Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, building on competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986. The Super 12 was established by SANZAR after the sport became professional in 1995. After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the competition to split into three, the reformed competition in 2021 only included teams from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.
The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch, who compete in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in the competition's history and have won a total of 14 titles, as well as two regionalised Super Rugby titles in 2020 and 2021.
The Highlanders is a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Dunedin that compete in Super Rugby. The team was formed in 1996 to represent the lower South Island in the newly formed Super 12 competition, and includes the Otago, North Otago and Southland unions. The Highlanders take their name from the Scottish immigrants that founded the Otago, North Otago, and Southland regions in the 1840s and 1850s.
The Blues are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established by the NZRU in 1996. One of the most successful teams in Super Rugby history, the Blues won the competition in its first two seasons, 1996 and 1997, and again in 2003, as well as a Trans Tasman competition in 2021, additionally, the team were finalists in 1998 and 2022 and semi-finalists in 2007, 2011 and 2023.
Sonny William Williams is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league, and is one of only 43 players to have won the Rugby World Cup twice.
Hamilton Boys' High School is a boys' secondary school in Hamilton, New Zealand and is the largest secondary school in the Waikato region. The school was established as Hamilton High School in 1911 but was later split into separate boys' and girls' schools, with the current school opened in February 1955. Its sister school is Hamilton Girls' High School. The school crest features a lion, sash and star, and bears the motto "Sapiens Fortunam Fingit Sibi" which translates to "a wise man carves his own fortune". The school colours are black and red.
Bradley Carnegie Thorn is a New Zealand Australian rugby union coach and former rugby league and rugby union footballer. Born in New Zealand, he represented Australia in rugby league and New Zealand in rugby union in a twenty-two year career as a player, starting at age nineteen and finishing at age forty-one. He was the head coach of the Australian Super Rugby Pacific team, the Queensland Reds. Thorn is their second longest-serving coach in history and their longest serving coach in the professional era.
The 1996 Super 12 season was the inaugural season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 1996, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semifinals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semifinal qualified for the final, which was contested between the Auckland Blues and Natal Sharks, with the Blues winning 45–21 to win the first Super 12 title.
The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The visiting Bulls won the 2007 Super 14 Final, scoring a try in the 83rd minute and narrowly defeating the Sharks 20–19, thereby becoming the first South African side to win the Super Rugby title in the professional era.
The 1999 Super 12 season was the fourth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 1999, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semi-finals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semi-final qualified for the final, which was contested by the Canterbury Crusaders and the Otago Highlanders at Carisbrook, Dunedin. The Crusaders won 24–19 to win their second Super 12 title.
Tasesa James Lavea is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He is of Samoan and Māori descent and heritage, and he coaches the 1st XV for Saint Kentigern College.
Mark Garry 'Hammer' Hammett is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player. Having represented Canterbury provincially 76 times, and the Crusaders 81 times and the All Blacks 30 times – including 29 Test matches, Hammett later went on to coach both Canterbury and Crusaders as a forwards/assistant coach. He is currently on the assistant coach of the Highlanders in Super Rugby and the Tasman Makos in the Mitre 10 Cup.
The history of the Highlanders focuses on the rugby union team in the Super Rugby competitions. The team was originally formed as one of five New Zealand franchises for the Super 12 in 1996. The team encompassed the provinces of North Otago, Otago and Southland. The Highlanders placed eighth in their first year with five wins, but slumped to last in the competition in 1997 with only three wins. They improved to qualify for their first semi-final in 1998, and became the first New Zealand team to defeat all four South African franchises in the process. They were defeated by eventual 1998 Champions the Auckland Blues in their semi-final however. Their best ever finish came in 1999 when they won eight matches, and their semi-final to host the 1999 Super 12 Final at Carisbrook, but lost to South Island rivals Crusaders in the match. They qualified for their third consecutive semi-finals in 2000, and this time played the Crusaders in Christchurch, but lost again.
Canterbury was one of fourteen teams who took part in the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup. At the start of the season Canterbury had yet to win the top-flight New Zealand rugby competition since its change in format, though it had won the 2004 National Provincial Championship and had held the Ranfurly Shield last in 2007. This was the thirty-third consecutive year Canterbury participated at the highest level of provincial rugby, having been at this level every year since the league system was instituted in 1976.
The National First XV Championship is the Premier Rugby Union competition for Secondary Schools/Colleges in New Zealand. Since 2016, the Top 4 tournament has been based at the Massey University Sport and Rugby Institute in Palmerston North. The New Zealand Schools' and New Zealand Barbarians Schools' teams are generally announced at the conclusion of the tournament, whereby a development camp will take place the following week at the Institute.
Luke Charles Whitelock is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a loose forward for Section Paloise (Pau) in France's Top 14 rugby competition.
Timothy Grant Perry is a retired New Zealand rugby union player who played as a prop for Tasman in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup, the Crusaders and the Blues in the international Super Rugby competition.
The 2011 Super Rugby Final, was played between the Queensland Reds from Australia and the Crusaders from New Zealand on 9 July 2011. It was the 16th final in the Super Rugby competition's history and the first under the new 15-team format. The Reds had qualified in first place after the regular competition rounds, while the Crusaders qualified in third. The Reds went straight to the semi-final, where they beat New Zealand team the Blues. The Crusaders hosted a qualifying final in Nelson beating the Sharks, and then travelled to Cape Town and beat the Stormers in the other semi-final. As the Reds had qualified higher, the final was hosted in Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.
Alexander T O A. Hodgman is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as a prop for Auckland in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Blues in the international Super Rugby competition.
George Crispin Bridge is a New Zealand rugby union player who currently plays as an outside back for Montpellier Hérault Rugby in France's domestic TOP 14. Bridge made his international debut for New Zealand in 2018, aged 23.
