World Cup shortens Super Rugby
Bloemfontein – Next year’s Rugby World Cup tournament in Japan has seen the fixture schedules for the 2019 Super Rugby competition drastically revamped.
Because there will be no June Tests in 2019 due to the World Cup, there will be no break during this time to allow for the regular international window and the Super Rugby competition will run uninterrupted for 21 weeks.
For the Lions, the opening weekend will kick off with a massive challenge away to the Jaguares, a fixture they have lost for the past three seasons.
Their second game is also away from home – against the Stormers at Newlands – before they host the Bulls in their third match.
All four South African teams will be in action on the opening weekend but only the Bulls will have a home match, welcoming the Stormers to Loftus Versfeld – traditionally a fixture which has brought in big crowds.
The Sharks will also start their campaign on the road with a fixture scheduled for them against the Sunwolves in Japan.
The schedule confirmed all tournament match dates and kick-off times, with the competition kicking off on February 15 and concluding with the final on July 6.
However, the match venues will be announced later in the year once teams have determined where their home matches will be allocated.
The tournament’s 15-team, three-conference format remains the same.
Each team plays 16 regular season conference matches that include eight matches within their own conference (home and away) and four matches against teams from each of the other conferences (home or away).
Each team also has two byes, this is a total of 120 matches in the regular season that will be followed by a seven-match, eightteam finals series.
The Super Rugby finals series will also remain unchanged with each of the three conference winners qualifying for and hosting a quarterfinal.
The team with the most tournament points that is not a conference winner, regardless of conference, will host the fourth quarterfinal.
This wildcard team will be joined in the quarterfinals by the next best four wildcard teams based on tournament points and regardless of conference.
The Super Rugby finals series will also remain unchanged with each of the three conference winners qualifying for and hosting a quarterfinal.