Super Rugby refers to the largest professional rugby union in the southern hemisphere. This was not a one-time foundation, but Super Rugby builds on a number of old traditions that began with the 1986 South Pacific Championship. Achieving a stable, stable championship format proved difficult, but over time it eventually became in the modern form of Super Rugby it features 15 teams from three countries: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Prior to the current Super Rugby model, there were several minor attempts to create a unified professional rugby union competition to help determine an annual world champion for the region. In 1991 there was no tournament due to the cancellation of the South Pacific Tournament. This led to the creation of the Super 6.
The Super 6 consisted of three teams from New Zealand, two from Australia and one from Fiji and played one championship in 1992, which was won by the Brisbane Reds. The following year the interest led to rapid expansion with the Super 6 becoming the Super 10.
The Super 10 still featured several teams from Australia and New Zealand, but South Africa was again admitted to international competition with three teams, including the Lions, ultimately winning that season. Fiji was succeeded by Western Samoa as the representative of the Pacific Nations. This format stayed for three years, with the Reds retaking the last two until 1996, when they expanded to 12 teams.
Sticking with the numerical themes, this competition became the Super 12 and lasted until 2005. This also marked an important moment with the founding of SANZAR (South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby) as the governing body to operate the competition, establishing how play -Off tournaments would be held, and expansion when necessary.
Teams from Australia and New Zealand dominated during this time, taking every title from 1996 to 2005 with the Blues, Brumbies and Crusaders combining for every championship during that time period. In 2006 the expansion to the Super 14 was made and in 2007 the Bulls of Pretoria, South Africa, broke the Australian-New Zealand dominance by finishing the season as champions.
The year 2009 saw the expansion to 15 teams under the current name of Super Rugby, ending the numbers and now unified under a single brand. The old round-robin method was dropped in favor of home-and-away games based on a regional format, with points based on wins, losses, ties, and bonus points based on overall scores and the number of tries scored in a game. six teams at the end of the season then play in a three-week finals series with seedings based on overall standings.
This allows for a setup where the best teams can still play while making every big game. Due to the popularity of Super Rugby, there are discussions for further expansion in the future, including talk of more Australian and South African teams, as well as possibly a Pacific Islander or Argentine team.