Super rugby how began?

In 1986 NSW and Queensland played against Auckland, Canterbury and Wellington from New Zealand, as well as a composite Fiji side.

For five years the tournament was played, a South Pacific Championship or Super Six, which led to ‘expansion’ when South Africa re-entered the rugby world and it was reborn into the Super 10 in 1993, where it ran until 1995, prior to the game becoming professional.

In 1996 as SANZAR was formed, the Super 12 was created, a professional competition and the first official ‘international domestic’ tournament featuring the strongest teams – which would become franchises – across New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

In 2006 Super 14 came into fruition, with the Western Force and Cheetahs joining the fold, naturally extending the round-robin regular season competition, while the Super Rugby Final’s Series format of the top four playing semi-finals continued.

In 2011, Super Rugby expanded to 15 teams – with the Melbourne Rebels the new franchise - and split into three conferences, each with five teams and based in one of the three nations. 

From 2016, 1 team each in 3 countries including SUNWOLVES from Japan will join Super Rugby, Total 18 teams have the top level rugby competion.