SANZAR on Monday unveiled a new look, details of the new competition format and the 2011 draw for Super Rugby, the southern hemisphere’s premiere inter-provincial rugby competition
The tournament will be opened when the Hurricanes host the Highlanders in the first of the new-look conference matches.
Week One also has a big north-south derby in New Zealand, where the Blues host the Crusaders.
The Melbourne Rebels open their account when they host the Waratahs, while the only Week One match that isn’t a local derby is when the Brumbies host the Chiefs.
The 2011 Super Rugby schedule:
(Kick-off times are local – daylight savings ends in Australia and New Zealand on April 1)
WEEK ONE
Friday 18 February: Hurricanes v Highlanders, 19.35
Friday 18 February: Rebels v Waratahs, 19.40
Saturday 19 February: Blues v Crusaders, 19.35
Saturday 19 February: Brumbies v Chiefs, 19.40
Saturday 19 February: Sharks v Cheetahs, 17.05
Saturday 19 February: Lions v Bulls, 19.10
Sunday 20 February: Reds v Force, 16.40
Bye: Stormers
WEEK TWO
Friday 25 February: Highlanders v Chiefs, 19.35
Friday 25 February: Rebels v Brumbies, 19.40
Friday 25 February: Cheetahs v Bulls, 19.10
Saturday 26 February: Hurricanes v Crusaders, 19.35
Saturday 26 February: Waratahs v Reds, 19.40
Saturday 26 February: Sharks v Blues, 17.05
Saturday 26 February: Stormers v Lions, 19.10
Bye: Western Force
WEEK THREE
Friday 4 March: Crusaders v Waratahs, 19.35
Friday 4 March: Lions v Blues, 19.10
Saturday 5 March: Chiefs v Rebels, 19.35
Saturday 5 March: Brumbies v Reds, 19.40
Saturday 5 March: Force v Sharks, 19.05
Saturday 5 March: Stormers v Cheetahs, 17.05
Saturday 5 March: Bulls v Highlanders, 19.10
Bye: Hurricanes
WEEK FOUR
Friday 11 March: Crusaders v Brumbies, 19.35
Friday 11 March: Rebels v Sharks, 19.40
Friday 11 March: Stormers v Highlanders, 19.10
Saturday 12 March: Hurricanes v Chiefs, 19.35
Saturday 12 March: Force v Blues, 19.05
Saturday 12 March: Cheetahs v Lions, 17.05
Byes: Bulls, Reds, Waratahs
WEEK FIVE
Friday 18 March: Chiefs v Sharks, 19.35
Friday 18 March: Reds v Rebels, 19.40
Saturday 19 March: Highlanders v Crusaders, 17.30
Saturday 19 March: Blues v Hurricanes, 19.35
Saturday 19 March: Waratahs v Cheetahs, 19.40
Saturday 19 March: Lions v Force, 17.05
Saturday 19 March: Bulls v Stormers, 19.10
Bye: Brumbies
WEEK SIX
Friday 25 March: Crusaders v Sharks, 19.35
Friday 25 March: Rebels v Hurricanes, 19.40
Saturday 26 March: Reds v Cheetahs, 14.40
Saturday 26 March: Chiefs v Blues, 19.35
Saturday 26 March: Brumbies v Waratahs, 19.40
Saturday 26 March: Stormers v Force, 15.00
Saturday 26 March: Bulls v Lions, 17.05
Bye: Highlanders
WEEK SEVEN
Friday 1 April: Highlanders v Brumbies, 19.35
Friday 1 April: Waratahs v Chiefs, 19.40
Saturday 2 April: Blues v Cheetahs, 17.30
Saturday 2 April: Hurricanes v Bulls, 19.35
Saturday 2 April: Force v Rebels, 19.05
Saturday 2 April: Lions v Reds, 15.00
Saturday 2 April: Sharks v Stormers, 17.05
Bye: Crusaders
WEEK EIGHT
Friday 8 April: Highlanders v Cheetahs, 19.35
Saturday 9 April: Crusaders v Bulls, 19.35
Saturday 9 April: Brumbies v Hurricanes, 19.40
Saturday 9 April: Force v Waratahs, 20.05
Saturday 9 April: Stormers v Reds, 17.05
Saturday 9 April: Sharks v Lions, 19.10
Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels
WEEK NINE
Friday 15 April: Chiefs v Crusaders, 19.35
Friday 15 April: Rebels v Highlanders, 19.40
Saturday 16 April: Blues v Waratahs, 19.35
Saturday 16 April: Reds v Bulls, 19.40
