Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa will be the first professional rugby competition in the world to have fans return en-masse in the Covid-19 era when the competition kicks off in Dunedin on Saturday, 13^th June.

Aotearoa is the Māori name for New Zealand. It was originally used by the Māori people in reference to only the North Island but, since the late 19th century, the word has come to refer to the country as a whole.

Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa is a 10-week competition involving New Zealand’s five Investec Super Rugby clubs – the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders – playing each other home and away. There will be two matches every weekend one on Saturdays and another on Sundays.

It will kick off in New Zealand on Saturday, 13^th June when the Highlanders host the Chiefs at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, while the following day the Blues host the Hurricanes at Eden Park in Auckland.

Sat 13 June: Highlanders v Chiefs at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
Date Saturday 13 June, kick-off 8.05 am Irish time.
Referee Paul Williams, AR1 Brendon Pickerill, AR2 Ben O’Keeffe, TMO James Doleman.

Match Stats

The Chiefs have lost only one of their last five Super Rugby games against the Highlanders (W3, D1), however, the last encounter between the teams in the competition ended in a 31-31 draw.

The Highlanders have lost five of their last six completed Super Rugby games (W1), including their last three on the bounce.

Each of the Chiefs’ last four Super Rugby games have been won by the away team on the day, with the Hamilton-based squad picking up two wins and two defeats in that stretch.

The Chiefs have conceded 10+ penalties in six of their last seven Super Rugby fixtures, as many times as they had done so in their 24 games prior.

Shannon Frizell (Highlanders) has scored two tries in just 90 minutes of Super Rugby action against the Chiefs, as well as making three offloads in that time.

Sun 14 June: Blues v Hurricanes at Eden Park, Auckland
Date Sunday 14 June, kick-off 4.35am Irish time.
Referee Mike Fraser, AR1 Ben O’Keeffe, AR2 James Doleman, TMO Brendon Pickerill.

Match Stats

The Blues picked up a 24-15 win in their last Super Rugby meeting with the Hurricanes, breaking a nine-game losing streak against them in the process.

The Hurricanes have won on each of their last five visits to face the Blues in Super Rugby, more times than they had won in all 12 such meetings prior (W4).

The Blues have won their last four Super Rugby games on the bounce; the last time they won more in succession was a seven-game stretch in the 2011 campaign which was bookended with wins against the Hurricanes.

The Hurricanes have finished each of their last 10 Super Rugby games without losing a single scrum on their own feed, winning a total of 84 scrums in that stretch.

Beauden Barrett has scored three tries and made three try assists across his last four Super Rugby games between the Blues and Hurricanes; however, this will be the first time he’s represented the Auckland side against his former club.

Sky Sports will have live coverage of both games this weekend.

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The new-look competition begins on Saturday, 13 June when the Highlanders play the Chiefs at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, with the Blues playing the Hurricanes at Eden Park on Sunday, 14 June.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) Head of Professional Rugby Chris Lendrum said Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa provided an opportunity to trial innovations designed to make the game more exciting for fans and players alike.

“We want this competition to look and feel different. We’ve had great support from our coaches, players and referees to make Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa faster, safer and more exciting than ever before.”

Golden point

If a match is tied after 80 minutes of regular time, the result will be decided by golden point. The first team to score – by drop goal, penalty kick, or try – during a 10-minute period of extra time will take the win and earn four competition points.

“Draws can often leave everyone feeling a little empty and after feedback from our coaches and players we have added the golden point rule,” Lendrum said. “We’ve seen the excitement it can generate in other codes and we think adds a real edge.”

If a team loses via golden point, they can still earn bonus points for scoring three or more tries than the opposition in either regular time or extra time.

Points allocation:

4 competition points to the winning team

1 competition point to the losing team

2 competition points to each team if neither team scores during extra time

1 competition point to any team scoring three tries or more than the opposition

Red card change

Players who receive a red card can be replaced with another player 20 minutes after they are sent from the field. The sent-off player cannot return to the field and will face Sanzaar’s existing judicial process. There is no change to the yellow card sanction.

“While players should, and still will be, punished for foul play, red cards can sometimes have too much of an effect on a match,” Lendrum said. “There are no winners when a player is red carded, but paying rugby fans, players and coaches want to see a fair contest. Replacing a player after 20 minutes strikes the right balance.”

The breakdown

NZR National Referee Manager Bryce Lawrence said the existing laws at the breakdown would be applied more strictly to create faster attacking ball and a fairer contest.

“Fans enjoy Investec Super Rugby because it’s a fantastic spectacle and our referees like to allow the game to flow. We’re confident we’ll see a contest that is faster, fairer, safer and easier to understand. We’re not changing the laws of the game, we’re being stricter about how we referee them.”

The key focal points for the referees at the breakdown are summarised as follows:

Ball carriers will be allowed only one dynamic movement after being tackled.

Crawling, or any secondary movement other than placing or passing, will be penalised.

Tacklers will be expected to roll away immediately in the direction of the side-line. This will be a referee’s “number one priority” at the tackle.

There will be “extra focus” on the offside line with defenders expected to be “clearly” onside to provide attacking teams more space.

Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa games will be live on Sky Sports.

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Super Rugby Australia will comprise the four Super Rugby clubs: Brumbies, Reds, Rebels and Waratahs, plus the Western Force, who were part of Super Rugby until 2017 and will return for 2020 as part of Australia’s reformatted competition.

The five-team competition will be contested over 12 consecutive weeks, with 10 weeks of round-robin action, with teams to face each other twice and have two byes each, before a two-week finals series featuring a Qualifying Final on 12^th September and a Final on 19^th September.

All teams will start on zero competition points under the revised domestic format, with the 15-team three-conference Vodafone Super Rugby competition abandoned for 2020 after seven rounds.

The new season gets underway with the longest-running rivalry in Australian rugby when the Queensland Reds host the NSW Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Friday, 3^rd July. The following night in Canberra, the Brumbies will host the Melbourne Rebels.

The SANZAAR tournaments will be the first professional rugby competitions to launch since the global Covid-19 shutdown in March. Western Force will begin its campaign in Round 2 after an opening round bye.

All matches to kick off the Vodafone Super Rugby Australia season will be played behind closed doors.

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