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2023 Super Rugby Pacific season

The 2023 Super Rugby Pacific Season (known as Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific in Australia, Shop N Save Super Rugby Pacific in Fiji and DHL Super Rugby Pacific in New Zealand) is the 28th season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and a combined team from Samoa, Tonga and other Pacific Island nations. The defending champions are the Crusaders, who won their 11th title in 2022.[1]

The tournament will follow a similar schedule to the 2022 season, with 84 matches played in a round-robin, followed by finals in a knockout format.[2] The season is expected to run from Friday 24 February 2023, culminating in a final to be played on Saturday 24 June, before the start of the 2023 mid-year international window.[2]

The Fijian Drua, who were based in Australia for the 2022 season due to complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, opened their permanent home base in Nadi, Fiji ahead of the 2023 season.[3] In 2023, the team will play its home games at Churchill Park in Lautoka and HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.[4] Moana Pasifika will continue to be based in Auckland, New Zealand, but will play a match at Apia Park in Samoa in 2023.[5] The Waratahs will also have a new home venue in 2023, moving to the newly built Allianz Stadium.[6]

Competition format

Similarly to the 2022 season, the 12 participating teams will each play 14 regular season games: 7 home games and 7 away games, although the 2023 season will once again feature a Super Round, during which all teams will play their round 2 games at AAMI Park in Melbourne. All six fixtures of Round 2 will be held at the stadium between Friday 3 March and Sunday 5 March.[7] The 14 games include 11 round-robin games against the other participating teams and 3 additional "rivalry" games (derby matches), in which they play another team for the second time in a home-and-away format. Each team will also have one bye week.[8]

The teams will be ranked 1 to 12 on one competition table based on competition points earned during the regular season. The top eight teams at the conclusion of the regular season will qualify for the play-offs. In the quarter-finals, the first-ranked team plays the eighth-ranked team, the second-ranked team plays the seventh-ranked, the third-ranked plays the sixth-ranked and the fourth-ranked team plays the fifth-ranked. The quarter-final winners progress to the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-finals advance to the final. The higher ranked team will host each play-off match.[8]

Standings

The current standings for the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season are:

Source: super.rugby
(C) Champions; (RU) Runners-up

Round-by-round

The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets:

Matches

The fixtures for the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific competition were released on 25 September 2022.[9]

First match(es) will be played: 24 February 2023. Source: Super Rugby
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Finals

The finals fixtures are as follows:

Quarterfinals




Semifinals


Final

Statistics

As of 24 June 2023

Leading point scorers

Source: Points

Leading try scorers

Source: Tries

Discipline

Players

Squads

The following squads have been named. Players listed in italics denote non-original squad members:

Referees

The following referees were selected to officiate the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season:[28][29][30][31]

References

  1. ^ "Crusaders defeat Blues to claim Super Rugby Pacific championship". RNZ. 18 June 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Super Rugby Pacific 2023 Match Schedule". Super Rugby. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  3. ^ "World Rugby Chairman opens home of Drua" (Press release). Fijian Drua. 11 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Shop N Save Supermarket snaps up Super Rugby Pacific naming rights" (Press release). Fijian Drua. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  5. ^ "DHL Super Rugby Pacific 2023 draw announced". All Blacks. 25 September 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  6. ^ "Allianz Stadium Officially Open". www.allianzstadium.com.au. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Super Round Melbourne returns in 2023". SANZAAR (Press release). 19 September 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "Tournament format". SANZAAR. 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Super Rugby Pacific 2023 match schedule". SANZAAR. 25 September 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Annual Report 2023" (PDF). The Eden Park Trust. 2023. p. 32. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  11. ^ "Chiefs edge Reds 29-20 in nailbiting Super Rugby Pacific quarterfinal in Hamilton". Stuff New Zealand. 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Super Rugby: QF - Brumbies d Hurricanes". AUStadiums. 10 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Clinical Crusaders embarrass Blues to advance to yet another Super Rugby final". Stuff New Zealand. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Chiefs charge home late to beat Brumbies 19-6 in epic Super Rugby Pacific semifinal". Stuff New Zealand. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  15. ^ "Razor's Crusaders are champions again after beating the Chiefs in Super Rugby Pacific final". Stuff New Zealand. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  16. ^ "2023 Squad announced" (Press release). Blues. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  17. ^ "ACT Brumbies confirm 2023 Super Rugby Pacific squad" (Press release). Brumbies. 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  18. ^ "Gallagher Chiefs squad announced for 2023" (Press release). Chiefs. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  19. ^ "2023 Squad announced" (Press release). Crusaders. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  20. ^ "Fijian Drua unveil 2023 squad and first ever development group" (Press release). Fijian Drua. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  21. ^ "Western Force 2023 Harvey Norman Super Rugby Pacific squad revealed" (Press release). Western Force. 20 November 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Highlanders 2023 Squad Announcement" (Press release). Highlanders. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Hurricanes 2023 squad announced" (Press release). Hurricanes. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Moana Pasifika name 2023 DHL Super Rugby Pacific Squad". Moana Pasifika (Press release). 22 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  25. ^ "Melbourne Rebels Announce 2023 Super Rugby Pacific Squad" (Press release). Melbourne Rebels. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  26. ^ "Queensland Reds announce 2023 Super Rugby Pacific Squad" (Press release). Queensland Reds. 30 November 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  27. ^ "NSW Waratahs 2023 Super Rugby Pacific squad revealed" (Press release). NSW Waratahs. 6 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  28. ^ "Round One: Team Lists and Preview". SANZAAR. 24 February 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  29. ^ "Round two: team lists and preview". SANZAAR. 3 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  30. ^ "Round three: Team lists and preview". SANZAAR. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Kids Round: Team lists and preview". SANZAAR. 16 March 2023. Retrieved 16 March 2023.

External links