The Rugby Australia (RA) governing body has announced a new domestic rugby union competition, Super Rugby AUS, to launch in September with an initial four-week season.
Super Rugby AUS will feature Australia’s four Super Rugby Pacific clubs: the ACT Brumbies, New South Wales Waratahs, Queensland Reds, and Western Force.
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These teams will play each other once each in a round robin of fixtures across September 13 through 28, before a grand final on October 5 between the two top sides to determine a winner.
Like the remainder of the Rugby Australia competitions, Super Rugby AUS will be showcased on the country’s free-to-air Nine Network and the streaming service Stan Sport as part of the governing body’s recently extended bumper multi-year partnership with the Nine Entertainment media heavyweight.
The new competition will run in conjunction with the existing Super Rugby Men's U19 tournament, and will focus on engaging markets across the country, with games to be played at local grounds such as Canberra’s 7,000-capacity Viking Park, and as part of the Santos Festival of Rugby in Narrabri.
Speaking on the logic behind the competition launch, Rugby Australia general manager for men’s high performance and competitions Ben Whitaker commented: “We have worked closely with the Super Rugby clubs to identify a suitable window within our domestic competition calendar to play more meaningful, quality matches.
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By GlobalData"This first iteration of Super Rugby AUS will address that need, support the ongoing growth and development of the players and high-performance staff, and give rugby fans more opportunities to watch their favorite Super Rugby teams in action.”
Whitaker added that the fact that the elite Super Rugby Pacific season (which runs from February through June annually) is relatively short means that club-level players who aren’t selected for national team competition can go too long without playing top-level rugby.
This competition is the latest in a string of attempts by Rugby Australia to add more fixtures to its domestic calendar, dating back to the Australian Provincial Championship in 2006.
More recently, the National Rugby Championship was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while its immediate successor, Super Rugby AU, was cancelled in 2021 after two seasons due to costs and impacts brought on by those COVID-19 restrictions.
Rugby Australia will hope that Super Rugby AUS can be a driver of interest in rugby union in the country after a number of fallow years commercially.
In 2024, the body made a loss of A$36.8 million (US$23.4 million), which followed the rugby union body losing A$9.2 million throughout 2023, and indeed, the 2024 figures exceed the loss suffered in 2020, while the coronavirus pandemic was raging – A$27.1 million.
RA is now banking on a massive financial boost coming from the Lions tour, which runs between late June and early August and will see that iconic composite touring side (comprising players from England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland) play three tests against Australia (one each in Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane) and six other matches in the country.
Indeed, it has been reported that overall ticket sales for the tour so far have been very strong, and as such, RA is forecasting a record surplus for this year's financials.
RA will be hoping the revenue from the Lions tour can ensure the repayment of a significant part of an A$80 million loan that the body took out in 2023 (of which A$60 million has already been spent).
Last year, A$9 million was spent on servicing the loan.
