Super Rugby has crowned a champion in almost every season since 1996, and this page is the complete results record. Below you will find every final and winner from the first Super 12 season through to the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific decider, the all-time roll of honour by team and by country, the sides that keep losing finals, and a clear timeline of how the competition changed shape along the way. All figures have been checked against official season records.
Key Facts
- Competition: Super Rugby (Super 12 1996–2005, Super 14 2006–2010, Super Rugby 2011–, Super Rugby Pacific 2022–)
- First champion: Auckland Blues (1996)
- Most titles: Crusaders – 13
- Most successful country: New Zealand – 22 titles
- Reigning champion: Hurricanes (2026, beat the Chiefs 60–5)
- 2025 champion: Crusaders (beat the Chiefs 16–12)
- Teams in 2026: 11
- No champion crowned: 2020 and 2021 (COVID-19 disruption)
Every Super Rugby champion since 1996
The competition has gone by several names — Super 12, Super 14, Super Rugby and, since 2022, Super Rugby Pacific — but the finals record runs as one continuous story. Two seasons stand apart: in 2020 the season was abandoned part-way through because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 the countries ran separate regional tournaments, so no single Super Rugby champion was declared in either year.
The table below lists the champion, the runner-up and the final score for every completed season. For a deeper look at the two most recent deciders, see our reports on the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season and the 2025 Super Rugby final.
Champions by Season
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Auckland Blues | Sharks | 45–21 |
| 1997 | Auckland Blues | Brumbies | 23–7 |
| 1998 | Crusaders | Blues | 20–13 |
| 1999 | Crusaders | Highlanders | 24–19 |
| 2000 | Crusaders | Brumbies | 20–19 |
| 2001 | Brumbies | Sharks | 36–6 |
| 2002 | Crusaders | Brumbies | 31–13 |
| 2003 | Blues | Crusaders | 21–17 |
| 2004 | Brumbies | Crusaders | 47–38 |
| 2005 | Crusaders | Waratahs | 35–25 |
| 2006 | Crusaders | Hurricanes | 19–12 |
| 2007 | Bulls | Sharks | 20–19 |
| 2008 | Crusaders | Waratahs | 20–12 |
| 2009 | Bulls | Chiefs | 61–17 |
| 2010 | Bulls | Stormers | 25–17 |
| 2011 | Reds | Crusaders | 18–13 |
| 2012 | Chiefs | Sharks | 37–6 |
| 2013 | Chiefs | Brumbies | 27–22 |
| 2014 | Waratahs | Crusaders | 33–32 |
| 2015 | Highlanders | Hurricanes | 21–14 |
| 2016 | Hurricanes | Lions | 20–3 |
| 2017 | Crusaders | Lions | 25–17 |
| 2018 | Crusaders | Lions | 37–18 |
| 2019 | Crusaders | Jaguares | 19–3 |
| 2020 | No champion – season abandoned (COVID-19) | — | — |
| 2021 | No champion – separate regional competitions | — | — |
| 2022 | Crusaders | Blues | 21–7 |
| 2023 | Crusaders | Chiefs | 25–20 |
| 2024 | Blues | Chiefs | 41–10 |
| 2025 | Crusaders | Chiefs | 16–12 |
| 2026 | Hurricanes | Chiefs | 60–5 |
Titles by team
Nine different franchises have lifted the trophy. The Crusaders tower over the record books, having won more than twice as many titles as any other side. Here is the full roll of honour, from most successful to least:
- Crusaders – 13 titles (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025)
- Blues – 4 titles (1996, 1997, 2003, 2024)
- Bulls – 3 titles (2007, 2009, 2010)
- Brumbies – 2 titles (2001, 2004)
- Chiefs – 2 titles (2012, 2013)
- Hurricanes – 2 titles (2016, 2026)
- Reds – 1 title (2011)
- Waratahs – 1 title (2014)
- Highlanders – 1 title (2015)
The Crusaders, based in Christchurch, built their dynasty on a long production line of All Blacks and a culture of winning tight knockout matches. The Blues were the first great Super Rugby side, taking the opening two titles in 1996 and 1997, then waited 21 years for their fourth crown in 2024. The Hurricanes joined the multiple-title club by winning the 2026 final, a decade after their first success in 2016.
Titles by country
New Zealand franchises have dominated the competition from the start, winning well over half of all titles contested. The breakdown is:
- New Zealand – 22 titles (Crusaders, Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes and Highlanders)
- Australia – 4 titles (Brumbies 2, Reds 1, Waratahs 1)
- South Africa – 3 titles (all Bulls)
Argentina’s Jaguares reached the final in 2019 but lost to the Crusaders, and no Argentine or Japanese side has won the competition. Since South African teams left after 2020 to join the Northern Hemisphere’s United Rugby Championship, every title has stayed in New Zealand. You can read more about the wider game’s origins in our history of the evolution of rugby union.
