Super Rugby Aotearoa
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 Official Logo | |
| Sport | Rugby Union |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2020 |
| First season | 2020 |
| Ceased | 2021 |
| Owner | SANZAAR |
| CEO | Greg Peters |
| Divisions | New Zealand |
| No. of teams | 5 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Last champion | Crusaders (2nd title) (2021) |
| Most titles | Crusaders (2 titles) |
| Broadcasters | Digicel ESPN ESPN International Nine Network RugbyPass Sky Sport Stan Sport SuperSport Telefónica Wowow |
| Sponsor | 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]
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 | All other countries |
| 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.
