The 2012 Super Rugby season was the second season of the Super Rugby competition, an annual rugby union competition that involves teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in its 15-team format. For sponsorship reasons, this competition is known as FxPro Super Rugby in Australia, Investec Super Rugby in New Zealand and Vodacom Super Rugby in South Africa. Including its past incarnations as Super 12 and Super 14, this was the 17th season for the Southern Hemisphere's premier transnational club competition. The conference games took place every weekend from 24 February until 14 July (with a three-week break between rounds 15 and 16 for international matches), followed by the finals series, culminating in the grand final on 4 August. While its three main broadcasting partners are Fox Sports (Australia), Sky Sport (New Zealand) and SuperSport (South Africa), Super Rugby can be viewed in many countries throughout the world.

The Chiefs, based in Hamilton, New Zealand, claimed their first-ever title in the competition's history, defeating the Durban-based Sharks 37–6 in the final held on 4 August at the Chiefs' home of Waikato Stadium.

Competition format

Covering 24 weeks, the schedule featured a total of 125 matches. The 15 teams are grouped by geography, labelled the Australian Conference, New Zealand Conference and the South African Conference. The regular season consists of two types of matches: Internal Conference Matches – Each team plays the other four teams in the same conference twice, home and away. Cross Conference Matches – Each team plays four teams of the other two conferences away, and four teams of the other two conferences home, thus missing out on two teams (one from each of the other conferences). Each team plays two home and two away games against teams from each of the other countries, making a total of eight cross conference games for each team. There will be a three-week international break between rounds 15 and 16 of the regular season.

The top team of each conference, plus the next top three teams in table points regardless of conference (wild card teams), advance to the finals. The top two conference winners, based on table points, receive first-round byes. In the first round of the finals, the third conference winner is the No. 3 seed and hosts the wild card team with the worst record, and the best wild card team hosts the second-best wild card team. In the semi-finals, the No. 2 conference winner hosts the higher surviving seed from the first round, and the No. 1 conference winner hosts the other first-round winner. The final is hosted by the top remaining seed.

Standings

+ Australian Conference Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts 1 18 11 0 5 2 359 347 +12 38 36 4 2 58 2 18 10 0 6 2 404 331 +73 41 31 5 5 58 3 18 4 0 12 2 346 407 −61 33 43 3 8 35 4 18 4 0 12 2 362 520 −158 37 59 3 5 32 5 18 3 0 13 2 306 440 −134 30 49 2 5 27

+ New Zealand Conference Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts 1 18 12 0 4 2 444 358 +86 47 30 5 3 64 2 18 11 0 5 2 485 343 +142 47 34 5 4 61 3 18 10 0 6 2 489 429 +60 58 39 8 1 57 4 18 9 0 7 2 359 385 −26 36 31 2 4 50 5 18 4 0 12 2 359 430 −71 34 50 2 6 32

+ South African Conference Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts 1 18 14 0 2 2 350 254 +96 28 21 0 2 66 2 18 10 0 6 2 472 369 +103 50 38 6 5 59 3 18 10 0 6 2 436 348 +88 47 31 7 4 59 4 18 5 0 11 2 391 458 −67 35 47 3 7 38 5 18 3 0 13 2 317 460 −143 30 52 2 3 25

+ Overall standings Pos Team Rnd W D L Bye PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts 1 18 14 0 2 2 350 254 +96 28 21 0 2 66 2 18 12 0 4 2 444 358 +86 47 30 5 3 64 3 18 11 0 5 2 359 347 +12 38 36 4 2 58 4 18 11 0 5 2 485 343 +142 47 34 5 4 61 5 18 10 0 6 2 472 369 +103 50 38 6 5 59 6 18 10 0 6 2 436 348 +88 47 31 7 4 59 7 18 10 0 6 2 404 331 +73 41 31 5 5 58 8 18 10 0 6 2 489 429 +60 58 39 8 1 57 9 18 9 0 7 2 359 385 −26 36 31 2 4 50 10 18 5 0 11 2 391 458 −67 35 47 3 7 38 11 18 4 0 12 2 346 407 −61 33 43 3 8 35 12 18 4 0 12 2 359 430 −71 34 50 2 6 32 13 18 4 0 12 2 362 520 −158 37 59 3 5 32 14 18 3 0 13 2 306 440 −134 30 49 2 5 27 15 18 3 0 13 2 317 460 −143 30 52 2 3 25

Source: sanzarrugby.com

Legend: Rnd = Round completed (games played plus byes), W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, Bye = Number of byes, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TF = Tries for, TA = Tries against, TB = Try bonus points, LB = Losing bonus points, Pts = Log points, Q = Qualification

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

The overall standings classification system: Three conference winners/leaders in log points order Three wildcard teams in log points order The remaining nine teams in log points order When teams are level on log points, they are sorted by number of games won, then overall points difference, then number of tries scored and then overall try difference

