Super Rugby Aotearoa competition to return in 2021

New Zealand Rugby has announced that its Super Rugby Aotearoa competition will return in 2021, with the New Zealand Rugby board controversially opting not to include a sixth team next year.

Rejecting a number of franchise applications, including a bid by South Auckland-based Moana Pasifika backed by legendary figures of the game including Sir Bryan Williams and Sir Michael Jones, next year’s competition will involve the five New Zealand teams playing each other twice, as they did this year, with the addition of a one-off final.

Crossover matches with teams from Australia - subject to COVID-19 restrictions - have then been proposed to take place at the completion of Super Rugby Aotearoa while expansion of the competition will not take place until 2022.

The potential expansion teams include Moana Pasifika (whose business plan had them breaking even in year one), Kanaloa Hawaii, a South China Lions team, Fiji Drua (who play in Australia’s National Rugby Championship), and the Western Force, who competed this season in Australia’s Super Rugby competition.

The move comes at a time of considerable speculation over the future of Super Rugby in the wake of the South African Rugby Union’s plans for its leading teams to play in Europe's PRO14 league from as early as next season.

With this year’s SANZAAR Super Rugby competition halted after seven rounds on 14th March, New Zealand was the first nation to launch a domestic Super Rugby competition.

It saw Auckland franchise the Blues play in front of their biggest crowd in a decade at Eden Park in June and proved highly successful in piloting the return of fans to stadia, despite ending behind closed doors in August, with the Blues-Crusaders match at Eden Park having been called off completely after cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in the city.

Speaking on a Zoom call with reporters today, New Zealand Rugby Chairman Brent Impey said the board has approved, subject to certain conditions, the return of Super Rugby Aotearoa, albeit with improvements to the format.

As reported by Stuff, Impey advised “after the success of the 2020 competition it became really a no-brainer that we do something similar again in 2021.

“Yesterday there was a board resolution to have a five-team Super Rugby competition, subject to ongoing dialogue with the Players Association, Sanzaar, Sky and others. We’re not quite ready to make an official announcement but will be doing that in coming days.

“We will continue with afternoon kickoffs and will continue if we can to put our fans first as we look to add further innovations. We also want to continue with Australia in a crossover competition of some kind once Rugby Australia 2021 has been completed.”

Image: Fans enjoy Super Rugby Aotearoa action at Eden Park.