Saturday 16 April: Lions v Stormers, 17.05
Saturday 16 April: Cheetahs v Hurricanes, 19.10
Sunday 17 April: Brumbies v Force, 16.10
Bye: Sharks
WEEK 10
Friday 22 April: Blues v Rebels, 19.35
Saturday 23 April: Crusaders v Highlanders, 19.35
Saturday 23 April: Reds v Waratahs, 19.40
Saturday 23 April: Force v Bulls, 20.05
Saturday 23 April: Sharks v Hurricanes, 17.05
Saturday 23 April: Lions v Chiefs, 19.10
Byes: Brumbies, Cheetahs, Stormers
WEEK 11
Friday 29 April: Highlanders v Blues, 19.35
Saturday 30 April: Hurricanes v Reds, 19.35
Saturday 30 April: Waratahs v Rebels, 19.40
Saturday 30 April: Force v Crusaders, 20.05
Saturday 30 April: Cheetahs v Brumbies, 15.00
Saturday 30 April: Bulls v Chiefs, 17.05
Saturday 30 April: Stormers v Sharks, 19.10
Bye: Lions
WEEK 12
Friday 6 May: Hurricanes v Blues, 19.35
Friday 6 May: Rebels v Reds, 19.40
Friday 6 May: Lions v Cheetahs, 19.10
Saturday 7 May: Chiefs v Highlanders, 19.35
Saturday 7 May: Waratahs v Force, 19.40
Saturday 7 May: Stormers v Crusaders, 17.05
Saturday 7 May: Sharks v Brumbies, 19.10
Bye: Bulls
WEEK 13
Friday 13 May: Highlanders v Hurricanes, 19.35
Friday 13 May: Reds v Blues, 19.40
Saturday 14 May: Chiefs v Stormers, 19.35
Saturday 14 May: Brumbies v Lions, 19.40
Saturday 14 May: Bulls v Rebels, 17.05
Saturday 14 May: Cheetahs v Crusaders, 19.10
Byes: Force, Sharks, Waratahs
WEEK 14
Friday 20 May: Blues v Stormers, 19.35
Saturday 21 May: Crusaders v Chiefs, 19.35
Saturday 21 May: Waratahs v Lions, 19.40
Saturday 21 May: Force v Brumbies, 20.05
Saturday 21 May: Cheetahs v Rebels, 17.05
Saturday 21 May: Sharks v Bulls, 19.10
Byes: Hurricanes, Highlanders, Reds
WEEK 15
Friday 27 May: Hurricanes v Force, 19.35
Saturday 28 May: Highlanders v Lions, 19.35
Saturday 28 May: Brumbies v Stormers, 19.40
Saturday 28 May: Sharks v Waratahs, 17.05
Saturday 28 May: Bulls v Cheetahs, 19.10
Sunday 29 May: Reds v Crusaders, 16.10
Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels
WEEK 16
Friday 3 June: Highlanders v Force, 19.35
Friday 3 June: Rebels v Stormers, 19.40
Friday 3 June: Bulls v Waratahs, 19.10
Saturday 4 June: Hurricanes v Lions, 17.30
Saturday 4 June: Blues v Chiefs, 19.35
Saturday 4 June: Reds v Brumbies, 19.40
Saturday 4 June: Cheetahs v Sharks, 17.05
Bye: Crusaders
WEEK 17
Friday 10 June: Chiefs v Hurricanes, 19.35
Friday 10 June: Brumbies v Rebels, 19.40
Saturday 11 June: Crusaders v Blues, 19.35
Saturday 11 June: Waratahs v Highlanders, 19.40
Saturday 11 June: Force v Reds, 20.05
Saturday 11 June: Lions v Sharks 1605
Saturday 11 June: Stormers v Bulls 1810
Bye: Cheetahs
WEEK 18
Friday 17 June: Blues v Highlanders, 19.35
Friday 17 June: Rebels v Force, 19.40
Saturday 18 June: Chiefs v Reds, 17.30
Saturday 18 June: Crusaders v Hurricanes, 19.35
Saturday 18 June: Waratahs v Brumbies, 19.40
Saturday 18 June: Bulls v Sharks, 17.05
Saturday 18 June: Cheetahs v Stormers, 19.10
Bye: Lions
The finals:
Week One – Friday 24 and Saturday 25 June
Team One and Team Two have a bye
Qualifier One: Team Three v Team Six
Qualifier Two: Team Four v Team Five
Week Two – Friday 1 and Saturday 2 July
Semifinal One: Team One v Lowest ranked qualifier winner
Semifinal Two: Team Two v Highest ranked qualifier winner
Week Three – Saturday 9 July
Final: Winner of Semifinal One v Winner of Semifinal Two
OK, let’s discuss the Super 15 draw on this thread
We are touring early again
Force, Rebels, Chiefs and Crusaders overseas. We should manage at least 3 wins overthere.
