton
- Crusaders - north and central South Island, including Christchurch
- Highlanders - southern South Island, including Dunedin
- Hurricanes - southern and southwestern North Island, including Wellington and Taranaki

South Africa
- Bulls - Pretoria (plus East Rand and Limpopo Province)
- Cats - Johannesburg (plus Mpumalanga and North West)
- Cheetahs - Bloemfontein (Free State Province plus Northern Cape)
- Sharks - Durban (KwaZulu-Natal)
- Stormers - Cape Town (plus northern Western Cape)

Past winners

Final results Super 12

1996 Blues 45–21 Sharks May 25, 1996 at Auckland
1997 Blues 23–7 ACT Brumbies May 31, 1997 at Auckland
1998 Crusaders 20–13 Blues May 30, 1998 at Auckland
1999 Crusaders 24–19 Highlanders May 30, 1999 at Dunedin
2000 Crusaders 20–19 ACT Brumbies May 27, 2000 at Canberra
2001 ACT Brumbies 36–6 Sharks May 26, 2001 at Canberra
2002 Crusaders 31–13 ACT Brumbies May 25, 2002 at Christchurch
2003 Blues 21–17 Crusaders May 24, 2003 at Auckland
2004 ACT Brumbies 47–38 Crusaders May 22, 2004 at Canberra
2005 Crusaders 35–25 Waratahs May 28, 2005 at Christchurch

Final results Super 14

2006 Crusaders 19–12 Hurricanes May 27, 2006 at Christchurch

Total wins (runners-up in brackets)

Crusaders 6 (2)
Blues 3 (1)
ACT Brumbies 2 (3)
Sharks 0 (2)
Highlanders 0 (1)
Waratahs 0 (1)
Hurricanes 0 (1)

Wins by Country (runners-up in brackets)

New Zealand 9 (5)
Australia 2 (4)
South Africa 0 (2)

Trophy

The Super 14 trophy is sterling silver and has the competition logo on a globe which sits atop of a four-sided twisted spiral, standing at 49 centimetres high and weighing 2.7 kilogram. Jens Hansen Gold and Silversmith in Nelson, New Zealand hand made the trophy which took over two months to make, the same workshop made the gold ring in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The trophy was first held by the Crusaders, who won the first expanded competition.

Super rugby records

Team records

Highest score: 96 – Crusaders v Waratahs (19), 2002
Lowest score: 0 – Bulls v Brumbies (15), 1999; Cats v Brumbies (64), 2000; Bulls v Highlanders (23), 2005; Brumbies v Blues (17), 2006; Reds v Brumbies (36)
Highest winning margin: 77 – Crusaders v Waratahs (96-19), 2002
Highest score away: 60 – Blues v Hurricanes (7), 2002
Most consecutive wins: 15 – Crusaders, 2002/03
Most consecutive losses: 11 – Bulls, 2002
Most tries in a match: 14 – Crusaders v Waratahs, 2002
Most tries in a season: 71 – Crusaders, 2005
Fewest tries in a season: 15 – Blues, 1999, 2000
Most wins in a season: 11 – Crusaders, 2002 regular season
Fewest wins in a season: 0 – Bulls, 2002 regular season
Most wins in a row at home: 21 - Blues 1996-1998; Crusaders 2004-2006

Firsts

First Super rugby try: Alama Ieremia, Blues v Hurricanes, Palmerston North, 1996
First Super rugby conversion: Jamie Cameron, Hurricanes v Blues, Palmerston North, 1996
First Super rugby penalty: Jamie Cameron, Hurricanes v Blues, Palmerston North, 1996

Individual records

Career

Points: 926 – Andrew Mehrtens, Crusaders
Tries: 57 – Joe Roff, Brumbies
Conversions: 148 – Matt Burke, Waratahs
Penalties: 195 – Andrew Mehrtens, Crusaders

Season

Points: 221 – Daniel Carter, Crusaders, 2006 (Previous by Andrew Mehrtens ^*, in 1998 before expansion)
Tries: 15 - Joe Roff, Brumbies, 1997, Rico Gear, Crusaders, 2005
Conversions: 39 – Stirling Mortlock, Brumbies, 2000
Penalties: 43 – Andrew Mehrtens, Crusaders, 1999

References

External links

Rugby union in Australia | Rugby union in New Zealand | Rugby union in South Africa

Super 14 | Super 14 | Rārangi tīma Super 12 | スーパー14

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