25 years of Super Rugby: The professional era blooms in 1996

It’s rather ironic that in this suspended 25th edition of Super Rugby the commercial viability of the tournament continues to be debated.

Way back in 1995, it was similar financial concerns that led to the birth of the first fully professional, 12-team Super Rugby competition.

Indeed, rugby had managed to stay amateur right until the Springboks’ momentous World Cup victory at Ellis Park, but Louis Luyt – then SA Rugby president and chairman of Sanzar (before it became Sanzaar) – had realised before that wonderful day that the winds of change were blowing.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the man who gave the world Fox News, had been planning his own “super league”, where he wanted to sign 300 top rugby players.

Knowing what a circus that might become, Luyt offered News Corp all the broadcasting rights for rugby in the Southern Hemisphere as part of a ten-year, $550 million agreement.

A rebel crisis had been averted.

The Blues were worthy winners of the inaugural edition, romping to the title with a clinical victory in the final against the Sharks.

But that really shouldn’t have surprised observers too much as the Auckland franchise boasted a once-in-a-lifetime generation of players in that vintage, men like Zinzan Brooke, Michael Jones, Jonah Lomu and Sean Fitzpatrick.

South Africa enjoyed a decent campaign, with Northern Transvaal and the Sharks both reaching the semifinals.

Yet the men from Loftus suffered from stage fright as they succumbed to the Blues.

In contrast, the Natalians produced a sensational upset in their away semi, blowing the table-topping Reds away with a 43-25 win, which included a hat-trick for cult hero winger Cabous van der Westhuizen.

They ran into the buffers though the next week.

Final top four log: Reds (41 points – Played 11, Won 9, Lost 2); Blues (41 points – Played 11, Won 8, Lost 3); Northern Transvaal (38 points – Played 11, Won 8, Lost 3); Natal Sharks (33 points – Played 11, Won 6, Lost 5)

Top point scorer: Matthew Burke (Waratahs) 157 – 5 tries, 27 conversions, 26 penalties

Top SA point scorer: Jannie Kruger (Northern Transvaal) 139 – 1 try, 16 conversions, 32 penalties, 3 drop goals

Top try scorer: James Small (Sharks) 13

How the SA campaign unfolded…

Northern Transvaal (Coached by John Williams)

John Williams.
Photo Credit: © Duif du Toit/Gallo Images

Propelled by a typical power game, where the forwards laid a foundation for two prolific kicking flyhalves in Jannie Kruger and Lance Sherrell, Northern Transvaal surprised various observers with a season that promised much.

They made an early statement by outplaying the Sharks 30-8 at Loftus and beat the Highlanders 59-29 in a midweek fixture (those were the days!), a game which was a triumph for Kruger, who contributed a massive 39 points on his own.

Their 11-48 capitulation in the last four against the Blues was weird as they’d gone into the game on the back of a morale-boosting 35-7 win over Western Province at Newlands.

Natal Sharks (Coached by Ian McIntosh)

James Small had an outstanding campaign for the Sharks.

South Africa’s so-called Team of the 1990s showcased exactly why they had been held in such high regard.

Results were inconsistent, as evidenced by five round-robin defeats, though it must be said that two of those were by just one point.

Spurred on by brilliant talents such as Andre Joubert, Henry Honiball, James Small, Gary Teichmann and Mark Andrews, the Sharks’ trusty “Ian Mac” game-plan of prioritising recycling possession led to them being free scorers – their 389 points was second only to the Blues.

Importantly, they developed their habit of performing well overseas early, evidenced by 34-6 and 43-27 victories over the Waratahs and Hurricanes respectively.

And then came that magnificent night in Brisbane…

Transvaal (Coached by Kitch Christie, then Ray Mordt)

Francois Pienaar experienced a distinct low from the high of the previous year’s World Cup win.

The men from Ellis Park had a season to forget.

In fact, they could reasonably have claimed to have been dealt a poor hand.

They had to start their campaign with four away fixtures, a shock to the system (for that time) that unsurprisingly led to four opening defeats.

It didn’t help that inspirational coach Kitch Christie, who bravely decided to juggle this gig with his Springbok duties, had to resign from both positions as the lymphatic cancer that had dogged him for close to 20 years started to wreak havoc on his health.

As a result, his faithful lieutenant, Ray Mordt, took over and results improved slightly – the highlight being a sterling 34-22 win over the Blues at home.

Western Province (Coached by Alan Zondagh)

Alan Zondagh.
Photo Credit: © Gallo Images

As arguably South African rugby’s biggest aristocracy, Province’s Super Rugby debut was nothing less than traumatic.

They were underpowered in various areas and let themselves down with some disturbingly leaky defending.

Had it not been for the boot of the Boks’ World Cup final hero Joel Stransky, they might’ve ended the season in even worse shape.

Second-from-bottom was hardly a return that was expected and it would prove to be even more costly later in the year, when their failure to reach the semifinals of the Currie Cup meant they were relegated from Super Rugby in 1997.

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