The Super 10 was a

rugby union football Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

tournament featuring ten 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 ...

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 ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, and

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. The competition ran for three years from 1993 to 1995 and was the predecessor of Super 12 and Super 14, now known as

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 ...

History

The Super 10 replaced the Super 6 and the previous

South Pacific Championship The South Pacific Championship (also known as SPC) was a rugby union competition that was introduced in 1986 and contested through to 1990. The competition featured six teams - three provinces from New Zealand; Auckland, Canterbury and Wellingt ...

and CANZ Series tournaments which had been organized by the Australian and New Zealand rugby unions during the 1980s and early 1990s. With South Africa being readmitted into international sport due to the dismantling of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

(both

The Wallabies The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against th ...

and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

toured South Africa during 1992), there was an opportunity to launch an expanded competition also featuring South Africa's top provincial teams. The

South African Broadcasting Corporation The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

's ''Top Sport'' channel committed to a three-year sponsorship of the competition, allowing it to be launched. The official declaration of professionalism in rugby union in August 1995 led to a reworking of the competition. SANZAR, a partnership between the South African Rugby Union, 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 ...

and the Australian Rugby Union was formed, and in association with

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,00 ...

, they created 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 ...

. That fully professional competition featured teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa only, with one more team from each country being admitted, and was launched in 1996

Past winners

Winners by year:

Format

The ten teams for the competition were arranged as follows: * Two Australian teams (

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

). * Four New Zealand teams (the top four teams from the previous year's National Provincial Championship). * Three South African teams (the top three teams from the previous year's

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premi ...

). * The winner of the previous year's Pacific Tri-Nations between

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

and

. The ten teams were split into two pools to minimize the logistical problems caused by the travel required and the time zone differences between the participating countries. Each team played the other four teams in their pool once, with four competition points being awarded for a win, two for a draw, and one for a loss by seven points or less. Bonus points for scoring four or more tries were not introduced until the formation of the

. The top team in each pool met in a final to decide the championship.

1993 season

For the inaugural competition, New Zealand were represented by NPC champions , along with , and . South Africa were represented by Currie Cup champions , along with and . were the representatives from the Pacific Tri-Series.

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

1994 season

For the second edition of the competition, New Zealand were represented by NPC champions , along with , and . South Africa were represented by Currie Cup champions , along with and . were the representatives from the Pacific Tri-Series.

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

1995 season

For the third edition of the competition, New Zealand were represented by NPC champions , along with , and . South Africa were represented by Currie Cup champions , along with and . were the representatives from the Pacific Tri-Series.

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Super 10 Rugby Defunct rugby union competitions in South Africa Rugby union competitions in Samoa Rugby union competitions in Tonga Defunct rugby union leagues in Australia Rugby union leagues in New Zealand Sports leagues established in 1993 Rugby union competitions for provincial teams 1993 in Australian rugby union 1994 in Australian rugby union 1995 in Australian rugby union 1993 in New Zealand rugby union 1994 in New Zealand rugby union 1995 in New Zealand rugby union 1993 in South African rugby union 1994 in South African rugby union 1995 in South African rugby union 1993 in Oceanian rugby union 1994 in Oceanian rugby union 1995 in Oceanian rugby union

History

Past winners

Format

1993 season

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

1994 season

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

1995 season

Pool A

Standings

Matches

Pool B

Standings

Matches

Final

See also

References