SYDNEY – SANZAAR (South African, New Zealand, Australian and Argentina Rugby) on Tuesday announced the 2019 Super Rugby competition details and Loftus Versfeld will host the opening fixture in South Africa on Saturday, February 16, when the Bulls play the Stormers.
The 2019 season opens when the Chiefs host the Highlanders in New Zealand on February 15.
There will be no June inbound international matches in 2019 due to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan later in the year. Hence, Super Rugby will run uninterrupted for 21 weeks. There will be a uniform start to the tournament in Round 1 with a full round of seven matches to kick-off Super Rugby.
The tournament’s 15-team, three-Conference format remains the same. Each team plays 16 regular season conference matches that include eight matches within their own Conference (home and away) and four matches against teams from each of the other Conferences (home or away). Each team also has two byes.
This is a total of 120 matches in the regular season that will be followed by a seven-match, eight-team finals series.
The teams are:
Australia Conference: Brumbies, Rebels, Reds, Waratahs, Sunwolves
New Zealand Conference: Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, Hurricanes
South African Conference: Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Stormers, Jaguares