Teams
| Overview of teams | ||||
| Country | Team | City/Area | Stadium/s (Capacity) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Brumbies | Australian Capital Territory
Australia Capital Territory and Southern New South Wales including Canberra, Queanbeyan, Nowra and Albury |
Canberra Stadium (25,011) | |
| Waratahs | New South Wales
Northern and Central New South Wales including Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Tamworth and Coffs Harbour |
ANZ Stadium (83,500) Sydney Football Stadium (45,500) |
||
| Reds | Queensland
All of Qld including Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns and Rockhampton |
Suncorp Stadium (52,500) | ||
| Force | Western Australia
All of Western Australia, including Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie |
nib Stadium (20,500) | ||
| Rebels | Victoria
All of Victoria including greater Melbourne, Geelong and the surf coast, the Western Districts and The Mallee, Sunraysia south of the Murray, the central Goldfields of Ballarat and Bendigo,and Gippsland. This may be expanded in the future to include Tasmania |
AAMI Park (30,050) | ||
| New Zealand | Blues | Auckland, North Harbour, and Northland.
(North Auckland Peninsula of North Island and most of metropolitan Auckland). |
Eden Park (50,000) North Harbour Stadium (25,000) |
|
| Chiefs | Bay of Plenty, Counties Manukau, King Country, Thames Valley and Waikato
Central and eastern North Island, including Hamilton; Southern Auckland, Tauranga and Rotorua |
Baypark Stadium (19,800) Waikato Stadium (25,800) |
||
| Crusaders | Buller, Canterbury, Mid-Canterbury, South Canterbury, Tasman and West Coast
North and central South Island, including Christchurch, Nelson, Blenheim and Timaru |
AMI Stadium (38,628) Rugby League Park (18,600) |
||
| Highlanders | North Otago, Otago and Southland
Southern South Island, including Dunedin and Invercargill |
Forsyth Barr Stadium (30,748) Queenstown Events Centre (19,000) Rugby Park Stadium (17,000) |
||
| Hurricanes | East Coast, Hawke's Bay, Horowhenua Kapiti, Manawatu, Poverty Bay, Taranaki, Wairarapa-Bush, Wanganui and Wellington
Southern and southwestern North Island, including Wellington, Palmerston North, New Plymouth and Napier |
FMG Stadium (18,000) McLean Park (22,000) Westpac Stadium (34,500) |
||
| South Africa | Bulls | Pretoria
(plus East Rand and Limpopo Province) |
Loftus Versfeld Stadium (51,762) Orlando Stadium (40,000) |
|
| Cheetahs | Bloemfontein
(Free State plus Northern Cape) |
Free State Stadium (48,000) Peter Mokaba Stadium (42,000) GWK Park (18,000) |
||
| Kings | Port Elizabeth
(Eastern Cape plus the eastern part of Western Cape) |
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium (48,000) St George's Oval (19,000) |
||
| Lions | Johannesburg
(plus Mpumalanga and North West) |
Coca-Cola Park (62,567) FNB Stadium (94,736) Mbombela Stadium (40,920) |
||
| Sharks | Durban
(KwaZulu-Natal) |
Kings Park Stadium (55,000) Moses Mabhida Stadium (62,760) |
||
| Stormers | Cape Town
(plus northern Western Cape) |
Newlands Stadium (51,900) Cape Town Stadium (64,100) |
||
For the 2007 season, the Southern Spears, based in Port Elizabeth, were originally intended to replace the lowest-finishing South African team from the 2006 competition. However, the existing South African Super 14 franchises opposed the plan, which they believed was pushed through by controversial former president of the South African Rugby Union, Brian van Rooyen. On 19 April 2006, after van Rooyen was ousted as president, SARU announced that the Spears would not enter the competition. SARU then called for an investigation into the viability of the Spears after discovering the franchise had serious financial irregularities.
In August, 2006, a High Court of South Africa ruling stated that the Spears had a valid contract with SANZAR and SARU to compete in the Super 14 and Currie Cup. However, because of the organisation's financial and administrative troubles, in November 2006 a settlement was reached. The Spears abandoned their legal case, and will continue to exist, however they now will not compete in the Super 14. Although there is no official connection, the remnants of the Spears were effectively reconstituted into the Southern Kings, who unsuccessfully applied to enter the competition in 2011, losing out to Melbourne, Australia. However, it was confirmed that they will play Super Rugby in 2013.
Read more about this topic: Super Rugby
Famous quotes containing the word teams:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)