4:12pm, 15 November 2018

SANZAAR have released an updated tournament schedule for the 2019 Super Rugby tournament that will kick-off on Friday 15 February when the Chiefs host the Highlanders in Hamilton, New Zealand. The Final will take place on Saturday 6 July.

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The updated schedule includes the match venues that have now all been confirmed by the teams and the respective kick-off times.

SANZAAR CEO, Andy Marinos, said, “As there will be no June inbound international matches in 2019, due to Rugby World Cup in Japan later in the year, Super Rugby will run uninterrupted for 21 weeks from February to July. This is a huge plus for the tournament next year and there will also be a uniform start to the tournament in Round 1 with a full round of seven matches to kick-off Super Rugby.”

The first round will see matches played in five countries with Hamilton (New Zealand) joined as a host city by Canberra (Brumbies versus Rebels, Australia), Auckland (Blues versus Crusaders, New Zealand), Sydney (Waratahs versus Hurricanes, Australia), Singapore (Sunwolves versus Sharks), Pretoria (Bulls versus Stormers, South Africa) and Buenos Aires (Jaguares versus Lions), Argentina.

Click HERE for 2019 Super Rugby match schedule.

There are also several matches in regional areas with a Round 3 match in Palmerston North (New Zealand) between the Hurricanes and Brumbies, a Round 7 match in Newcastle (Australia) between the Waratahs and Sunwolves, while in Round 18 Invercargill (New Zealand) will host the Highlanders versus Waratahs match.

“During the season the Sunwolves will play two of its matches at the Singapore National Stadium, the Round 1 clash with the Sharks and Round 6 against the Lions. The Chiefs will once again take one of its home matches to Fiji and will play the Crusaders in Suva in Round 16. It will be third such meeting between the teams in Fiji with each having won a match in Suva,” added Marinos.

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The tournament’s 15-team, three-Conference format remains the same as last year. Each team plays 16 regular season conference matches that include eight matches within their own Conference (home and away) and four matches against teams from each of the other Conferences (home or away). Each team also has two byes. This is a total of 120 matches in the regular season that will be followed by a seven-match, eight-team finals series.

Australia Conference : Brumbies, Rebels, Reds, Waratahs, Sunwolves

New Zealand Conference : Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, Hurricanes

South African Conference : Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Stormers, Jaguares

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The Finals series will also remain unchanged with each of the three Conference winners qualifying for and hosting a quarter-final. The team with the most tournament points that is not a Conference winner, regardless of Conference, will host the fourth quarter-final. This Wildcard team will be joined in the quarter-finals by the next best four Wildcard teams based on tournament points and regardless of Conference.

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