Round-by-round

+ Team progression – 2012 Super Rugby season Team R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 R12 R13 R14 R15 R16 R17 Final 4(1st) 8(4th) 12(3rd) 16(2nd) 20(1st) 24(1st) 28(1st) 29(2nd) 33(2nd) 37(2nd) 41(4th) 45(4th) 49(1st) 50(2nd) 54(2nd) 58(2nd) 62(2nd) 66(1st) 1(12th) 6(7th) 10(6th) 14(4th) 18(2nd) 22(4th) 26(2nd) 31(1st) 35(1st) 39(1st) 44(1st) 45(2nd) 49(2nd) 53(1st) 58(1st) 62(1st) 63(1st) 64(2nd) 4(3rd) 8(2nd) 12(1st) 13(3rd) 13(8th) 13(9th) 17(8th) 21(9th) 21(10th) 25(9th) 26(9th) 31(9th) 36(8th) 40(8th) 44(9th) 49(7th) 53(8th) 58(3rd) 4(7th) 5(9th) 6(10th) 10(9th) 14(7th) 18(6th) 19(7th) 23(7th) 28(6th) 33(6th) 37(5th) 37(5th) 42(5th) 46(5th) 51(4th) 52(5th) 56(4th) 61(4th) 4(4th) 9(1st) 10(5th) 14(5th) 19(4th) 20(5th) 24(4th) 29(4th) 33(4th) 37(4th) 42(2nd) 46(1st) 47(4th) 48(4th) 49(5th) 54(4th) 54(5th) 59(5th) 1(13th) 2(12th) 7(9th) 11(7th) 12(10th) 17(7th) 17(9th) 22(8th) 23(9th) 27(7th) 31(7th) 36(6th) 41(6th) 45(6th) 45(7th) 49(8th) 54(6th) 59(6th) 4(5th) 8(5th) 12(4th) 13(6th) 17(3rd) 18(3rd) 19(3rd) 24(3rd) 26(3rd) 31(3rd) 35(3rd) 39(3rd) 44(3rd) 45(3rd) 49(3rd) 54(3rd) 58(3rd) 58(7th) 0(15th) 4(10th) 9(7th) 10(8th) 15(6th) 16(8th) 21(6th) 25(6th) 25(8th) 25(10th) 30(8th) 34(8th) 35(9th) 40(9th) 45(6th) 49(6th) 53(7th) 57(8th) 4(2nd) 8(3rd) 12(2nd) 16(1st) 17(5th) 22(2nd) 22(5th) 26(5th) 30(5th) 34(5th) 34(6th) 35(7th) 39(7th) 44(7th) 44(8th) 45(9th) 46(9th) 50(9th) 1(14th) 1(15th) 2(14th) 6(12th) 7(13th) 12(12th) 16(11th) 17(11th) 21(11th) 22(11th) 26(10th) 27(10th) 27(12th) 32(10th) 36(10th) 37(10th) 38(10th) 38(10th) 1(11th) 6(6th) 7(8th) 8(11th) 13(9th) 13(10th) 17(10th) 21(10th) 25(7th) 26(8th) 26(11th) 27(11th) 28(11th) 30(11th) 30(11th) 34(11th) 35(11th) 35(11th) 1(9th) 1(13th) 5(11th) 5(14th) 6(15th) 10(13th) 10(14th) 11(14th) 12(15th) 12(15th) 12(15th) 16(14th) 16(14th) 17(14th) 19(15th) 23(14th) 28(13th) 32(12th) 4(8th) 4(11th) 5(13th) 6(13th) 10(12th) 10(15th) 14(12th) 14(12th) 14(13th) 18(12th) 20(12th) 24(12th) 29(10th) 29(12th) 29(12th) 29(12th) 31(12th) 32(13th) 1(10th) 1(14th) 1(15th) 5(15th) 7(15th) 12(11th) 12(13th) 13(13th) 17(12th) 17(13th) 18(13th) 18(13th) 19(13th) 23(13th) 27(13th) 27(13th) 27(14th) 27(14th) 4(6th) 5(8th) 5(12th) 9(10th) 10(11th) 10(14th) 10(15th) 10(15th) 14(14th) 14(14th) 14(14th) 14(15th) 14(15th) 15(15th) 20(14th) 20(15th) 25(15th) 25(15th)The table above shows a team's progression throughout the season.For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.Key: win draw loss bye

Regular season

The following fixtures were released on 2 September 2011.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Finals

Qualifiers

Semi-finals

Final

Players

Leading try scorers

Top 10 try scorersPosNameTeamTries 1 Bjorn Basson 10 Andre Taylor 10 3 Julian Savea 9 Sona Taumalolo 9 5 Gio Aplon 8 Zac Guildford 8 Lwazi Mvovo 8 Dom Shipperley 8 Henry Speight 8 10 Willie le Roux 7 TJ Perenara 7 Conrad Smith 7 Asaeli Tikoirotuma 7 Cooper Vuna 7 Source: South African Rugby Union

Leading point scorers

Top 10 overall point scorersPosNameTeamPoints 1 Aaron Cruden 251 2 Morné Steyn 228 3 Beauden Barrett 197 4 Mike Harris 149 5 Tom Taylor 146 6 Johan Goosen 145 7 Peter Grant 144 8 Patrick Lambie 141 9 Elton Jantjies 126 10 Christian Lealiifano 109 Source: South African Rugby Union

Referees

The following refereeing panel was appointed by SANZAR for the 2012 Super Rugby season:

Attendances Team Main stadium Capacity Total attendance Average attendance % capacity Blues Eden Park 50,000 139,962 17,495 37% Chiefs Waikato Stadium 25,800 176,337 17,633 74% Hurricanes Westpac Stadium 34,500 114,881 14,360 43% Crusaders Rugby League Park 18,000 150,400 16,711 91% Highlanders Forsyth Barr Stadium 30,728 133,242 16,655 57% Reds Suncorp Stadium 52,500 310,316 34,479 65% Brumbies Canberra Stadium 25,011 115,352 14,419 57% Waratahs Sydney Football Stadium 44,000 167,494 20,936 47% Melbourne Rebels AAMI Park 29,500 111,338 13,917 47% Force nib Stadium 20,500 106,041 13,255 64% Sharks ABSA Stadium 52,000 194,165 24,270 46% Bulls Loftus Versfeld 51,792 268,497 33,562 64% Lions Ellis Park 62,567 186,533 23,316 37% Cheetahs Free State Stadium 46,000 153,950 19,243 41% Stormers Newlands Stadium 51,900 383,348 42,594 82%

Notes

Australian crowd figures taken from SMH match reports.

References

External links