Last Man Standing is goin to be a nightmare
So each team gets 2 bye in the round robin stages, that might help a bit
so what happened to the format of domestic conferences? at least this way LMS is still the same format
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 6) : 15 teams with 18 rounds. It has to change something somewhere
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 6) : except that we have 15 teams and 18 rounds
We will have to give each punter 3 “bye” picks during the season. That is going to make life a lot easier, so the lifeline has to go, I’m afraid.
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 6) : I think????? Will have to see when I access the schedule from a pc and not my phone.
So the S15 finishes 9 july, 3N goes from 23 july to 27 aug and the RWC starts 9 Sept.
How many players will break down?
A few divorces on the cards?
Where does the CC fit in?
This is absolute madness !!!!
Lions get a two week rest!
I see the odd little Sunday game has crept in.. Nice.
@Oubaas2009 (Comment 13) : yeah tell that to the missus haha!
@Jarson (Comment 3) : decent away draw for a change ??!!
Super 15 Phase One
The tournament will start with a series of teams playing the other teams in their own conference. Teams will not travel out of their home country at this stage and they will play each team in their conference. (4 Matches per team)
Super 15 Phase Two
After the first round of conference games the teams will then play four of the five teams in each of the other two conferences. Under this format it is possibly that a team such as the Bulls could miss out on playing the Crusaders one year as the teams will play four of the five teams in the other conferences. They could however meet in the play offs.
These eight games will be a mix of home and away games as they are with the Super14. (Another 8 Matches = 12 in total so far)
Super 15 Phase Three
The tournament will then return to a conference format again and another round of domestic challenges as in Phase One but with the venues reversed. This means that each team in a conference will have a home and an away match with their fellow conference teams by the end of the tournament. (Another 4 matches)
Once these three stages are complete teams will have played a total of 16 round-robin games.
A winner from each conference will be determined from the results in the previous three stages. Each conference will have one winner and therefore Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will each be gauranteed to have one team participating in the finals..
SOMETHING DOES NOT MATCH UP. THe right hand is not knowing what the left is doing. In Phase 1 “will not travel out of home country” but we play the Force and Rebels away. Totally confusing
That’s a comp lasting basically half a year!!
Unbelievable.
Wait a minute….what the hell happened to the national conferences??
It’s funny cos O’Neill was SOOOOOO adamant that the Super14 format was in need of a refresh and that the national conferences would resolve the “worn out” format. Idiot.
No wait a second. There ARE conferences. But it’s completely bizarre! The national conferences are interleaved with the cross-conference fixtures. WTF is the point of that??
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 6) : @robdylan (Comment 9) :
Sadly, you boys have some work cut out for you. The national conferences are going ahead…and you will have to factor cross-conference fixtures in as well! Good luck with all that!
klempie (Comment 20) : Exactly my point. They had a long schematic discussion with arrows moving tthe works to explain each phase as in comment 16 and when the fixtures came out …. they forgot about it. HMMMMM
@klempie (Comment 21) : nah nah nah mate.
We can essentially ignore the conferences from the perspective of LMS, cos there’s still essentially a global fixture list. It’s still a single list of fixtures, with three different logs.
@robdylan (Comment 23) : No you can’t. It will have an inherent biases in it because of the fact that national conferences play each other home and away while cross-conference fixtures are only played one AND don’t cover all the other teams. Some teams will have easy draws while conferences will also not be equal in strength. E.g. Aussie teams will have relatively soft fixture list compared to NZ and Saffer ones.
There is no chance that I am paying my DSTV subs for this crap competition.
@klempie (Comment 24) : but how does that prevent you picking one winner each weekend from a list of 15 teams?
@Stef (Comment 16) :
@klempie (Comment 18) :
The answer is in the other article that explains that the S14 will work in a different format in RWC years than other years.
The one above is the RWC format which has no conferences. the intervening (delibirate use of the word) years will se the conference format being played.
