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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 Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in the competition's history and have won a total of 14 titles.
The Highlanders is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competition, and includes the Otago, North Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that founded the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s.
The Blues are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby history, the Blues won the competition in its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and again in 2003 and 2024. Additionally, the team were finalists in 1998 and 2022, and semi-finalists in 2007, 2011 and 2023. They won a Trans Tasman competition in 2021.
Josevata Taliga "Joe" Rokocoko is a New Zealand former professional rugby union player, who played as a wing.
Piri Awahou Tihou Weepu is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Weepu played most recently for Wairarapa Bush in the Heartland Championship. Generally Weepu played as a half-back but also played at first five-eighth on occasion. He has represented the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, between 2004 and 2013. He first won national honours against Wales in 2004. In 2005 was called back into the All Blacks squad for the first Tri Nations test against South Africa, having missed selection for the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour. He represented the Hurricanes and Blues in Super Rugby, and Wellington and Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup. He also had brief spells with several clubs in Europe. In October 2017, Weepu announced his retirement as a rugby player.
Sonny William Williams is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league, and is one of only 43 players to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.
Caleb Stan Ralph is a New Zealand rugby union footballer. Ralph began his first-class career with Bay of Plenty, then moved to Auckland before heading to Canterbury. He started his Super Rugby career with the Chiefs in 1997, Blues (1998–1999), Crusaders (2000–2008) and a cameo role with the Queensland Reds (2011). He made his All Black debut while playing for Auckland in 1998.
Bradley Carnegie Thorn is a New Zealand Australian rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union footballer. Born in New Zealand, he represented Australia in rugby league and New Zealand in rugby union in a twenty-two year career as a player, starting at age nineteen and finishing at age forty-one. He was the head coach of the Australian Super Rugby Pacific team, the Queensland Reds. Thorn is their second longest-serving coach in history and their longest serving coach in the professional era.
Norman Rangi Berryman was a New Zealand rugby union player who played as a winger and centre. He played one Test for the All Blacks, and represented Northland, the Crusaders and the Chiefs in New Zealand. In France, he played for Castres Olympique and CS Bourgoin-Jallieu.
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Sio Julian Savea is a New Zealand professional rugby union player. He currently plays Wing or Centre for Wellington in the National Provincial Championship and Moana Pasifika in Super Rugby. Savea formerly played for Toulon in the Top 14 and the Hurricanes in Super Rugby. Between 2012 and 2017, he won 54 caps for New Zealand.
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The 2013 Super Rugby final was contested on 3 August 2013 by the Canberra-based Brumbies and Hamilton-based Chiefs. The Chiefs won 27–22 to give them their second consecutive Super Rugby title. The match was the last of the 2013 Super Rugby season, and was hosted by the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium. It was the eighteenth final in the history of the Southern Hemisphere's premier domestic rugby competition, and the third under the expanded fifteen-team format. The Chiefs had qualified highest during the regular season, while the Brumbies qualified third.
Blake Gibson is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for Auckland in the ITM Cup and the Blues in Super Rugby.
Hohepa Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a half-back forTaranaki in the Mitre 10 Cup and the Crusaders in Super Rugby. In 2018 Tahuriorangi was selected to play for the All Blacks.
Sevuloni Lasei Reece is a Fijian born, New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a wing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Southland in the Bunnings NPC. Born in Fiji, he represents New Zealand at international level after qualifying on residency grounds.
William Thomas Jordan is a New Zealand rugby union player who plays as a Fullback for the Crusaders in Super Rugby and Tasman in the Bunnings NPC.
Super Rugby Trans-Tasman was a professional men's rugby union club competition in Australia and New Zealand. It featured the five Super Rugby AU teams playing the five Super Rugby Aotearoa teams, followed by a final, and ran from 14 May to 19 June 2021.
Daryl Paul Lilley is a New Zealand former professional rugby union player.
References
- ↑ "College hero". The Sydney Morning Herald . 5 June 1998.
- ↑ "James Stuart Kerr". www.rugbyhistory.co.nz.
- ↑ "Crusade is over, and it's a super finish". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 June 1998.
- ↑ "Where Are They Now: The 1998 Crusaders swell rugby coaching ranks". Stuff.co.nz . 14 July 2018.