The nearly men: teams that keep losing finals
Reaching a Super Rugby final is no guarantee of silverware. A handful of sides have become known for falling at the last hurdle:
- The Sharks (Durban) have lost four finals – in 1996, 2001, 2007 and 2012 – without ever winning the title.
- The Lions (Johannesburg) lost three finals in a row, in 2016, 2017 and 2018, all to New Zealand opposition.
- The Chiefs have appeared in four of the last five finals (2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026) but came away as runners-up each time.
The Chiefs’ run of near-misses has been one of the defining stories of recent seasons. For the wider context of the modern competition, our guide to Super Rugby in New Zealand covers the current teams and how it all fits together.
How a Super Rugby champion is decided
Across every era, the title has been settled by a knockout finals series rather than by who finishes top of the regular-season table. In the Super 12 and Super 14 years, the top four sides advanced to the semi-finals, with the leading team hosting the final. As the competition grew, so did the finals bracket: the conference era used a top-six and later top-eight playoff, and Super Rugby Pacific has run quarter-finals, semi-finals and a grand final, with home advantage awarded to the higher-ranked side.
That format has produced some of the tightest deciders in the game. The 2000 final went to the Crusaders by a single point (20–19) over the Brumbies, and the 2014 final was decided 33–32 when the Waratahs edged the Crusaders in Sydney. At the other extreme, the Bulls’ 61–17 rout of the Chiefs in 2009 and the Hurricanes’ 60–5 win over the Chiefs in 2026 rank among the most one-sided finals on record. If you want to understand how teams reach the knockout rounds in the first place, our guide to the Super Rugby table explains the points system behind the standings.
How the competition has changed shape
Super Rugby’s format has been rebuilt several times as teams came and went across the Southern Hemisphere. Understanding those eras helps explain why the results record spans so many different names.
Super 12 (1996–2005)
The competition launched in 1996 with 12 provincial and regional sides from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Every team played each other once in the regular season, and the top four advanced to the semi-finals. The Blues won the first two editions before the Crusaders began the first of their dynasties, taking five titles in eight years.
Super 14 (2006–2010)
In 2006 the competition grew to 14 teams with the addition of the Western Force from Australia and the Cheetahs from South Africa. The round-robin and top-four finals format carried over. This era belonged increasingly to South Africa: the Bulls, led by Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez, won three titles in four years (2007, 2009 and 2010).
Expansion and conferences (2011–2020)
The arrival of the Melbourne Rebels in 2011 pushed the competition to 15 teams and prompted a switch to a conference system, grouping sides by country to create more local derbies. A further expansion in 2016 added the Jaguares (Argentina), the Sunwolves (Japan) and the Southern Kings (South Africa), lifting the total to 18. The unwieldy structure was trimmed back to 15 teams in 2018. The 2020 season was then halted after a handful of rounds by the COVID-19 pandemic, with New Zealand, Australia and South Africa running their own domestic competitions instead.
Super Rugby Pacific (2022–present)
South African teams departed for Europe after 2020, and in 2022 the competition was relaunched as Super Rugby Pacific. Two new sides — Moana Pasifika and the Fijian Drua — joined the five New Zealand and five Australian franchises, bringing a 12-team field and a top-eight finals series. The Melbourne Rebels folded after the 2024 season, reducing the field to 11 teams for 2025 and 2026. The Hurricanes won the 2026 title with a 60–5 demolition of the Chiefs in Wellington, the biggest grand final winning margin in the competition’s history.
Where to follow Super Rugby results
If you want to track a season as it unfolds rather than look back at finals, a few of our other guides break down the running picture. The Super Rugby standings show how the ladder takes shape week to week, while our look back at the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific season details the Blues’ drought-breaking campaign. Live scores, fixtures and full match results are published by the official competition site and by broadcasters such as Sky Sport in New Zealand.
Sources
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who has won the most Super Rugby titles?
The Crusaders are the most successful team with 13 titles, won between 1998 and 2025. That is more than three times the tally of the next-best side, the Blues, who have four.
Who won the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific title?
The Hurricanes won the 2026 title, beating the Chiefs 60–5 in the grand final in Wellington. It was the Hurricanes’ second championship, following their first in 2016, and the largest winning margin in a Super Rugby final.
Why was there no champion in 2020 and 2021?
The 2020 season was abandoned part-way through because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2021 the countries ran separate regional tournaments rather than a single competition. As a result, no overall Super Rugby champion was crowned in either year.
Which country has produced the most Super Rugby champions?
New Zealand franchises have won 22 of the titles contested, far ahead of Australia with four and South Africa with three. Since 2022, every title has been won by a New Zealand team.
Has any team lost a Super Rugby final without ever winning?
Yes. The Sharks have lost four finals (1996, 2001, 2007 and 2012) without winning, and the Lions lost three in a row from 2016 to 2018. Both remain without a Super Rugby title.