Super Rugby is a professional men's rugby union competition involving teams from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Japan. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995.
The Chiefs are a professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition, previously known as the Super 12 and Super 14, and are one of the competition's five New Zealand teams. Playing in black, red and yellow coloured jerseys, their primary home ground is Waikato Stadium.
The Brumbies are an Australian professional rugby union football team competing in the Super Rugby. The team is based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and named for the wild horses which inhabit the capital's hinterland. The team represents the ACT and southern New South Wales (NSW) regions.
The Bulls, for sponsorship reasons known as the Vodacom Bulls, are a South African rugby union team competing in the Super Rugby competition. They are based in Pretoria and play their home matches at Loftus Versfeld. Prior to 1998, the Bulls competed in the then-Super 12 as Northern Transvaal, as in those years South Africa was represented in the competition by its top four Currie Cup sides from the previous season, instead of the modern Super Rugby teams.
The Lions are a South African professional rugby union team from Johannesburg who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They were previously known as the Cats between the 1998 and 2006 seasons. They had varied results in the competition, finishing at the bottom of the table six times, but reaching the semifinal stage five times. They reached their first final in 2016 – where they lost to the Hurricanes 20–3 in Wellington – and repeated the feat in 2017, losing 17–25 to the Crusaders in Johannesburg.
The Cheetahs, known for sponsorship reasons as the Toyota Cheetahs, is a South African rugby union team that played Super Rugby between 2006 and 2017, before joining the Pro14 competition prior to the 2017–18 season. They are based at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.
Rugby league is played across England but is most popular in Northern England, especially Yorkshire and Lancashire where the game originated. These areas are the heartland of rugby league. The sport is also popular in Cumbria where the amateur game is particularly powerful.
The 2006 Super 14 season started on Friday 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on Saturday 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, which saw two new teams, the Western Force and the Cheetahs, join the Super 12/14. The addition of two new teams led to the name change from the Super 12. It was also the first year for a new Super 14 trophy.
SANZAAR is the body which operates Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in Rugby Union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from its member unions.
Rugby union is a winter sport in Australia with a history dating back to 1864. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The national team, the All Blacks, ranks as the top international team in the world. The sport has been known in New Zealand from 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional ITM Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. They are the current world champions for men and women. They are also the current World Champions in 7s rugby for men and women.
The South Pacific Championship was a rugby union competition that was introduced in 1986 and contested through to 1990. The competition featured six teams - three provinces from New Zealand; Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington, two Australian teams; Queensland and New South Wales, and one team representing Pacific Island rugby, Fiji.
The Western Australia Rugby Union (RugbyWA) is the governing body of rugby union in Western Australia, it was founded in 1893 and the inaugural 4 team competition commenced in 1895 with the I Zingari, Fremantle, Swans and Midland Junction Club's taking part. The WARU Senior Grade competition was contested from 1895 to 1913.
The Southern Kings, known for sponsorship reasons as the Isuzu Southern Kings are a South African rugby union team that played Super Rugby in 2013, 2016 and 2017, before joining the Pro14 competition prior to the 2017–18 season. The team is based at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and was formally announced at the opening of this stadium on 16 June 2009, in time to coincide with the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.
Malcolm Justin Marx is a South African rugby union player for the South Africa national team, the Lions in Super Rugby, the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup and the Golden Lions XV in the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is hooker, but he did play as a flanker at youth level for the Golden Lions.
The Jaguares are a professional rugby union team based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They were founded in 2015 and are the first Argentine team to play in SANZAAR's Super Rugby competition, participating from the 2016 Super Rugby season onwards.
The Super W competition is a women's rugby union competition held in Australasia. The inaugural competition was held in 2018 featuring only Australian teams. This was won by the New South Wales Waratahs.
The 2019 Super Rugby season is the 24th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. The 2019 season is the second season using the reduced 15-team format consisting of three geographical conferences since being reduced from an 18-team competition in 2017.
