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With Japan, Argentina and a sixth South African team set to enter Super Rugby in 2016, the draw for the season has been released.
VIEW THE COMPLETE 2017 SUPER RUGBY DRAW
It confirms that the hereto unnamed Japanese Super Rugby team will enter the competition against the Lions in Tokyo, before hosting the Cheetahs in Singapore in Round 3.
The Brumbies and Hurricanes will kick off the 2016 season on Aussie soil in a replay of their 2015 semi-final clash on Super Rugby’s opening night.
Australian Rugby’s oldest rivalry continues when the NSW Waratahs host the Queensland Reds in an opening-round blockbuster in Sydney.
The Western Force will begin their 2016 campaign at home to the Melbourne Rebels in another all-Aussie Round 1 battle in Perth.
The Rebels will be the first Australian side to face the Japanese franchise when they make a historic Round 4 visit to Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
The new Japanese outfit will also host the Force (Round 11) and Waratahs (Round 15) and will make its first trip to Australia to take on the Reds (Round 13) and Brumbies (Round 14) on back-to-back weekends in May.
SANZAR has confirmed that a brand new trophy will be used from the 2016 season onwards.
In a new format for the competition, Australian teams will play six matches within their own conference, plus five against the New Zealand conference, four against a South African conference and will have two byes across the 17-round regular season.
The Australasian Group features the Australian and New Zealand conferences each comprising their existing five teams while the South African Group contains two conferences with the Bulls, Cheetahs, Stormers and the Japanese team on one side, and the Kings, Lions, Sharks and the Argentinean team on the other.
The Australian teams will wait until 2017 to take on Super Rugby’s other newcomers from Argentina after being drawn to face the South African conference featuring the Bulls, Cheetahs, Stormers and the Japanese team in 2016. Under the new draw format, each team is guaranteed to play every other side in the competition over a two-year cycle.
The regular season will be followed by a knockout finals series featuring eight teams; the four conference winners plus the three next highest-ranked teams from the Australasian Group and the next highest-ranked team from the South African Group.
Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver said the release of the 2016 draw ushers in a new era of Super Rugby.
“The next evolution of Super Rugby has arrived and as well bringing three new teams, 15 more regular season matches and a new eight-team finals format, there is a genuine feeling among our fans that any one of our Aussie teams can hoist that shiny new trophy at the end of the season.
“The inclusion of teams from Japan and Argentina opens Super Rugby up to a huge population of new fans and gives those fans the opportunity to get out and watch some of the best players in the world playing in the toughest provincial Rugby competition in their own backyard.
“We know there is an enormous appetite for the game in Japan with an estimated 20 million Japanese fans tuning in to the Rugby World Cup so far, spurred on by the national team’s stunning upset of South Africa.
“We look forward to when our Australian teams visit the Japanese team in Tokyo and will be watching with keen interest when the Argentinians make their entry into the competition.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.