Super Rugby AU, formerly named the Harvey Norman Super Rugby AU for sponsorship purposes, was a rugby union competition organised by

Rugby Australia 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 ...

. The competition was created to supplant the

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, the international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It was the third tournament in i ...

, which had been suspended in March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Due to ongoing international travel restrictions relating to the pandemic, the competition was continued with a second season in 2021. The competition features the four Australian

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 ...

teams from the Australian conference, with the addition of the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

, in a round-robin tournament over a 12-week period, made up of 10 rounds, a qualifying final and a final. The competition was announced on 12 May, with the first round commencing on 3 July, making it the third sport to return in Australia (behind AFL and

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

) and just the second rugby union competition to return. Initially, all games were played behind-closed-doors, with restrictions on crowds being eased over time.

Results

Media coverage

Television

During the 2020 season, all matches were televised live by affiliate partners

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. Following Rugby Australia's broadcast deal with

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

, all games will be broadcast on streaming service Stan, with one game a round being simulcast on Nine's flagship free to air channel.

Broadcasters

Super Rugby AU was shown by the following broadcasters:

Corporate relations

Sponsorship

The 2020 tournament was run by

with the sponsorship of

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

which provided television coverage on its

channels with Vodafone (Australia) being the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

sponsor. Gilbert is the official supplier of all

rugby ball A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...

s. Ahead of the 2021 season, Foxtel and Vodafone ended their sponsorship agreements, with

and Stan Sports providing the television coverage. Ahead of the start of the 2021 season, Rugby Australia announced a naming right sponsorship deal with retail company Harvey Norman.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Super Rugby AU Rugby union competitions for provincial teams Recurring sporting events established in 2020 2020 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2020 Defunct professional sports leagues in Australia