The 2016 Super Rugby season was the 21st season of Super Rugby and the first season featuring an expanded 18-team format. It was also the first season that teams outside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa featured, with the Jaguares from Argentina and the Sunwolves from Japan taking part. This season also saw the return of the Kings, who competed just once before, in the 2013 Super Rugby season. The round-robin games took place every weekend from 26 February to 16 July 2016 (with a break for international matches during June), followed by the finals series at the end of July and culminating in the final on 6 August.
The Hurricanes won their first championship after repeating their efforts of 2015 by finishing first in the regular season and hosting the final at Westpac Stadium, but this time they won, beating the Lions 20–3. Unlike 2015, where the Hurricanes looked likely to finish the regular season first with a number of rounds to go, they were sitting in seventh going into the final week of the regular season and while guaranteed a play-off spot, they required a number of upset results to elevate them to first. In particular the Lions losing to the Jaguares and scoring no match points after sending an under-strength side to Argentina, thereby losing their chance to host the final.
Teams and personnel
Overview Union Team Stadia information Coach Captain Stadia Capacity Location Argentina José Amalfitani Stadium 49,540 Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Province Raúl Pérez Agustín Creevy Australia Canberra Stadium 25,011 Bruce, Australian Capital Territory Stephen Larkham Perth Rectangular Stadium 20,500 Perth, Western Australia Matt Hodgson Lang Park 52,500 Milton, Queensland Rob Simmons Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 30,050 Olympic Park, Victoria Tony McGahan Sean McMahon Sydney Football Stadium 45,500 Moore Park, New South Wales Daryl Gibson Michael Hooper Japan Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium 27,188 Aoyama, Tokyo Prefecture Mark Hammett Shōta Horie National Stadium 55,000 Kallang, Singapore New Zealand Eden Park 50,000 Kingsland, Auckland Tana Umaga Jerome Kaino North Harbour Stadium 14,000 Albany, Auckland Waikato Stadium 25,800 Hamilton, Waikato Dave Rennie Yarrow Stadium 30,000 New Plymouth, Taranaki Rugby League Park 17,104 Christchurch, Canterbury Todd Blackadder Sam Whitelock Forsyth Barr Stadium 30,748 Dunedin, Otago Jamie Joseph Rugby Park Stadium 18,000 Invercargill, Southland Arena Manawatu 15,000 Palmerston North Central, Manawatū–Whanganui Chris Boyd Dane Coles Wellington Regional Stadium 34,500 Pipitea, Wellington South Africa Loftus Versfeld Stadium 51,762 Pretoria, Gauteng Nollis Marais Adriaan Strauss Free State Stadium 42,000 Bloemfontein, Free State Franco Smith Francois Venter Ellis Park Stadium 62,567 Doornfontein, Gauteng Johan Ackermann Kings Park Stadium 52,500 Stamford Hill, KwaZulu-Natal Gary Gold Tendai Mtawarira Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium 46,000 Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape Deon Davids Steven Sykes Newlands Stadium 51,900 Cape Town, Western Cape Robbie Fleck
Locations Location of Australian and New Zealand teams:Location of the Sunwolves:
Location of South African teams:Location of the Jaguares:
Format The 18 teams were grouped geographically in two regional groups, each consisting of two conferences: the Australasian Group, with five teams in the Australian Conference and five teams in the New Zealand Conference and the South African Group, with six South African teams, one Argentinean team and one Japanese team split into a four-team Africa 1 Conference and a four-team Africa 2 Conference.
In the group stages, there were 17 rounds of matches, where each team played 15 matches and had two rounds of byes for a total of 135 matches.
Teams played six intra-conference matches; in the four-team African Conferences, each team played the other three teams in their conference at home and away, while in the five-team Australasian Conferences, each team played two teams home and away and once against the other two teams (one at home and one away). The other nine matches were a single round of matches against each team in the other conference in their group, as well as against each team from one of the conferences in the other group. For 2016, the teams in Africa 1 played the teams in the Australian Conference, while the teams in Africa 2 played the teams in the New Zealand Conference.
The top team in each of the four conferences automatically qualified to the Quarter Finals. The next top three teams in the Australasian Group and the next top team in the South African group also qualified to the Quarter Finals as wildcards. The conference winners were seeded #1 to #4 for the Quarter Finals, in order of log points gained during the group stages, while the wildcards were seeded as #5 to #8 in order of log points gained during the group stages.
In the Quarter Finals, the conference winners hosted the first round of the finals, with the highest-seeded conference winner hosting the fourth-seeded wildcard entry, the second-seeded conference winner hosting the third-seeded wildcard entry, the third-seeded conference winner hosting the second-seeded wildcard entry and the fourth-seeded conference winner hosting the top-seed wildcard entry.
The Quarter Final winners progressed to the Semi-Finals, where the highest seed to reach the Semi-Finals hosted the lowest seed and the second-seeded semi-finalist hosted the third-seeded team.
