2011 Super Rugby season

The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The season kicked off in February 2011, with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished in early July to allow players a recovery period for the 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in September and October; in future non-World Cup years, the competition will extend into August.

2011 Super Rugby season
CountriesAustralia (5 teams)
New Zealand (5 teams)
South Africa (5 teams)
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and knockout
ChampionsReds (1st title)
Matches played125
Tries scored559 (4.47 per match)
Top point scorer(s)Quade Cooper (228)
Top try scorer(s)Bjorn Basson /
Sean Maitland /
Sarel Pretorius (9)
Official websitesuperrugby.com
2010 (Previous) (Next) 2012

This season saw the arrival of the Melbourne Rebels, admitted to the competition as Australia's fifth team after entry by the Southern Kings from South Africa was denied. This was also the first season of a revamped competition format, with a greater focus on matches within each participating country and an expanded finals series.

During this season, the first ever Super Rugby game was played outside the SANZAR region, taking place at Twickenham Stadium between the Crusaders and the Sharks. The match was moved to Twickenham because of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Proceeds of the game were also donated to the relief effort.

The final was played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane between the Queensland Reds and the Crusaders. The Reds won 18–13 to claim their first Super Rugby title.[1]

Competition format

Covering 21 weeks, the schedule featured a total of 125 matches. The 15 teams were grouped by geography, labelled the Australian Conference, New Zealand Conference and the South African Conference. With the new format, the regular season consisted of two types of matches:

  • Internal Conference Matches – Each team plays the other four teams in the same conference twice, home and away. (See table below for conferences.)
  • Cross Conference Matches – Each team plays four teams of the other two conferences away, and four teams of the other two conferences home, thus missing out on two teams (one from each of the other conferences). Each team plays two home and two away games against teams from each of the other countries, making a total of eight cross conference games for each team.[2]

The top team of each conference, plus the next top three teams in table points regardless of conference (wild card teams), moved on to the finals.[3][4] The top two conference winners, based on table points, receive first-round byes. In the first round of the finals, the third conference winner is the No. 3 seed and hosts the wild card team with the worst record, and the best wild card team hosts the second-best wild card team. In the semi-finals, the No. 2 conference winner hosts the higher surviving seed from the first round, and the No. 1 conference winner hosts the other first-round winner. The final is hosted by the top remaining seed.[5]

Standings

Australian Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Reds1813032429309+1205166
2 Waratahs1810062398252+1466357
3 Force185292333416−830537
4 Brumbies1841112314437−1233433
5 Rebels1830132281570−2892224
New Zealand Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Crusaders1811142436273+1635261
2 Blues1810152405335+706460
3 Highlanders188082296343−472345
4 Hurricanes185292328398−705542
5 Chiefs186192332348−162440
South African Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Stormers1812042400257+1434363
2 Sharks1810152407339+686157
3 Bulls1810062416370+463354
4 Cheetahs1850112435437−25740
5 Lions1831122351477−1262529
Overall Standings
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Reds1813032429309+1205166
2 Stormers1812042400257+1434363
3 Crusaders1811142436273+1635261
4 Blues1810152405335+706460
5 Waratahs1810062398252+1466357
6 Sharks1810152407339+686157
7 Bulls1810062416370+463354
8 Highlanders188082296343−472345
9 Hurricanes185292328398−705542
10 Chiefs186192332348−162440
11 Cheetahs1850112435437−25740
12 Force185292333416−830537
13 Brumbies1841112314437−1233433
14 Lions1831122351477−1262529
15 Rebels1830132281570−2892224

Source: NZ Herald

Legend:

  • Rnd = Round Completed (Games Played plus Byes), W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Bye = Number of Byes, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, Pts = Log Points

Points breakdown:

  • 4 points for a win
  • 2 points for a draw
  • 4 points for a bye
  • 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
  • 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

The Overall Standings classification system:[6][7]

  • Three Conference Winners/Leaders in log points order
  • Three Wildcard teams in log points order
  • The remaining nine teams in log points order
  • When teams are level on log points, they are sorted by number of games won, then overall points difference, then number of tries scored and then overall try difference

Notes:

  • The Round 2 match between the Crusaders and Hurricanes scheduled for 26 February 2011 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington was abandoned by agreement of both sides and SANZAR due to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. The match was declared a draw, with both sides earning 2 competition points.[8]

Fixtures

Round 1

Bye/s: Stormers

Round 2

Note * : The match was cancelled and called a draw due to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

Byes: Force

Round 3

Byes: Hurricanes

Round 4

Byes: Bulls, Reds, Waratahs

Round 5

Byes: Brumbies

Round 6

Byes: Highlanders

Round 7

Byes: Crusaders

Round 8

Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels

Round 9

Byes: Sharks

Round 10

Byes: Brumbies, Cheetahs, Stormers

Round 11

Byes: Lions

Round 12

Byes: Bulls

Round 13

Byes: Force, Sharks, Waratahs

Round 14

Byes: Highlanders, Hurricanes, Reds

Round 15

Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels

Round 16

Byes: Crusaders

Round 17

Byes: Cheetahs

Round 18

Byes: Lions

Finals

Qualifying finals Semifinals Grand final
                             
  24 June 2011  
4   Blues 26  
5   Waratahs 13           2 July 2011      
        1   Reds 30    
        4   Blues 13     9 July 2011
                Reds   18
            2 July 2011       Crusaders   13
          2   Stormers 10    
  25 June 2011         3   Crusaders 29    
  3   Crusaders 36          
  6   Sharks 8          

Qualifiers

Qualifier 1
Qualifier 2
Byes: Reds, Stormers

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1
Semi-final 2

Final

Player statistics

Attendances

TeamMain StadiumCapacityTotal AttendanceAverage Attendance% Capacity
BluesEden Park50,000153,00917,001
ChiefsWaikato Stadium25,800
HurricanesWestpac Stadium34,50072,06410,29434%
CrusadersTrafalgar Park18,000133,53514,837
HighlandersCarisbrook30,00076,5449,568
RedsSuncorp Stadium52,500332,53833,25363%
BrumbiesCanberra Stadium25,011104,83113,10352%
WaratahsAllianz Stadium44,000163,94720,493
Melbourne RebelsAAMI Park29,500137,12417,14058%
Western Forcenib Stadium20,500129,60616,20079%
SharksABSA Stadium52,000222,79727,84953%
BullsLoftus Versfeld51,792250,33131,29160%
LionsEllis Park62,567172,33721,54234%
CheetahsFree State Stadium46,000
StormersNewlands Stadium51,900364,09440,45477%

See also

References

  1. https://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iMtSXBfPfjd0hHgcOqskFzPQEUiA?docId=CNG.6c4645ce2c3aff875cec6a3515475b82.5e1
  2. "How will the new Super Rugby format work?". Super XV. Sports Digital Media. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  3. "Super Rugby: Conferences". Australian Rugby Union. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  4. Smith, Wayne (29 January 2011). "Warming to sound of Supe". Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  5. "Super Rugby: Finals Format". Australian Rugby Union. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  6. "About Super XV Rugby". www.superxv.com. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  7. "Team with "Most Wins" will finish higher in Super Rugby". SANZAR. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
  8. "Crusaders withdraw from Hurricanes match – draw declared" (Press release). New Zealand Rugby Union. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2011.
  9. "SA Rugby Match Centre – Vodacom Bulls 28-35 Highlanders". South African Rugby Union. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  10. "SA Rugby Try Scorers – 2011 Vodacom Super Rugby". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  11. "SA Rugby Top Scorers – 2011 Vodacom Super Rugby". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 5 May 2016.

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