2011 Super Rugby season

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2011 Super Rugby season
Countries Australia (5 teams)
New Zealand (5 teams)
South Africa (5 teams)
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and knockout
Champions Reds (1st title)
Matches played 125
Attendance 2,430,624 (19,445 per match)
Tries scored 559 (4.47 per match)
Top point scorer(s) Quade Cooper (228)
Top try scorer(s) Bjorn Basson /
Sean Maitland /
Sarel Pretorius (9)
Official website Official site
2010 (Previous) (Next) 2012

The 2011 Super Rugby season was the first season of the new 15-team format for the Super Rugby competition, which involved teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Including its past iterations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 16th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The season kicked off in February 2011, with pre-season matches held from mid-January. It finished in early July to allow players a recovery period for the 2011 Rugby World Cup to be held in September and October; in future non-World Cup years, the competition will extend into August.

This season saw the arrival of the Melbourne Rebels, admitted to the competition as Australia's fifth team after entry by the Southern Kings from South Africa was denied. This was also the first season of a revamped competition format, with a greater focus on matches within each participating country and an expanded finals series.

During this season, the first ever Super Rugby game was played outside of the SANZAR region, taking place at Twickenham Stadium between the Crusaders and the Sharks. The match was moved to Twickenham because of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Proceeds of the game were also donated to the relief effort.

The final was played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane between the Queensland Reds and the Crusaders. The Reds won 18-13 to claim their first Super Rugby title.[1]

Competition format

Covering 21 weeks, the schedule featured a total of 125 matches. The 15 teams were grouped by geography, labelled the Australian Conference, New Zealand Conference and the South African Conference. With the new format, the regular season consisted of two types of matches:

  • Internal Conference Matches – Each team plays the other four teams in the same conference twice, home and away. (See table below for conferences.)
  • Cross Conference Matches – Each team plays four teams of the other two conferences away, and four teams of the other two conferences home, thus missing out on two teams (one from each of the other conferences). Each team plays two home and two away games against teams from each of the other countries, making a total of eight cross conference games for each team.[2]

The top team of each conference, plus the next top three teams in table points regardless of conference (wild card teams), moved on to the finals.[3][4] The top two conference winners, based on table points, receive first-round byes. In the first round of the finals, the third conference winner is the #3 seed and hosts the wild card team with the worst record, and the best wild card team hosts the second-best wild card team. In the semi-finals, the #2 conference winner hosts the higher surviving seed from the first round, and the #1 conference winner hosts the other first-round winner. The final is hosted by the top remaining seed.[5]

Standings

Australian Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Reds 18 13 0 3 2 429 309 +120 5 1 66
2 Waratahs 18 10 0 6 2 398 252 +146 6 3 57
3 Force 18 5 2 9 2 333 416 -83 0 5 37
4 Brumbies 18 4 1 11 2 314 437 -123 3 4 33
5 Rebels 18 3 0 13 2 281 570 -289 2 2 24
New Zealand Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Crusaders 18 11 1 4 2 436 273 +163 5 2 61
2 Blues 18 10 1 5 2 405 335 +70 6 4 60
3 Highlanders 18 8 0 8 2 296 343 -47 2 3 45
4 Hurricanes 18 5 2 9 2 328 398 -70 5 5 42
5 Chiefs 18 6 1 9 2 332 348 -16 2 4 40
South African Conference
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Stormers 18 12 0 4 2 400 257 +143 4 3 63
2 Sharks 18 10 1 5 2 407 339 +68 6 1 57
3 Bulls 18 10 0 6 2 416 370 +46 3 3 54
4 Cheetahs 18 5 0 11 2 435 437 -2 5 7 40
5 Lions 18 3 1 12 2 351 477 -126 2 5 29
Overall Standings
Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TB LB Pts
1 Australia Reds 18 13 0 3 2 429 309 +120 5 1 66
2 South Africa Stormers 18 12 0 4 2 400 257 +143 4 3 63
3 New Zealand Crusaders 18 11 1 4 2 436 273 +163 5 2 61
4 New Zealand Blues 18 10 1 5 2 405 335 +70 6 4 60
5 Australia Waratahs 18 10 0 6 2 398 252 +146 6 3 57
6 South Africa Sharks 18 10 1 5 2 407 339 +68 6 1 57
7 South Africa Bulls 18 10 0 6 2 416 370 +46 3 3 54
8 New Zealand Highlanders 18 8 0 8 2 296 343 -47 2 3 45
9 New Zealand Hurricanes 18 5 2 9 2 328 398 -70 5 5 42
10 New Zealand Chiefs 18 6 1 9 2 332 348 -16 2 4 40
11 South Africa Cheetahs 18 5 0 11 2 435 437 -2 5 7 40
12 Australia Force 18 5 2 9 2 333 416 -83 0 5 37
13 Australia Brumbies 18 4 1 11 2 314 437 -123 3 4 33
14 South Africa Lions 18 3 1 12 2 351 477 -126 2 5 29
15 Australia Rebels 18 3 0 13 2 281 570 -289 2 2 24

Source: NZ Herald

Legend:

  • Rnd = Round Completed (Games Played plus Byes), W = Games Won, D = Games Drawn, L = Games Lost, Bye = Number of Byes, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, PD = Points Difference, TB = Try Bonus Points, LB = Losing Bonus Points, Pts = Log Points

Points breakdown:

  • 4 points for a win
  • 2 points for a draw
  • 4 points for a bye
  • 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less
  • 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

The Overall Standings classification system:[6][7]

  • Three Conference Winners/Leaders in log points order
  • Three Wildcard teams in log points order
  • The remaining nine teams in log points order
  • When teams are level on log points, they are sorted by number of games won, then overall points difference, then number of tries scored and then overall try difference

Notes:

Fixtures

Round 1

Byes: Stormers

Round 2

Byes: Force

Round 3

Byes: Hurricanes

Round 4

Byes: Bulls, Reds, Waratahs

Round 5

Byes: Brumbies

Round 6

Byes: Highlanders

Round 7

Byes: Crusaders

Round 8

Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels

Round 9

Byes: Sharks

Round 10

Byes: Brumbies, Cheetahs, Stormers

Round 11

Byes: Lions

Round 12

Byes: Bulls

Round 13

Byes: Force, Sharks, Waratahs

Round 14

Byes: Highlanders, Hurricanes, Reds

Round 15

Byes: Blues, Chiefs, Rebels

Round 16

Byes: Crusaders

Round 17

Byes: Cheetahs

Round 18

Byes: Lions

Finals

Qualifying finals Semifinals Grand final
                             
  24 June 2011  
4   New Zealand Blues 26  
5   Australia Waratahs 13           2 July 2011      
        1   Australia Reds 30    
        4   New Zealand Blues 13     9 July 2011
                Australia Reds   18
            2 July 2011       New Zealand Crusaders   13
          2   South Africa Stormers 10    
  25 June 2011         3   New Zealand Crusaders 29    
  3   New Zealand Crusaders 36          
  6   South Africa Sharks 8          

Qualifiers

Qualifier 1
Qualifier 2
Byes: Reds, Stormers

Semi-Finals

Semi-Final 1
Semi-Final 2

Final

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Player statistics

See also

Notes

^ i:  The match was cancelled and called a draw due to the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.

References

  1. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iMtSXBfPfjd0hHgcOqskFzPQEUiA?docId=CNG.6c4645ce2c3aff875cec6a3515475b82.5e1
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  9. SA Rugby – Official Home of the Springboks
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External links

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