The winners of the Semi-Finals progressed to the Final, at the venue of the highest-seeded team.
Standings Conference standings
Overall standings
Matches
The fixtures for the 2016 Super Rugby competition were released on 28 September 2015: The following matches were played during the regular season:
Team Progression – Australasian Group Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 QF SF Final Hurricanes 0 (10th) 1 (9th) 5 (9th) 10 (6th) 15 (4th) 15 (6th) 20 (5th) 25 (4th) 26 (4th) 31 (4th) 31 (5th) 36 (5th) 36 (5th) 40 (4th) 44 (4th) 48 (5th) 53 (1st) Won Won Won Brumbies 5 (1st) 9 (1st) 13 (1st) 13 (2nd) 17 (2nd) 17 (2nd) 17 (2nd) 21 (2nd) 21 (6th) 21 (6th) 25 (2nd) 29 (6th) 29 (6th) 34 (2nd) 39 (2nd) 39 (2nd) 43 (2nd) Lost N/A N/A Highlanders 1 (6th) 5 (6th) 9 (3rd) 13 (3rd) 18 (3rd) 22 (3rd) 23 (3rd) 23 (5th) 24 (5th) 28 (5th) 32 (4th) 37 (4th) 37 (4th) 38 (5th) 43 (5th) 48 (4th) 52 (3rd) Won Lost N/A Chiefs 4 (2nd) 5 (5th) 10 (2nd) 14 (1st) 19 (1st) 24 (1st) 29 (1st) 29 (1st) 33 (1st) 37 (1st) 37 (3rd) 37 (3rd) 42 (1st) 42 (3rd) 46 (1st) 51 (1st) 51 (4th) Won Lost N/A Crusaders 1 (7th) 5 (2nd) 5 (5th) 10 (5th) 14 (5th) 18 (4th) 22 (4th) 27 (3rd) 32 (3rd) 32 (3rd) 37 (1st) 37 (1st) 41 (3rd) 45 (1st) 45 (3rd) 50 (3rd) 50 (5th) Lost N/A N/A Waratahs 5 (3rd) 5 (4th) 5 (6th) 6 (8th) 10 (7th) 11 (7th) 11 (8th) 12 (8th) 17 (7th) 21 (7th) 25 (6th) 30 (2nd) 30 (2nd) 34 (6th) 39 (6th) 39 (6th) 40 (6th) N/A N/A N/A Blues 4 (5th) 4 (7th) 5 (8th) 7 (7th) 7 (8th) 11 (8th) 12 (7th) 16 (7th) 16 (8th) 20 (8th) 25 (7th) 25 (7th) 29 (7th) 30 (7th) 30 (7th) 35 (7th) 39 (7th) N/A N/A N/A Rebels 4 (4th) 4 (8th) 8 (4th) 13 (4th) 13 (6th) 17 (5th) 17 (6th) 17 (6th) 22 (2nd) 23 (2nd) 23 (8th) 23 (8th) 23 (8th) 27 (8th) 27 (8th) 27 (8th) 31 (8th) N/A N/A N/A Reds 0 (9th) 0 (10th) 1 (10th) 3 (10th) 4 (10th) 4 (10th) 8 (9th) 8 (9th) 8 (9th) 12 (9th) 12 (9th) 12 (9th) 16 (9th) 16 (9th) 16 (9th) 16 (9th) 17 (9th) N/A N/A N/A Force 1 (8th) 5 (3rd) 5 (7th) 5 (9th) 5 (9th) 5 (9th) 6 (10th) 6 (10th) 6 (10th) 6 (10th) 10 (10th) 10 (10th) 11 (10th) 12 (10th) 13 (10th) 13 (10th) 13 (10th) N/A N/A N/A Team Progression – South African Group Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 QF SF Final Lions 5 (3rd) 9 (3rd) 9 (3rd) 13 (3rd) 13 (3rd) 14 (3rd) 18 (2nd) 22 (2nd) 27 (2nd) 27 (2nd) 27 (2nd) 32 (1st) 37 (1st) 42 (1st) 47 (1st) 52 (1st) 52 (1st) Won Won Lost Stormers 5 (2nd) 9 (2nd) 10 (2nd) 14 (2nd) 18 (1st) 18 (1st) 23 (1st) 24 (1st) 28 (1st) 29 (1st) 29 (1st) 31 (2nd) 32 (4th) 36 (2nd) 41 (2nd) 46 (2nd) 51 (2nd) Lost N/A N/A Sharks 5 (1st) 9 (1st) 13 (1st) 15 (1st) 16 (2nd) 16 (2nd) 16 (4th) 17 (4th) 21 (4th) 22 (4th) 26 (4th) 30 (3rd) 35 (3rd) 35 (3rd) 35 (3rd) 39 (3rd) 43 (3rd) Lost N/A N/A Bulls 0 (7th) 4 (5th) 4 (6th) 6 (4th) 10 (4th) 14 (4th) 19 (3rd) 23 (3rd) 23 (3rd) 28 (3rd) 28 (3rd) 28 (4th) 32 (2nd) 32 (4th) 32 (4th) 37 (4th) 42 (4th) N/A N/A N/A Jaguares 4 (4th) 5 (4th) 5 (4th) 6 (5th) 7 (5th) 7 (5th) 7 (5th) 7 (6th) 7 (6th) 12 (6th) 12 (6th) 13 (6th) 13 (6th) 14 (6th) 18 (6th) 18 (6th) 22 (5th) N/A N/A N/A Cheetahs 1 (5th) 1 (6th) 5 (5th) 5 (6th) 6 (6th) 7 (6th) 7 (6th) 12 (5th) 12 (5th) 12 (5th) 12 (5th) 16 (5th) 16 (5th) 17 (5th) 21 (5th) 21 (5th) 21 (6th) N/A N/A N/A Kings 0 (8th) 0 (8th) 0 (8th) 0 (8th) 0 (8th) 4 (7th) 4 (7th) 4 (7th) 4 (8th) 4 (8th) 4 (8th) 4 (8th) 4 (8th) 9 (7th) 9 (7th) 9 (7th) 9 (7th) N/A N/A N/A Sunwolves 0 (6th) 0 (7th) 1 (7th) 1 (7th) 2 (7th) 3 (8th) 3 (8th) 3 (8th) 7 (7th) 7 (7th) 7 (7th) 9 (7th) 9 (7th) 9 (8th) 9 (8th) 9 (8th) 9 (8th) N/A N/A N/A Key: win draw loss bye
Finals The four conference winners advanced to the Quarter Finals, where they had home advantage against four wildcard teams, which consisted of the third to fifth-ranked teams in the Australasian Group and the third-ranked team in the South African Group.
The final seedings of these teams were:
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Players
Squads
The following squads were named for the 2016 Super Rugby season:
+ squad Forwards Josh Bekhuis • Gerard Cowley-Tuioti • Joe Edwards • Charlie Faumuina • Blake Gibson • Akira Ioane • Jerome Kaino • Tanerau Latimer • Steve Luatua • Quentin MacDonald • Sione Mafileo • Hoani Matenga • Nic Mayhew • Matt Moulds • James Parsons • Sam Prattley • Kara Pryor • Jack Ram • Scott Scrafton • Patrick Tuipulotu • Ofa Tu'ungafasi • Namatahi Waa Backs Matt Duffie • Piers Francis • Billy Guyton • Bryn Hall • Rieko Ioane • Tevita Li • Matt McGahan • George Moala • Melani Nanai • Sam Nock • Rene Ranger • Male Sa'u • Matt Vaega • Lolagi Visinia • Ihaia West • Did not play: • Afa Fa'atau • TJ Faiane • Ben Lam • Michael Little • Jordan Trainor Coach Tana Umaga
+ squad Forwards Robbie Abel • Allan Alaalatoa • Ben Alexander • Rory Arnold • Jarrad Butler • Sam Carter • Blake Enever • Scott Fardy • Ben Hyne • Leslie Leulua’iali’i-Makin • Joshua Mann-Rea • Stephen Moore • David Pocock • Scott Sio • Jordan Smiler • Ruan Smith • Tom Staniforth • Ita Vaea • Michael Wells • Did not play: • Albert Anae Backs Nigel Ah Wong • Robbie Coleman • Tomás Cubelli • James Dargaville • Michael Dowsett • Jordan Jackson-Hope • Tevita Kuridrani • Christian Lealiifano • Joe Powell • Andrew Smith • Henry Speight • Lausii Taliauli • Joe Tomane • Matt To'omua • Aidan Toua • Did not play: • Nick Jooste Coach Stephen Larkham
+ squad Forwards Arno Botha • Renaldo Bothma • Nick de Jager • Lizo Gqoboka • Grant Hattingh • Nico Janse van Rensburg • Jason Jenkins • Jannes Kirsten • Werner Kruger • Lappies Labuschagné • Hanro Liebenberg • Bandise Maku • Nqoba Mxoli • Trevor Nyakane • Marvin Orie • Pierre Schoeman • Roelof Smit • RG Snyman • Deon Stegmann • Adriaan Strauss • Marcel van der Merwe • Hencus van Wyk • Jaco Visagie • Did not play: • Dean Greyling • Irné Herbst • Freddy Ngoza • Jacques Potgieter • Callie Visagie Backs Bjorn Basson • Francois Brummer • Warrick Gelant • Travis Ismaiel • Dan Kriel • Jesse Kriel • SP Marais • Burger Odendaal • Rudy Paige • Tian Schoeman • Jan Serfontein • Dries Swanepoel • Jamba Ulengo • Ivan van Zyl • Piet van Zyl • Did not play: • Kefentse Mahlo • Duncan Matthews • Luther Obi • Handré Pollard • Joshua Stander Coach Nollis Marais