The Super 10 was a

rugby union football Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

tournament featuring ten teams from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, and

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabit ...

. 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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

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 Welling ...

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: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

(both The Wallabies and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

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 (Amplitude modulation, AM/Frequency modulation, FM) as well as 6 television broadcasts and 3 OTT Services to the general ...

'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 South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...

, the

New Zealand Rugby Union New Zealand Rugby (NZR) is the Sports governing body, 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 b ...

and the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named 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 is a ...

was formed, and in association with

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...

, 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 has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

. 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 New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

). * Four New Zealand teams (the top four teams from the previous year's

National Provincial Championship The National Provincial Championship may refer to: * National Provincial Championship (1976–2005), original competition before reform into 14 sides * National Provincial Championship (2006–present) The National Provincial Championship (NP ...

). * 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 featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franc ...

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

Fiji Fiji, 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 consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

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