Super Rugby Aotearoa

Super Rugby Aotearoa currently named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes[1] is a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament will continue in 2021 until a new tournament can be arranged for 2022 and beyond. [2][3]

Super Rugby Aotearoa
Current season, competition or edition:
2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season
Official Logo
SportRugby union
Founded2020 (2020)
Inaugural season2020
Owner(s)SANZAAR
CEOGreg Peters
DivisionsNew Zealand
No. of teams5
CountryNew Zealand
Most recent
champion(s)		Crusaders (1st title)
(2020 Super Rugby Aotearoa season)
Most titlesCrusaders (1 title)
TV partner(s)ESPN
Nine Network
Stan Sport
J Sports
Setanta Sports
Sky Sport
Sky Sports
Supersport
TSN
Sponsor(s)Investec
Related
competitions		Super Rugby
Super Rugby AU
Super Rugby Unlocked
Mitre 10 Cup
Official websiteSuperRugby.com

In its first season, the tournament was a 10-week round robin tournament played between the five New Zealand-based teams of Super Rugby[4] However, for 2021 the tournament will have an additional final between the two highest placed teams in the tournament, with a finals system being used by the similarly created Super Rugby AU tournament in Australia.[3]

Law adaptions

On 2 June, New Zealand Rugby announced that it would implement two optional law trials being offered by World Rugby,[5] including a golden point format for extra time, and that players who receive a red card can be substituted after 20 minutes. It was also stated that referees would be stricter in applying laws for breakdowns to increase the pace of play.[6]

See also

References
  1. "Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa Draw Announced". NZ Rugby. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  2. "Covid 19 coronavirus: New Zealand Rugby confirm details for 'Super Rugby Aotearoa' at alert level 2". NZ Herald. 7 May 2020. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. "Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa draw announced". Super Rugby NZ. 10 November 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  4. "Super Rugby Aotearoa draw and 'experimental' rules". Otago Daily Times. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  5. "World Rugby creates access to optional domestic law trials to further reduce COVID-19 risk". World Rugby. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  6. "Golden point, red card replacements introduced in Super Rugby Aotearoa". www.rugby.com.au. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
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