Exclusive: New Zealand Super Rugby plans revealed for 2021, 2022

New Zealand Rugby is set to confirm that Super Rugby Aotearoa will return in 2021, and its board decided not to include a sixth team next year.

Despite New Zealand’s ongoing showdown with Rugby Australia over the future of Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship schedule, it has been proposed that crossover matches with the five Australian franchises take place at the end of Super Rugby Aotearoa.

Next year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa season will involve all five New Zealand teams playing each other twice, as they did this year, with the addition of a unique final.

If Covid-19 travel restrictions allow, the five New Zealand teams will potentially play two games, home and away, against each Australian team, although this has yet to be agreed with Rugby Australia.

Beginning in 2022, New Zealand Rugby is committed to expanding Super Rugby Aotearoa beyond the five existing Kiwi franchises by a “minimum” of three teams.

Of the eight expressions of interest that NZR received for Super Rugby Aotearoa, four have been deemed worthy of ongoing negotiations.

At least one of those teams will be a Pasifika side, and the national body will continue to participate in separate offerings from Moana Pasifika and Kanaloa Hawaii.

The NZ Rugby board chose not to include a Pasifika team next year due to concerns about their competitiveness in a compressed time frame and apparent insufficient corporate support to demonstrate a self-sustaining future that left the national body at risk.

Other potential teams from 2022 include Fiji Drua, who won the Australian national competition in 2018 and are working to bring their test players home from Europe. This team would be based in Suva and provide a direct path to the national team.

NZ Rugby is also believed to have struck a deal with Andrew Forrest’s Global Rapid Rugby for the Western Force to potentially join the New Zealand competition from 2022.

The final potential inclusion is the Lions of South China, the offering previously disclosed by the Herald. The team would be based in the Bay of Plenty, but would also play games in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Rugby Australia was very offended by New Zealand Rugby’s expressions of interest about Super Rugby next year and therefore did not apply to join the competition.

NZR’s original pitch was for an eight to 10 team competition next year, leaving room for two to three Australian teams.

However, negotiations between the two fractured parties are expected to continue before the crossover matches in 2021 and the 2022 format are confirmed.

NZ Rugby plans to make a decision by November 30 on which teams will join Super Rugby Aotearoa from 2022.