The Super Rugby Trophy is a

sterling silver Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper. The sterling silver standard has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. ''Fine silver'', which is 99.9% pure silver, is r ...

trophy awarded to the winner of the

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 ...

, a rugby union competition, final. It is a rotating trophy, held only during the offseason and returned to the competition organisers in time for it to be awarded to the next season's champions.

Original trophy

Jens Hansen of

Nelson, New Zealand (Let him, who has earned it, bear the palm) , image_map = Nelson CC.PNG , mapsize = 200px , map_caption = , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = ...

, made the original trophy by hand, and it was first awarded to the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

after winning the 2006 Super 14 Final. The same workshop made the

gold ring ''Gold Ring'' ( ar, سوار الذهب, Siwari Al-Dhahab; ja, ゴールド・リング ''Gōrudo Ringu'') is a comic written by Qais Sedki of the United Arab Emirates and drawn by Akira Himekawa of Japan.Good, Oliver.Gold Ring: the UAE's first ...

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's ''The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy. Three different silversmiths constructed the trophy. This required soldering together a number of silver sheets as well as sanding, buffing and polishing. The trophy is 49 cm high and weighs 2.7 kg. The trophy was unveiled in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

for the first time on Tuesday, 7 February 2006. The public was able to view the trophy for the first time on 10 February when the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

played the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

in the Super 14's opening match in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. The

2006 Super 14 season The 2006 Super 14 season started on 10 February 2006. The Grand Final was held on 27 May 2006. Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season was the first of the expansion, ...

was the first season that the trophy was used. Superugby trophy 2016

2011 trophy

In 2011, a new trophy was announced that featured the Super 14 logo on a globe, itself on a four-sided twisted spiral. Fraser Holland, the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the governing body of rugby union in New Zealand. It was founded in 1892 as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU), 12 years after the first provincial unions in New Zealand. In 1949 it became an affiliate to t ...

sponsorship and marketing manager, oversaw the construction of the trophy. On 30 June 2011,

SANZAR SANZAAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina Rugby; previously known as SANZAR) is the body which oversees Super Rugby and The Rugby Championship competitions in rugby union. SANZAAR meets annually and is composed of the CEOs from ...

unveiled the new trophy which would first be awarded to the winners of the

final scheduled for Saturday, 9 July 2011. The trophy was crafted from solid stainless steel and polished to a mirror finish. It has a height of 65 cm and a mass of 18 kilograms and was designed by the company responsible for the 2000 Olympic Torch, Blue Sky Design of Sydney. The three curved legs, represent the Conferences involved in the Super Rugby competition, and the colour on each leg corresponds to the Conferences with gold for Australia, black for New Zealand, and green for South Africa. History Superugby trophies

References

External links

XtraMSN article on the Super 14 Trophy
{{Super Rugby Super Rugby Rugby union trophies and awards

Original trophy

2011 trophy

See also

References

External links