1996 Super 12 season explained

1996 Super 12
Countries:	Australia South Africa New Zealand
Tournament Format:	Round-robin and knockout
Champions:	Auckland Blues
Count:	1
Matches:	69
Tries:	442
Top Point Scorer:	Matt Burke (157) (NSW Waratahs)
Top Try Scorer:	James Small (13) (Natal Sharks)
Next Year:	1997
Next Tournament:	1997 Super 12 season

The 1996 Super 12 season was the inaugural season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 1996, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semifinals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semifinal qualified for the final, which was contested between the Auckland Blues and Natal Sharks, with the Blues winning 45–21 to win the first Super 12 title.

This was the first season of professional rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere (the Northern Hemisphere had their first season a few months earlier due to the seasonal differences). The season was also the first of 10 under the deal between SANZAR and News Corporation which gave all broadcasting rights to News Limited for the Super 12, Tri-Nations, all inbound tours and test matches and in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa as well as provincial competition matches. The deal was collectively worth $550 million USD.^[1]

The teams from Australia and New Zealand were regional teams, a system that has continued to this day. South Africa used a different system for determining its Super 12 teams. The top four sides from the previous season of the country's domestic competition, the Currie Cup, were granted berths in the Super 12. This system would continue through the 1998 competition; only in 1999 did South Africa adopt the same system used by the other two participating countries.

Table

Top four teams advance to playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts
1	Queensland Reds	11	9	0	2	320	247	73	5	41
2	Auckland Blues	11	8	0	3	408	354	54	9	41
3	Northern Transvaal	11	8	0	3	329	208	121	6	38
4	Natal Sharks	11	6	0	5	389	277	112	9	33
5	ACT Brumbies	11	7	0	4	306	273	33	4	32
6	Waikato Chiefs	11	6	0	5	291	269	22	4	28
7	NSW Waratahs	11	5	0	6	312	290	22	8	28
8	Otago Highlanders	11	5	0	6	329	391	-62	6	26
9	Wellington Hurricanes	11	3	0	8	290	353	-63	5	17
10	Transvaal	11	3	0	8	228	299	-71	4	16
11	Western Province	11	3	1	7	251	353	-101	1	15
12	Canterbury Crusaders	11	2	1	8	234	373	-139	2	12

Points breakdown:

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

The playoffs follow a 1 v 4, 2 v 3 system with the highest placed team at home.

Regular season

Week 11

Finals

Final

FB 15 Adrian Cashmore RW 14 Joeli Vidiri OC 13 Eroni Clarke IC 12 Johnny Ngauamo LW 11 Jonah Lomu FH 10 Carlos Spencer SH 9 Ofisa Tonu'u N8 8 Zinzan Brooke (c) OF 7 Andrew Blowers BF 6 Michael Jones RL 5 Charles Riechelmann LL 4 Robin Brooke TP 3 Olo Brown HK 2 Sean Fitzpatrick LP 1 Craig Dowd Substitutes: CE 16 Lee Stensness FH 17 Cameron Rackham SH 18 Michael Scott LK 19 Jason Chandler PR 20 Kevin Nepia HK 21 Andrew Roose Coach: Graham Henry

FB 15 André Joubert RW 14 James Small OC 13 Jeremy Thomson IC 12 Dick Muir LW 11 Cabous van der Westhuizen FH 10 Henry Honiball SH 9 Kevin Putt N8 8 Gary Teichmann (c) OF 7 Wikus van Heerden BF 6 Wayne Fyvie RL 5 Mark Andrews LL 4 Steve Atherton TP 3 Adrian Garvey HK 2 John Allan LP 1 Ollie le Roux Substitutions: WG 16 Joos Joubert FH 17 Roland de Marigny SH 18 Robert du Preez FL 19 Dieter Kriese LK 20 John Slade HK 21 Federico Mendez Coach: Ian McIntosh

Statistics

Top 10 points scorers

Player	Team	Total	Points per game													Details
width=3%	1	width=3%	2	width=3%	3	width=3%	4	width=3%	5	width=3%	6	width=3%	7	width=3%	8	width=3%	9	width=3%	10	width=3%	11	width=3%	Semis	width=3%	Final
Matt Burke	NSW Waratahs	157	22	20	19	19	11	6	8	9	7	14	22	DNQ	DNQ	5 try; 27 con; 26 pen
John Eales	Queensland Reds	155	2	16	22	7	20	16	15	10	16	11	10	10	DNQ	25 con; 33 pen
Jannie Kruger	Northern Transvaal	139	15	2	39	8	0	0	6	20	15	18	10	6	DNQ	1 try; 16 con; 32 pen; 2 dg
Henry Honiball	Natal Sharks	136	0	0	3	21	9	13	2	16	29	15	13	4	11	3 try; 23 con; 25 pen
Joel Stransky	Western Province	120	DNP	17	10	9	15	7	11	21	20	10	0	DNQ	DNQ	12 con; 34 pen
Gavin Lawless	Transvaal	111	0	3	DNP	11	16	18	5	25	13	14	6	DNQ	DNQ	4 try; 14 con; 21 pen
André Joubert	Natal Sharks	101	18	2	30	0	0	15	5	2	5	5	0	14	5	11 try; 11 con; 8 pen
Jamie Cameron	Wellington Hurricanes	91	23	13	12	9	19	7	8	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNQ	DNQ	14 con; 21 pen
Ian Foster	Waikato Chiefs	89	17	7	10	0	13	0	0	7	16	14	5	DNQ	DNQ	1 try; 18 con; 14 pen; 2 dg
Matthew Cooper	Otago Highlanders	86	22	0	0	15	0	5	15	5	10	14	DNP	DNQ	DNQ	4 try; 12 con; 14 pen

Top ten try scorers

Player	Team	Total	Tries per game
width=3%	1	width=3%	2	width=3%	3	width=3%	4	width=3%	5	width=3%	6	width=3%	7	width=3%	8	width=3%	9	width=3%	10	width=3%	11	width=3%	Semis	width=3%	Final
James Small	Natal Sharks	13	0	1	3	1	1	3	0	1	1	0	1	0	1
André Joubert	Natal Sharks	11	1	0	1	0	0	3	1	0	1	1	0	2	1
Joeli Vidiri	Auckland Blues	10	0	0	2	DNP	DNP	DNP	1	1	3	2	0	1	0
Alistair Murdoch	NSW Waratahs	8	1	1	0	0	DNP	DNP	0	1	1	1	3	DNQ	DNQ
Andrew Blowers	Auckland Blues	8	1	2	0	1	2	1	0	0	DNP	0	0	0	1
Ben Tune	Queensland Reds	8	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	DNQ
Jonah Lomu	Auckland Blues	8	0	1	1	DNP	0	2	1	0	DNP	0	0	2	1
Justin Swart	Western Province	8	1	1	2	0	0	2	0	1	1	0	0	DNQ	DNQ
Joe Roff	ACT Brumbies	7	0	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	DNQ	DNQ
Jeremy Thomson	Natal Sharks	7	1	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	DNP	DNP	0	1	0
Christian Cullen	Wellington Hurricanes	7	0	1	1	DNP	DNP	2	1	1	0	0	1	DNQ	DNQ
Eroni Clarke	Auckland Blues	7	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1

Further reading

• McIlraith, M. (2005). Ten Years of Super 12, Auckland: Hodder Moa.

Notes and References

1. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=L3EWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qh4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3839,199326&dq=super+12+rugby&hl=en "Showpiece event kicks off today