Saturday, May 1, 2010

Super 14 Rugby Tournaments

The Super 14 is the largest provincial rugby union tournament championship in the southern hemisphere, consisting of provincial teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
There are fourteen provincial teams that compete against one another. Unlike the Heineken Cup there are no divisions or pools. Each team plays 13 games during the regular season which runs for fourteen and a 1/2 weeks.

The best four teams, finishing in the top four places on the competition ladder after the regular season, enter the finals leg of the tournament. The semi-finals are contested to decide the two finalists, which is played at the highest ranked winners' home ground, as opposed to a pre-selected neutral venue.

History

The Super 14 as we now know it is an exapnded version of the Super 12 which started in 1996. For the 2006 season the tournament was expanded from 12 teams to 14 teams. The tournament is now broadcasted in 41 countries.

Teams

The Super 14 is currently contested by fourteen (14) teams. In this site you can visit each teams section by clicking on the name of the team below. The teams are as follows alphabetically.
Blues Brumbies Bulls Cheetahs Chiefs Crusaders Force

Highlanders Hurricanes Lions Reds Sharks Stormers Waratahs

There is another team from South Africa that is planning to join the Super 14 when another team from South Africa drops out and this teams is currently known as the Southern Spears.