Venue would have counted against it, even if they did bid.
Schmidt’s extension means he’ll be in charge until the final Bledisloe Cup fixture in Perth on October 4.
The 2025 season launch was held last week.
I felt something is missing with Melbourne Rebels expelled from the competition due to financial troubles. Will there be another team based in Melbourne in the future?
No. Australian rugby is buggered.
No - but getting rid of them might be the best thing for the competitiveness of the competition.
No, that might be to get out of Super Rugby, leave NZ to their own devices and go from there. We’ll never win Super Rugby as long as we live whilst the current regime is in charge.
As far as silver linings go, it is a slim one after the Rebels debacle. Another one is now at least the competition won’t suffer from a series of bye weeks that have stopped the momentum dead in its tracks over the past couple of seasons.
Try telling that to the QLD Reds.
It was odd to have bye weeks in the middle of Super Rugby season even though there was an even number of teams.
With the Rebels gone, there will be a bye week during each round of the upcoming season.
Smartech Business Systems was today named the new major sponsor of both men’s and women’s Super Rugby competitions in Australia for 2025. Super Rugby Pacific didn’t have a naming sponsor last year, while Smartech replaces Buildcorp which had been the naming sponsor of Super Rugby women’s competition from its formation in 2018 to last year.
Rugby Australia confirmed last week that a composite Indigenous-Pasifika team, replacing the defunct Melbourne Rebels, would face British and Irish Lions in a tour match at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on July 22.
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