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Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, building on competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 only included teams from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.
The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The visiting Bulls won the 2007 Super 14 Final, scoring a try in the 83rd minute and narrowly defeating the Sharks 20–19, thereby becoming the first South African side to win the Super Rugby title in the professional era.
The Southern Kings were a South African professional rugby union team that competed in Super Rugby and Pro14. They were based in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape province and played their home matches at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. They were created in 2009, and had their first match against the British & Irish Lions during their 2009 tour. After competing in Super Rugby in 2013, 2016 and 2017, they joined Pro14 prior to the 2017–18 season, along with the Cheetahs.
The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the current 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. Including its past incarnations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 17th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The conference games took place every weekend from 24 February until 14 July, followed by the finals series, culminating in the grand final on 4 August. While its three main broadcasting partners are Fox Sports (Australia), Sky Sport and SuperSport, Super Rugby can be viewed in many countries throughout the world.
The 2013 Super Rugby season was the third season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament was won by the Chiefs, who defeated the Canberra-based Brumbies 27–22 in the competition final. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. Including the past incarnations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 18th season of the Southern Hemisphere's premier domestic competition. Conference matches took place every weekend from 15 February until 13 July – with a break between rounds 17 and 18 for internationals games – followed by the play-offs series that culminated in the final on 3 August.
Robin Leendert Coetzee is a South African rugby union player who currently plays for RC Eemland of the Ereklasse in the Netherlands. His usual position is hooker.
The 2014 Super Rugby season is the fourth season of the 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. Including its past incarnations as Super 12 and Super 14, this is the 19th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The conference games will take place every weekend from 15 February until 12 July, followed by the finals series, culminating in the grand final on 2 August. The winners of the 2014 Super Rugby Season were the New South Wales Waratahs.
The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Argentina and the Sunwolves from Japan taking part. This season also saw the return of the Kings, who competed just once before, in the 2013 Super Rugby season. The round-robin games took place every weekend from 26 February to 16 July 2016, followed by the finals series at the end of July and culminating in the final on 6 August.
The 2015 Super Rugby season was the 20th season of Super Rugby and the fifth season featuring an expanded 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition was known as Asteron Life Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. The round-robin matches took place every weekend from 13 February until 13 June, followed by the finals series and culminating in the final on 4 July. This was the final season that featured a 15-team format.
Angus Gardner is an Australian rugby union professional referee who was appointed to the Super Rugby referees panel in 2012. His first match in Super Rugby was between the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium in March of that year.
The Sunwolves – previously known as the HITO-Communications Sunwolves for sponsorship reasons – were a professional rugby union team and Japan's representative team in SANZAAR's international Super Rugby competition. The team was based in Tokyo, Japan, but also played some home matches in Singapore. They made their debut in Super Rugby in 2016. In March 2019, it was announced that 2020 would be the final season for the Sunwolves, after failing to negotiate a contract due to financial considerations.
The 2015 New South Wales Waratahs season was the club's 19th season since the inception of Super Rugby in 1996.
The 2015 Super Rugby Final, was played between the Hurricanes and the Highlanders. It was the 20th final in the Super Rugby competition's history and the fifth under the expanded 15-team format. This was the first Super Rugby final between two New Zealand teams since 2006 when the Hurricanes were beaten by the Crusaders.
The Southern Kings participated in their first ever Super Rugby competition in 2013. They won three, drew one and lost twelve of their matches during the regular season to finish fifth and last in the South African Conference and fifteenth and last on the overall log. Their top try scorer in the competition was Wimpie van der Walt, who got six tries, and their top points scorer was Demetri Catrakilis, who scored 142 points. As a result of finishing bottom of the South African Conference, they had to play a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off series against the Lions. The Lions beat them 44–42 on aggregate to return to Super Rugby in 2014 at the expense of the Kings.
In 2016, the Sunwolves participated in the 2016 Super Rugby competition, their first ever appearance in the competition. They were included in the Africa 1 Conference of the competition, along with the Bulls, Cheetahs and Stormers.
The year 2014 was a challenging year for the Chiefs rugby team as they looked for their third straight super rugby title. They won eight of their Super Rugby games and finished fifth overall on the table, and second behind the Crusaders in the New Zealand Conference. Playing the Brumbies in the qualifying finals, they had a narrow loss, losing 32-30, which ended their super rugby season.
2015 was another tough year for the Chiefs rugby team. They won 10 of their Super Rugby games and finished 5th overall on the table for the 2nd year in a row, and 3rd behind the Hurricanes and Highlanders in the New Zealand Conference. Playing the Highlanders in the qualifying finals in Dunedin was always going to be tough losing 24-14.
Benjamin Dennis O'Keeffe is a rugby union referee from New Zealand. He currently referees at domestic, Super Rugby and test match level.
Tiaan Henk Swanepoel is a Namibian rugby union player for the Lions in Super Rugby. His regular position is fly-half or fullback.
References
- ↑ "Match Centre - Sanzar Lions vs. Stormers". SANZAR. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
