Super 14

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Image:Super 14 logo.png The Super 14 is a rugby union championship competed for by teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. From 1996 through 2005, the competition was known as Super 12; the name change came about after two teams were added for the 2006 season. Commentators use the term Super Rugby when talking about the Super 14 and Super 12 collectively. Matches are now broadcast in 41 countries. [1]

Contents

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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.
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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 Australian teams from 2006 will play each other for the Australian Provincial Championship (or State of the Union), the winner of which is awarded the Bob Templeton trophy.

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History

The forerunner of the competition was the Super 10, contested by provincial teams from the three countries, as well as Samoa in 1993 and 1994, and Tonga in 1995. Prior to this a Super 6 and South Pacific championships was played.

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.

One 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 [2], giving them both coverage and financial support.

In recent years (2001 onwards), Australia had pushed for the inclusion of a fourth Australian team (this has been now confirmed as Western Australia), and South Africa for another team from its country (two extra teams were added, for a total of six, but only five will compete in any given year). There was also discussion 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. However, until 2006, the competition remained as it began.

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. [3]. 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 has been confirmed that the new Australian team in the competition will be based in Perth and is to be called 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. However, a sixth South African team, the Southern Spears, was formed in the Southern and Eastern Cape region. There was considerable controversy regarding the Spears entry into the Super 14 in 2007. The exisiting South African clubs did not want the Spears to be automatically promoted; at the very least, they would rather have had the Spears face the lowest South African finisher in a match to determine promotion for the next year's spot. As it turned out, the very future of the Spears franchise itself would come into serious question in 2006.

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.

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Teams

In 2006, the competing teams will be:

For more details regarding the areas from which each Super 14 team draws its players, see Super 14 franchise areas.

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. <ref>"It is official: Spears shafted", RugbyRugby.com, 19 April 2006</ref> SARU has 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. <ref>"Spears' CEO to be held accountable", RugbyRugby.com, 10 April 2006</ref>

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Past winners

The 2004 Super 12 Trophy was taken by the ACT Brumbies, who defeated the Crusaders 47-38 in the final. The 2005 Super 12 Trophy was taken back by the Crusaders, who defeated the NSW Waratahs 35-25. For more information see Super 12 Champions. Image:Super 14 Trophy.jpg Final Results

  • 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

Total wins (Runners-up in brackets)

  • Crusaders 5 (2)
  • Blues 3 (1)
  • ACT Brumbies 2 (3)
  • Sharks 0 (2)
  • Highlanders 0 (1)
  • Waratahs 0 (1)

Wins by Country (Runners-up in brackets)

  • New Zealand 8 (4)
  • Australia 2 (4)
  • South Africa 0 (2)
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Super rugby records

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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), 2005
  • 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: 56 – Blues, 1996/7, 1998
  • 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
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Firsts

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

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Career

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Season

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See also

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References

<references />

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External links

Template:SANZAR linkscs:Super 14 fr:Super 14 ja:スーパー14 mi:Rārangi tīma Super 12

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