| 2007 Super 14 | |
| Countries: | |
| Tournament Format: | Round-robin and knockout |
| Champions: | Bulls |
| Count: | 1 |
| Matches: | 94 |
| Tries: | 440 |
| Top Point Scorer: | Stephen Donald (164; Chiefs) |
| Top Try Scorer: | JP Pietersen (12; Sharks) |
| Previous Year: | 2006 |
| Previous Tournament: | 2006 Super 14 season |
| Next Year: | 2008 |
| Next Tournament: | 2008 Super 14 season |
The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. The visiting Bulls won the 2007 Super 14 Final, scoring a try in the 83rd minute and narrowly defeating the Sharks 20–19, thereby becoming the first South African side to win the Super Rugby title in the professional era.
Super 14 is a provincial rugby union competition with 14 teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. This season is the second of the expansion, which led to the name change to the Super 14. The 2007 season saw an old team emerge with a new name, as the Cats changed their name to the Lions effective 8 September 2006.[1]
There was also some confusion over the inclusion of the Southern Spears franchise, who were in the end not included. The season is also notable of the New Zealand sides resting several All Blacks players in the first half of the season. There were 94 matches held over the 3½ months, with each team playing one full round robin against the 13 other teams, 2 semi-finals and a final. Every team will get one bye over the 14 rounds.
With the Rugby World Cup in September, all three countries would have some of their top players rested, to avoid injuries. All Blacks coach Graham Henry made clear his wish for up to 30 of New Zealand's best players to miss around half of the Super 14, with the five New Zealand franchises supporting him in May 2006. The mandatory stand-down period meant that the 30 players who toured at the end of 2006 would miss at least the first week of competition.[2]
John Connolly, the Wallabies coach, was also interested in lightening the load for his top players. It was expected that the Australians would want to rest only a few players, especially veterans such as Stephen Larkham and George Gregan, as they are seen as key to Australia's World Cup chances. Springboks coach Jake White met the board of SA Rugby, the commercial arm of the South African Rugby Union, in Cape Town on 25 May 2006 to put forward his suggestion to rest key players between then and the World Cup at regular intervals. White was also keen to rest some players during the Boks' 2006 mid-year internationals against Scotland and France.
It was revealed in September 2006 that the All Blacks would rest 22 players, who would go into a "conditioning group" for the first 7 weeks of competition. The 22 players named were: Jerry Collins, Jason Eaton, Carl Hayman, Andrew Hore, Chris Jack, Richie McCaw, Chris Masoe, Keven Mealamu, Anton Oliver, Greg Somerville, Rodney So'oialo, Reuben Thorne, Ali Williams, Tony Woodcock, Dan Carter, Byron Kelleher, Leon MacDonald, Aaron Mauger, Mils Muliaina, Joe Rokocoko, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Piri Weepu. Seven of these players were from the Crusaders, six from the Hurricanes, four from the Blues, three from the Chiefs and two from the Highlanders.[3] These players would be available for their franchises from Week 8. From these 22 players, Jason Eaton and Piri Weepu didn't make the final All Blacks squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
After the NZRU announced the resting of 22 leading players, Pat Wilson, Australian High Performance Manager, revealed that leading Wallabies would only be rested for one match, which was to be chosen by their state's union. This decision has drawn criticism from former Wallabies coach and current Queensland Reds coach Eddie Jones, who said that while resting the older players could be beneficial, it is better for younger players, such as his own Rodney Blake, to receive game time.[4]
The SARU decided against resting their top players for the 2007 Super 14 but conceded that it was likely that players would be rested for some games.[5] It is expected that News Corp and the other SANZAR nations will request compensation from the New Zealand Rugby Union.
During the 2006 Super 14 season, SA Rugby announced that, contrary to the original plans, the Southern Spears would not replace the lowest ranked South African based side.
In August 2006, however, the Spears won a court case for inclusion into the 2007 season, which would be at the expense of the Cats, who changed their name to the Lions the following month. SA Rugby and the South African Rugby Union were expected to appeal the High Court of South Africa's decision.[6] In November 2006, SA Rugby and the Spears reached a settlement. The financially troubled Spears abandoned the court case. They will still exist as an organisation to promote and develop rugby in the Southern and Eastern Cape region, with the support of SA Rugby and the SARU, but will now not be a part of Super Rugby in the foreseeable future.[7] With the settlement, the season's Super 14 line-up was set, with the Lions taking up the final South African place.
| Top four teams advance to playoffs. |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | BP | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sharks | 13 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 355 | 214 | 141 | 5 | 45 | |
| 2 | Bulls | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 388 | 223 | 165 | 6 | 42 | |
| 3 |  Crusaders | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 382 | 235 | 147 | 10 | 42 | |
| 4 | Blues | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 355 | 235 | 120 | 6 | 42 | |
| 5 |  Brumbies | 13 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 234 | 173 | 61 | 4 | 40 | |
| 6 | Chiefs | 13 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 373 | 321 | 52 | 10 | 40 | |
| 7 | Western Force | 13 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 276 | 292 | −16 | 6 | 32 | |
| 8 | Hurricanes | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 247 | 300 | −53 | 3 | 27 | |
| 9 | Highlanders | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 235 | 301 | −66 | 7 | 27 | |
| 10 | Stormers | 13 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 249 | 326 | −77 | 3 | 27 | |
| 11 | Cheetahs | 13 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 265 | 342 | −77 | 4 | 22 | |
| 12 | Lions | 13 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 175 | 284 | −109 | 2 | 22 | |
| 13 | Waratahs | 13 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 266 | 317 | −51 | 7 | 21 | |
| 14 | Reds | 13 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 201 | 438 | −237 | 3 | 11 |
The draw for the 2007 season was released on 2006-10-13. The season started 8 days earlier than the 2006 season, with the first match being between the Blues and the Crusaders at Auckland's Eden Park, the second time in the last two years the Blues had hosted the first match. In total, 94 matches were played, comprising 91 regular season matches, 2 semi-finals and the final. There were 29 Friday night match-ups and 61 Saturday matches. One match, the Brumbies-Waratahs regional derby in Week 10, was played on a Sunday night.[8] [9]
The 2007 Super 14 started in contrast to that of 2006. The game of the week was the Blues from Auckland beating the defending champions the Crusaders, which was the first loss to a New Zealand side that the Crusaders had suffered since May 2004 and was ironically the Blues' first win over a New Zealand team for two years. The other upset was 2006 Finalists the Hurricanes losing to last years 12th placed Queensland Reds.
Week two saw the New Zealand teams have a strong week with the Hurricanes, Crusaders, Blues notching wins. Western Force began to show vast improvement from 2006 winning only their second match since entering the competition in 2006. Apart from the Force all other Australian teams suffered a loss.
In week three a Super rugby record was broken, although not one to be proud of. The Reds and Brumbies played in the lowest scoring match ever, a dire affair that resulted in a Brumbies win 6–3. The 22 All Blacks missing from New Zealand teams started to have a visible effect on the kiwi sides with only the Hurricanes claiming a tight win over the Blues. Another relatively low scoring match saw even the last years powerhouse champions the Crusaders beaten by last years 13th placed Lions, it was the first match in six years the Crusaders hadn't scored a single try.