The 1998 Super 12 season was the third season of the

Super 12 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 ...

, contested by teams from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. The season ran from February to May 1998, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semi finals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semi final qualified for the final, which was contested by the Auckland Blues and the Canterbury Crusaders at Eden Park, Auckland. The Canterbury Crusaders won 20 – 13 to win their first Super 12 title.

Teams

The 1998 Super 12 competition consisted of 12 teams, they were:
The Blues (New Zealand)
The Brumbies (Australia)
The Bulls (South Africa)
The Cats (South Africa)
The Chiefs (New Zealand)
The Crusaders (New Zealand)
The Highlanders (New Zealand)
The Hurricanes (New Zealand)
The Reds (Australia)
The Sharks (South Africa)
The Stormers (South Africa)
The Waratahs (Australia)

Table

Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Finals

Semi finals

Grand final

Leading try-scorers

Leading point-scorers

Notes and references

*McIlraith, M. (2005).Ten Years of Super 12, Auckland: Hodder Moa. {{DEFAULTSORT:Super

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1998 rugby union tournaments for clubs