Super Rugby AU, formerly named the

Harvey Norman Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based, multi-national retailer of furniture, bedding, computers, communications and consumer electrical products. It mainly operates as a franchise, with the main brand and all company-operated stores owned ...

Super Rugby AU for sponsorship purposes, was a rugby union competition organised by

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

. The competition was created to supplant the 2020 Super Rugby season, which had been suspended in March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Due to ongoing international travel restrictions relating to the pandemic, the competition will continue with a second season in 2021. The competition features the four Australian

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

teams from the Australian conference, with the addition of

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. ...

, in a round-robin tournament over a 12-week period, made up of 10 rounds, a qualifying final and a final. The competition was announced on 12 May, with the first round commencing on 3 July, making it the third sport to return in Australia (behind

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and

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

) and just the second rugby union competition to return. Initially, all games were played behind-closed-doors, with restrictions on crowds being eased over time.

Media coverage

Television

During the 2020 season all matches were televised live by affiliate partners

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

. Following Rugby Australia's broadcast deal with

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

, all games will be broadcast on streaming service Stan, with one game a round being simulcast on Nine's flagship free to air channel.

Broadcasters

Super Rugby AU is shown by the following broadcasters:

Corporate relations

Sponsorship

The 2020 tournament was run by

with the sponsorship of

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

which provided television coverage on its

channels with

Vodafone (Australia) Vodafone Australia is an Australian telecommunications brand providing mobile and fixed broadband services. Vodafone’s mobile network covers more than 23 million Australians, and Vodafone has commenced the rollout of its 5G mobile network. Voda ...

being the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

sponsor.

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

is the official supplier of all

rugby ball A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...

s. Ahead of the 2021 season, Foxtel and Vodafone ended their sponsorship agreements, with

and Stan Sports providing the television coverage. Ahead of the start of the 2021 season, Rugby Australia announced a naming right sponsorship deal with retail company

Merchandising

Official match day attire together with other club merchandise is sold through the team’s stores and websites as well through most retailers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Super Rugby AU Rugby union competitions for provincial teams Recurring sporting events established in 2020 2020 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2020 Professional sports leagues in Australia