Super Rugby Aotearoa

Current season, competition or edition: 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season
Official Logo
Sport	Rugby Union
Founded	2020; 4 years ago (2020)
First season	2020
Ceased	2021
Owner(s)	SANZAAR
CEO	Greg Peters
Divisions	New Zealand
No. of teams	5
Country	New Zealand
Last champion(s)	Crusaders (2nd title) (2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa season)
Most titles	Crusaders (2 titles)
TV partner(s)	Digicel ESPN ESPN International Nine Network RugbyPass Sky Sport Stan Sport SuperSport Telefónica Wowow
Sponsor(s)	Sky
Related competitions	Super Rugby Super Rugby AU Super Rugby Unlocked Mitre 10 Cup
Official website	SuperRugby.com

Super Rugby Aotearoa named the Sky Super Rugby Aotearoa for sponsorship purposes^[1] was a professional men's rugby union national club competition in New Zealand. Originally created to supplement the 2020 Super Rugby season, which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament continued in 2021, with a competition being confirmed later that year, including 12 teams in a brand new competition named Super Rugby Pacific.

In its first season, the tournament was a 10-week round robin tournament played by the five New Zealand-based teams of Super Rugby^[2] However, for 2021, the tournament had an additional final between the two highest placed teams in the tournament, with a finals system being used by the similarly created Super Rugby AU tournament in Australia.^[3]

Law adaptions

On 2 June, New Zealand Rugby announced that it would implement two optional law trials being offered by World Rugby,^[4] including a golden point format for extra time, and that players who receive a red card can be substituted after 20 minutes. It was also stated that referees would be stricter in applying laws for breakdowns to increase the pace of play.^[5]

Broadcasters

Super Rugby Aotearoa is shown by the following broadcasters:

Broadcaster	Country(ies)
Digicel	Cook Islands  Fiji  Papua New Guinea  Samoa  Solomon Islands  Tonga  Tuvalu  Vanuatu
ESPN ESPN International	Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil  Canada  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Guyana  Paraguay  Peru  Suriname  United States  Uruguay  Venezuela
Nine Network Stan Sport	Australia
RugbyPass	Afghanistan  Albania  Alderney  Andorra  Armenia  Austria  Azerbaijan  Bahrain  Bangladesh  Belarus  Belgium  Bhutan  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Brunei  Bulgaria  Cambodia  China  Croatia  Cyprus  Czech Republic  Denmark  England  Estonia  Federated States of Micronesia  Finland  France  Gaza Strip  Georgia  Germany  Greece  Guam  Guernsey  Herm  Hong Kong  Hungary  Iceland  India  Indonesia  Iran  Iraq  Ireland  Isle of Man  Israel  Italy  Jersey  Jordan  Kazakhstan  Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  Kiribati  Kosovo  Kuwait  Kyrgyzstan  Laos  Latvia  Lebanon  Liechtenstein  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Macau  Malaysia  Maldives  Malta  Marshall Islands  Moldova  Monaco  Mongolia  Montenegro  Myanmar    Nepal  Netherlands  North Korea  North Macedonia  Northern Ireland  Northern Marianas  Norway  Oman  Pakistan  Palau  Palestine  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  Qatar Romandy  Romania  Russia  San Marino  Sark  Scotland  Serbia  Singapore  Slovakia  Slovenia  South Korea  Sri Lanka  Sweden  Taiwan  Tajikistan  Thailand  Ticino  Timor-Leste  Turkey  Ukraine  United Arab Emirates  Vatican City  Vietnam  Wales  West Bank  Yemen
Sky Sport	New Zealand
SuperSport	South Africa
Telefónica	Spain
Wowow	Japan

Corporate relations

Sponsorship

The 2020 tournament was run by Rugby New Zealand with the sponsorship of Foxtel which provided television coverage on its Fox Sports channels with Sky (New Zealand) being the naming rights sponsor. Gilbert is the official supplier of all rugby balls.

Merchandising

Official match-day attire together with other club merchandise is sold through the Super Rugby Aotearoa's stores and website as well as through the clubs and some retailers.