WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Super Rugby enters its 30th year when the Highlanders and defending champion Crusaders meet Friday, having proved its durability and adaptability as the premier Southern Hemisphere club competition.
When the Hurricanes and Blues met on March 1, 1996 to launch a new tournament involving teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, rugby was newly professional and there was no guarantee the competition would last long in its initial form.
It cut across state lines in Australia and provincial lines in New Zealand and South Africa, disrupting established regional fan bases. Over the years it expanded from 12 to 15 to 18 teams, encompassed Argentina, Japan and the Pacific and survived the pandemic before arriving in its current 11-team form.
In 2020 South Africa pulled its four teams from the tournament, choosing to join competitions in a more congenial time zone in the Northern Hemisphere. Some feared that might be the death knell of the competition. But it has endured.
Organizers say there are no plans to expand the competition in the near future and no overtures are being made to South Africa to return.
“Super Rugby has had so many guises, so many changes,” chief executive Jack Mesley said in an interview with the New Zealand DSPN podcast. “We need fans of rugby in this region to understand our comp.
“Who are our teams? Who are our players? There are no secrets. Clubs, financially, are not necessarily in the strongest position. We’ve got a job to solidify and really contain and fortify what we have now.”
At its peak Super Rugby could claim to be the best club rugby competition in the world. It’s not anymore in terms of quality, and it can’t hope to match the crowds that attend elite club competitions in the Britain and Europe.
Crowds in Australia and New Zealand fluctuate according to the success of individual teams but the overall audience is not growing.
Rugby in Australia exists in one of the most competitive sporting markets in the world and at the moment Super Rugby is not competing with the “product” offered by the National Rugby League and the Australian rules Australian Football League.
More than 4.3 million people attended 213 NRL matches in 2025, an average of around 21,000 per game; and around 8.2 million attended AFL matches. Super Rugby saw an increase in attendances and viewership in Australia but it doesn’t come close to matching those numbers.
Super Rugby has introduced numerous law changes in recent seasons to make the game faster and more attractive. That’s the case again this year, with a number of amendments designed to increase the time the ball is in play, reduce interventions by the television match officials.
But engineering a faster game doesn’t always improve quality, nurture core skills or prepare players for test rugby.
“Over the last four years more than four minutes of ‘dead time’ has been eradicated from Super Rugby Pacific games — a result of law innovation combined with strong intent from match officials,” a statement from organizers said.
“These innovations for 2026 reflect the ongoing commitment of Super Rugby Pacific to deliver the most entertaining and engaging rugby competition in the world. We want to be a competition that encourages quick taps and faster restarts, that cuts down on unnecessary stoppages and that embraces positive, attacking rugby.”
The former French test referee Mathieu Raynal believes the changes go too far.
The Southern Hemisphere “want more passing, more tries, less time spent in mauls and scrums,” Raynal said, “whereas we (in France) defend these specific elements and are against directions being set by the Southern Hemisphere. Our championship works, our stadiums are full.
“We don’t want to follow directions coming from countries where stadiums are empty, where they are trying to recreate spectacle and bring people back to stadiums at any cost, even if it means sacrificing fairness and the principle of player safety.”
Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh dismissed Raynal’s criticism, pointing out the Southern Hemisphere countries have won nine of 10 Rugby World Cups — England's victory in 2003.
“You can’t win World Cups without having a really strong domestic league underneath it,” Waugh said. “We’ll continue to evolve in our market. We know we’ve got the most congested market. We’re the ‘canary in the coal mine.’ We’re here in the Southern Hemisphere and we’ll continue to challenge to make the game better.”
The challenge for Super Rugby still is in achieving the balance between a competition which appeals to casual fans and prepares players for tests.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
FILE - Crusader players celebrate after defeating the Chiefs in the Super Rugby Pacific final between the Chiefs and the Crusaders in Hamilton, New Zealand, on June 24, 2023. (Andrew Cornaga/Photosport via AP, File)
