FORCE LAUNCH NEW SEASON

FORCE LAUNCH NEW SEASON
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 9:48am
RugbyWA


Richard Vaughan (Emirates), Ross Graham (ET Mining) and Nathan Sharpe
Emirates Western Force players and coaching staff mingled with club partners, media representatives and VIP’s on Tuesday evening at the 2011 official season launch.

Several hundred guests were in attendance at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle and were entertained with some special insights from head coach Richard Graham, established stars David Pocock and James O’Connor as well as new recruit Willie Ripia.

There were plenty of approving nods as the new Super Rugby format was explained in detail, a change that will see more rugby than ever played in Perth with eight blockbuster matches this season.

The Emirates Western Force will play their first home match on Saturday, 5 March but kick start the new campaign in Brisbane on Sunday (20 Feb).

Visit our Facebook page to see the pics from the night: www.facebook.com/westernforce

HOW SUPER RUGBY WILL WORK FROM 2011

The new Super Rugby competition will boast 15 teams with the introduction of the Melbourne Rebels.

There will be a new nationally-based conference system made up of the five Australian, five New Zealand and five South African teams.

AUSTRALIA
NEW ZEALAND
SOUTH AFRICA
EMIRATES WESTERN FORCE
BLUES
BULLS
BRUMBIES
CHEIFS
CHEETAHS
REBELS
CRUSADERS
LIONS
REDS
HIGHLANDERS
SHARKS
WARATAHS
HURRICANES
STORMERS

Each of the “local” rivals will face each other twice, once at home and once away, increasing the number of local derbies to 20 in each country. That’s 14 more in Australia and 10 more in New Zealand and South Africa than last season.

Teams will also play four teams from each of the other two conferences either at home or away increasing the number of overall matches in a season from 94 to 125 with each team playing 16 games in the regular season compared to 13 games last season.

The finals format will also change with each conference leader guaranteed a home final, ensuring one finals game in each country every year. The other three finals positions will be taken by the sides with the most number of competition points – irrespective of the Conference in which they are based.

This means the introduction of a three-week finals series involving six teams, opposed to the previous two-week playoff system with four teams, increasing the length of the season and providing more opportunities for fans to experience the thrill of Super Rugby.

In its 16th year Super Rugby will provide players with more opportunities to show off their skills at home against the world’s best.

No matter which way you look at it Super Rugby in 2011 is going to be huge, a new team, new rivalries, more games and more finals.

SUPER RUGBY AT A GLANCE
- An increase in matches from 94 to 125 (an increase of 33%);
- A 50% increase in the length of the season in non-World Cup years – from 16 weeks to 24 weeks;
- In World Cup years the season will increase by 31% from 16 weeks to 21 weeks;
- 40 Super Rugby regular season matches in each country every season opposed to 26 in Australia and 32 or 33 in South Africa and New Zealand;
- 20 regular season local derbies in each country compared to the previous 6 in Australia, 10 in South Africa and 10 in New Zealand;
- Half of all regular season matches will be local derbies; and
- Each team will play 12 of its 16 regular-season games within its own country – with only four matches overseas.

HOW THE FINALS WORK
- The top team in each Conference will advance to the finals in positions 1, 2 or 3, depending on the number of points they accrue during the regular season;
- The other three spots will be filled by the teams with the highest number of competition points outside of the Conference winners;
- The teams qualifying in 4th, 5th and 6th can come from any Conference – they could all come from one Conference;
- The top two teams to qualify will earn a week off while the 3rd placed team, as a Conference winner, will host the 6th placed team in a sudden death Qualifier;
- The 4th placed team will host the 5th placed team in another sudden death Qualifier
- The two winners will play the top two sides in Semis the following week;
- The first semi will be played between the top ranked team and the lowest ranked winner from the first week of finals;
- The second semi will be played between the second ranked team and the highest ranked winner from the first week of finals; and
- The winners of the two Semis will meet in the final.


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