@robdylan (Comment 26) : That’s how LMS works? Geez…do people on this website not have bigger challenges to tackle on the weekend?
@klempie (Comment 28) : why don’t you try play it before writing it off as trivial?
If it’s as easy as you say it is, I’m sure you’ll win the next competition hands down.
@robdylan (Comment 29) : Oh please.
@robdylan (Comment 29) : If LMS required you to guess the result on ALL games THAT would be a good challenge.
@klempie (Comment 28) :
Haha.. lets se you win it, Chump..
@klempie (Comment 31) :
You sure have a big mouth.. Strange how your name is not on the LMS board.. Scared much?
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 33) : No. I just don’t have the level of commitment required for ensuring I make a pick every week.
@klempie (Comment 34) :
Must be a busy man..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 35) : I do alright…
So the Sharks fixtures are
Cheetahs
Blues
Force
Rebels
Chiefs
Crusaders
Stormers
Lions
Bye
Hurricanes
Stormers
brumbies
Bye
Bulls
Waratahs
Cheetahs
Lions
Bulls
So we don’t play the Highlanders or the Reds next season. unless we meet them in the play-offs.
@klempie (Comment 31) :
First manage to survive one season of regular LMS then we’ll let you try and pick all the games.
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 38) : Like I said, I really don’t have the time…or the motivation.
@klempie (Comment 30) :
No really. PLEASE? from us to you. Put your money where your mouth is.
@klempie (Comment 31) : isn’t that what superbru already does? Or are you too clever to play that too?
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 37) : correct.
Which of the SA teams misses out on the Saders? Any of them?
@klempie (Comment 39) :
Dude “I” will personally credit you the 5 points for the one less comment you will be able to make on SW while you have to go to http://www.JustRugby.net to select ONE winning team each week.
@robdylan (Comment 41) : It’s not about being clever. It’s about being lucky enough and having enough free time to put into winning nothing more than bragging rights.
@robdylan (Comment 42) :
Will check now but there should be someone, because each one of us will miss one of them and it will be a different one.
I will do a coloured spread sheet like we had previous seasons showing the matches in the next few days.
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 43) : Hmmm…you drive a hard bargain.
@robdylan (Comment 42) :
The Lions
@klempie (Comment 46) :
There is a catch. if you don’t go through undefeated then oyu lose ALL your points.
Deal?
It should be no problem, the competition is EASY, you said so yourself.
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 48) : I didn’t say it was easy. I said it wasn’t very challenging. There’s a subtle but important difference.
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 47) : typical…
The SA teams miss games against
Sharks – Highlanders, Reds
Lions – Crusaders, Rebels
Cheetahs – Chiefs , Force
Stormers – Hurricanes, Waratahs
Bulls – Blues, Brumbies
@KSA Pink Shark © (Comment 51) : Stormers actually get the best deal overall
Looking forward to defending my bragging rights !
Do i get a Cup for running the other 68 competitors into the dirt on the SW Pool on SB for the Tri Nations !
PS Looking forward to Fantasy League Rugby next season !
@Hertford Highlander (Comment 53) :
I believe you Do get a second cup.
Bloody show off.
Stormers:
Not playing: Canes & Tahs
Newlands:
Highlanders, Force, Reds, Crusaders
Tour:
Chiefs, Blues, Brumbies, Rebels
Still cant figure the byes, our teams will play one week in SA next week in NZ/Aus. Stormers will play Crusaders on Newlands and next week the Chiefs in NZ, Rebells in Aus, Brutes in the Ring the next week.
All in all there is something serious missing in the S15 format. Hate the bloody change.
@Hertford Highlander (Comment 53) : Why does NZ have to be on the other side of the world??
I had to come into the office at 11 last night so I could make a call to Central Districts Cricket. You know, NZ’s economy would do so much better if you just bothered to move it a few timezones west!
@klempie (Comment 56) : That would probably be easier,(or less challenging) than winning LMS
@Greg (Comment 57) : Are you not very good at LMS??
@Hertford Highlander (Comment 53) : did you win it? Nice… will sort out your Cup
@robdylan (Comment 59) :
Top 5
1 H Highlander 16.50
2 brighton75 15.75
3 Punter 15.75
4 78th Minute Man 15.50
5 IceBabe 15.25
sharks vs cheetahs – what a way to start
I think you can kiss the Currie cup goodbye next year. the teams are going to have to have a big squad to pick from for the super 15 next year.