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The Super Rugby competition in rugby union, including teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa is based on a "franchise" system of teams. The original member countries – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – all have several regional franchises, while the expansion countries – Argentina and Japan – have one franchise each. This article provides specific detail as to the areas covered by each Super Rugby team.
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Argentina
Argentina has a single franchise, which participates in the South African Conference. It was included in Super Rugby for the 2016 Super Rugby season and represents all of Argentine Rugby Union; the team consists of players from various teams that participate in the Campeonato Argentino and the Nacional de Clubes, which involves clubs from URBA and from the Torneo del Interior.
Australia
In the past, Australia did not have a continent-wide rugby competition but structured the game around regional club competitions. The five Australian Super Rugby franchises have evolved from traditional state and territory representative sides. In 2007 the Australian Rugby Union launched the ARC (a national competition like the Currie Cup and the ITM Cup), in order to bridge the gap between Super Rugby and amateur club rugby. The ARU scrapped the competition after its inaugural season. From 2014, it launched the NRC, a similar competition. The rugby power-bases of New South Wales, Queensland and Australian Capital Territory are joined by Australian rules football strongholds Victoria and Western Australia as the franchise locations:
This leaves three states and territories which do not have a franchise, but only a regional club competition:
Queensland Reds versus NSW Waratahs is the oldest and most fierce rivalry. ACT Brumbies also have the Waratahs as their main rival. The Force and Rebels are a new rivalry according to Stuart Fazakerley – earlier the teams were also rivals for a Super Rugby franchise, which was given to the Force, in 2004.
Japan
Japan has a single franchise called the Sunwolves, which participates in the South African Conference. It was included in Super Rugby for the 2016 Super Rugby season and represents all of Japan and its major rugby club competition, the Top League.
New Zealand
In New Zealand, each of the country's five Super Rugby teams are linked with several unions in the country's two domestic competitions, the professional ITM Cup and amateur Heartland Championship. For all practical purposes, all Super Rugby players will be drawn from the ITM Cup sides. The specific unions linked to each franchise are:
South Africa
South Africa operates its Super Rugby system in basically the same manner as in New Zealand, with each franchise linked with one or more unions in the country's domestic competition, the Currie Cup and the Vodacom Cup (its development competition). During the 1996 and 1997 Super 12 seasons, South Africa entered their 4 top finishers in the previous season's Currie Cup. The franchises were created for the 1998 season.
The country had five franchises. The four teams from the Super 12 era—the Bulls, Cats (now the Lions), Sharks and Stormers—were joined in 2006 by the Cheetahs. Their identities are largely based around the 5 traditional powers of the Currie Cup competition; the Blue Bulls, Golden Lions, Sharks, Western Province and Free State Cheetahs respectively. From 2016 South Africa has six franchises with the definitive entry of the Southern Kings.
The unions linked to each franchise are:
1 Following the South African Rugby Union taking over the running of the Kings franchise in November 2015, the franchise had no formal ties to any of the provincial unions. However, 50% of the squad contracted to the Kings are still intended to come from the Eastern Province Kings provincial union.
Southern and Eastern Cape Region Franchise
The proposed sixth team were supposed to be entrenched in the 2007 and 2008 Super 14 seasons and were to draw from the Southern and Eastern Cape Region (SEC) and based in Port Elizabeth. They became a major bone of contention in South African rugby, when it was proposed originally, that the entry of the Spears would mean a promotion/relegation system would be put in place in 2006 to determine which team would not participate in the following season's Super 14. The entrenchment of the Spears proved highly controversial; after allegations of financial mismanagement and poor results against other South African sides, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) decided on 19 April 2006 to scrap its original plan to admit the Spears in 2007.
The High Court of South Africa gave the Spears a potential reprieve in August 2006 when it ruled that the Spears had a valid contract with SARU and its commercial arm, SA Rugby, to enter both the Currie Cup and Super 14. Both the SARU and SA Rugby planned to appeal this decision. In November 2006, all parties involved reached a settlement; the Spears dropped their suit and abandoned any attempts to enter the Super 14.
Since the Spears never joined Super Rugby, the SARU and SA Rugby had to determine how to reincorporate players from the Spears region to the other franchises. In January 2009, the SARU announced that a new SEC franchise, also to be based in Port Elizabeth, would be launched in June 2009 to coincide with the arrival of the British and Irish Lions for a midweek tour match in the city. The franchise, a joint venture between the Eastern Province and Border unions, was created with the goal of an eventual place in Super Rugby, although the entry date was uncertain, pending agreement with the other SANZAR partners. SARU also confirmed that the franchise would not assume the Southern Spears name; the team was later announced as the Southern Kings.
The Southern Kings were confirmed to be drawing from the Spears' former area with the announcement of their inaugural squad in 2009. Most of the players in the Kings' debut match against the British and Irish Lions were affiliated with the team's co-owners, the Border and Eastern Province unions (the latter being the operators of the Eastern Province Kings), but South Western Districts (operators of the Eagles) were also involved. The inaugural Kings side also included players from the provinces of Western Province and Boland within the Stormers' area.
On 27 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Southern Kings would join Super Rugby in 2013. It was confirmed that they would replace the Lions as South Africa's fifth club. After playing just a single season, the Lions returned in 2014 and 2015, before a further Super Rugby expansion saw the Kings being included on a permanent basis from 2016 onwards.