Super Rugby
Tournament Restructured from 2018 season
TEAM4/10(Mon) 14:30
Japan SR Association (Minato-ku, Tokyo, Chairman: Yuichi Ueno) announces the news release from SANZAAR regarding to announcement of Super Rugby tournament restructure will be kicked-off from 2018.
The change sees an overall reduction of three teams from the current 18-team format, two from South Africa and one from Australia. The HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES will move into the Australian Conference.
The comments from Noriyuki Sakamoto (Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman), Yuji Watase (Japan SR Association CEO) and Filo Tiatia (HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES Head Coach) as follow.
*Please regard to the SANZAAR official web page (http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/) for the details of the announcement.
Commentfrom Noriyuki Sakamoto/Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman
I would like to thank all, stakeholders, staff, organizations and of course all the fans. Regarding to the announcement from SANZAAR last evening, Sunwolves will join the Australian conference in 2018 season. We will continue competing in one of the toughest competition in the world of rugby, however we will do so in slightly better environment regarding to the time difference and the long distance travel. We will continuously develop our performance with experiencing the world top class rugby.
Competing in the Super Rugby will help us developing performance of the national team towards our objective of the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. Even though the number of the teams will be reduced to 15, there will be no change battling against the toughest teams in the competition. The goal of Japan Rugby including Sunwolves is keep progressing. We appreciate your support for the Sunwolves and Japan Rugby.
Comment from Yuji Watase/Japan SR Association CEO
We positively take the announcement from SANZAAR.
There will be tough games within the Australian conference as well as the South African conference.
However there will be numerous advantage regarding to the team conditioning and performance with moving into the Australian conference which likely to be less effecting us by jet lag and long distance flight.
Also it will give us more broadcasting opportunities with the same time zone for our local fan in Japan which will likely to extend our marketing and business opportunities in Japan.
Regarding to the message from SANZAAR, we are on the very important mission of developing rugby in Asia and I re-recognized myself that we must act to meet the expectation from SANZAAR.
We will continuously communicate with SANZAAR closely and will develop our team performance for contributing to develop rugby in Asia.
Comment from Filo Tiatia/HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES Head Coach
As a team, the coaches and players at the Sunwolves focus on the opportunities that are presented on the field every week. As an organization we endeavor to focus on the opportunities that are presented off the field as well.
The Sunwolves are honored and privileged to be part of the toughest rugby competition in the world, and the news today of our continued involvement in a 15 team format is great news for the players, coaches and organization alike. We have a mantra of “Rise as One” and with the confidence that SANZAAR has put in us as a team and an organization we will continue to strive for that goal
■Tournament Details
【Conference】
The change sees an overall reduction of three teams from the current 18-team format, two from South Africa and one from Australia. The HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES will move into the Australian Conference.
The comments from Noriyuki Sakamoto (Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman), Yuji Watase (Japan SR Association CEO) and Filo Tiatia (HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES Head Coach) as follow.
*Please regard to the SANZAAR official web page (http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/) for the details of the announcement.
Commentfrom Noriyuki Sakamoto/Japan Rugby Football Union Chairman
I would like to thank all, stakeholders, staff, organizations and of course all the fans. Regarding to the announcement from SANZAAR last evening, Sunwolves will join the Australian conference in 2018 season. We will continue competing in one of the toughest competition in the world of rugby, however we will do so in slightly better environment regarding to the time difference and the long distance travel. We will continuously develop our performance with experiencing the world top class rugby.
Competing in the Super Rugby will help us developing performance of the national team towards our objective of the quarter finals of the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. Even though the number of the teams will be reduced to 15, there will be no change battling against the toughest teams in the competition. The goal of Japan Rugby including Sunwolves is keep progressing. We appreciate your support for the Sunwolves and Japan Rugby.
Comment from Yuji Watase/Japan SR Association CEO
We positively take the announcement from SANZAAR.
There will be tough games within the Australian conference as well as the South African conference.
However there will be numerous advantage regarding to the team conditioning and performance with moving into the Australian conference which likely to be less effecting us by jet lag and long distance flight.
Also it will give us more broadcasting opportunities with the same time zone for our local fan in Japan which will likely to extend our marketing and business opportunities in Japan.
Regarding to the message from SANZAAR, we are on the very important mission of developing rugby in Asia and I re-recognized myself that we must act to meet the expectation from SANZAAR.
We will continuously communicate with SANZAAR closely and will develop our team performance for contributing to develop rugby in Asia.
Comment from Filo Tiatia/HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES Head Coach
As a team, the coaches and players at the Sunwolves focus on the opportunities that are presented on the field every week. As an organization we endeavor to focus on the opportunities that are presented off the field as well.
The Sunwolves are honored and privileged to be part of the toughest rugby competition in the world, and the news today of our continued involvement in a 15 team format is great news for the players, coaches and organization alike. We have a mantra of “Rise as One” and with the confidence that SANZAAR has put in us as a team and an organization we will continue to strive for that goal
■Tournament Details
【Conference】
- New ZealandConference
Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, Hurricanes - Australian Conference
Four Australian teams (TBC), HITO-Communications SUNWOLVES - South Africa Conference
Four South Africa teams (TBC), Jaguares
- 120 match regular season plus seven match finals series
- 15 teams
- 3 conferences (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa)
- 18 rounds [16 matches per team, two bye weeks]
- Each team will play 8 matches within its conference (4 home and 4 away)
- Each team will play 8 cross-conference matches – against 4 of the 5 teams from each of the other 2 conferences (4 at home and 4 away)
- Each team will play 12 of the other teams within the season (85% of opposition teams which is up from 70% in 2016).
- 8 team Finals Series: 3 Conference winners and; 5 wild card places – the next best performing teams based on competition points after the Conference winners regardless of Conference. Conference winners and 4th-placed team on competition points will host quarter-finals.