Defining moments in Super Rugby history

So another Super Rugby season has come to an end and it has been an excellent showcase as to why the Southern Hemisphere’s premier rugby competition is regarded as the best in the world.

First off, I must also say congratulations to a Waratahs side that fully showcased their willingness to attack and play an attractive brand of running rugby to full effect.

The 2014 Super Rugby final was the best game this competition has seen in its rich 19-year history and both teams would have been worthy winners. This result will definitely reinvigorate the Bledislode rivalry and give the Wallabies hope that they can finally break the All Blacks 11-year hold on Trans-Tasman dominance.

For good measure, I thought it would be fitting to farewell this year’s Super Rugby season by having a look back on my personal picks of some of the best and most defining moments since the inception of the Super 12.

1996 – Super Rugby’s creation
With the success of the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, the game itself became globally professional in August of that year. SANZAR was formed between the three unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with both the Super 12 and Tri Nations emerging as the premier competitions in the Southern Hemisphere.

My memories now even looking back as an eight-year-old boy, the first game of Super 12 I ever attended was in 2000 when the Reds hosted the Waratahs at Ballymore. I was definitely spoiled in my first international viewing between Australia and New Zealand, in a game that still stands to this day as the greatest I’ve ever seen.

2000 – The Crusaders go three in a row 1998-2000
New Zealand have dominated Super Rugby since its creation and the Crusaders are largely to thank for this. Their first three premierships were astonishingly all away from home against the Blues, Highlanders and Brumbies respectively.

The men from Christchurch have continuously set the benchmark as a champion team since.

2002 – The Crusaders go through the regular season undefeated
The 2002 season remains the only one to date in Super Rugby where a team has gone through the competition undefeated. It is no surprise the Crusaders were the team to achieve such a feat. The Crusaders incredibly set a points differential record of 205 that would stand for 12 years, until the Waratahs broke it this year.

2004 – The Brumbies blitz Canterbury to win the 2004 title
I have never to this day seen a team play such a perfect first half. The Brumbies came out and played a great first 30 minutes, putting on five tries to lead 33-0 – which effectively killed off the game.

This side is the greatest Australian provincial side ever to have won a Super Rugby championship,with the likes of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Joe Roff, George Smith and Matt Giteau among the list of Wallabies in this 2004 winning side.

2007 – Bulls defeat Sharks in dramatic final to give South Africa their first Super Rugby crown
I will admit I was absolutely shattered by this result as a boy with Natal blood. The Bulls looked absolutely gone on 79.59 in this game and I don’t think I’ve ever really forgiven Francois Steyn for his failed clearance.

I couldn’t believe it when his last kick ultimately led to Habana’s dramatic try in overtime. Though that game still haunts me as a Sharks supporter, in hindsight it was a godsend for South African fans who had waited 12 years for a maiden Super Rugby title. Just don’t talk to the kind folk in Durban about that day!

2008 – Crusaders farewell Robbie Deans with record seventh title
Robbie Deans is the current longest standing coach in Super Rugby history and has a record five Super Rugby titles under his tenure at the Crusaders. Though this didn’t really transcend to success at the Wallabies, there’s no doubting his ability as a coach with 77 wins from 105 games.

He was duly sent off in style with success in the 2008 Super 14 season. The Crusaders have yet to taste success since.

2009 – The Bulls dismantle Chiefs in record Super 14 final
There’s no secret to the Bulls being the only South African team to have so far won Super Rugby. The Bulls managed to master a game plan in the art of “Jakeball” based on a territory and percentage game that ultimately won them three titles. This was never more apparent then in 2009 when the Bulls saved their best until last with a record 61-17 thumping of the Chiefs at Loftus in front of a then record 55,000 people.

2011 – The fairy-tale season for the Queensland Reds
For years, I had seen the Reds finish in the lower half of the table and be dismayed at just how low their form could go. 2010 proved to be a great success and the start of a new era for the Reds. No one could have imagined just how much the stars would align for Queensland in 2011, on their way from being cellar-dwellers to champions.

The style in which they showcased that year was truly mesmerising, with Quade Cooper and Will Genia working in tandem.

2013 – Chiefs come from behind victory to go back-to-back
The Chiefs had to wait a long time for any sustained Super Rugby success. While in 2012 the Chiefs won comfortably against the Sharks, in 2013 the Brumbies almost pulled it off. The Chiefs somehow though found a way to win with only 10 minutes left, in what was one of my all-time favourite finals to date.

2014 – Waratahs finally live up to expectation and deliver to their potential
Bernard Foley must have nerves of steel. He has surely secured the number 10 jersey in the Wallabies squad. He kicked the Waratahs to glory in a career-defining game. WIth many of their players relatively young, they could go on to establish a NSW dynasty in the coming years.