Super Rugby Fixtures: How the Draw Works and Where to Follow Every Match

If you want to follow Super Rugby Pacific, the first thing to understand is how the fixture list is put together. The schedule is not random: it follows a set structure that decides who each team plays, how many times, and when they get a weekend off. This guide explains how the draw works, what changed for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, which venues host matches, and where to find official kick-off times and watch every game from New Zealand.

How the Super Rugby Pacific fixture list is built

Super Rugby Pacific is a cross-border club competition featuring teams from New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific. The fixture list (the official schedule of matches, also called the “draw”) is released by the competition several months before kick-off so clubs, broadcasters and fans can plan ahead.

The core of every season is a regular season played as a partial round-robin. “Round-robin” means teams are scheduled to meet each other, but because the competition is large, not everyone plays everyone twice. Instead, each side plays a set number of matches split between home games and away games, with a small number of “byes” (weekends with no match). After the regular season, the leading teams move into a knockout finals series that ends with the Grand Final.

Rivals, home-and-away and byes

A key quirk of the draw is that a handful of “rival” opponents are scheduled twice in a season while the rest are played only once. This is how classic match-ups keep recurring year after year. To understand how the teams are grouped and why these rivalries matter, it helps to know how Super Rugby is structured in New Zealand, including the five New Zealand franchises and their long histories.

The draw also balances travel. New Zealand and Australian teams cross the Tasman several times a season, while the Fijian side hosts matches in the Pacific. Fixtures are spread across Friday, Saturday and Sunday so that broadcasters can show games in prime-time slots without clashes. Because the competition spans several timezones, the person who builds the draw has to juggle player welfare, stadium availability, flight schedules and television windows all at once — which is why the list is locked in months ahead and only changes for exceptional reasons such as weather or venue issues.

Each win is worth four competition points, a draw two, and a loss none. Teams can also pick up bonus points — one for losing by seven points or fewer, and one for scoring at least three more tries than their opponent. Those bonus points often decide who finishes inside the top six, so a single fixture late in the season can swing a team’s whole finals campaign.

The Super Round

One fixed feature of the calendar is the Super Round, a single weekend on which every team plays at one host city. In 2026 the Super Round returned to Christchurch, giving fans a full programme of matches in one place over a weekend. It is one of the easiest dates to plan around because the whole competition is in action together.

The teams and their home venues

Knowing the home grounds makes the fixture list much easier to read, because away trips and travel weeks become obvious once you know where each club is based. The table below lists the clubs for the 2027 season and their main home venues. For a fuller picture of the competition’s make-up, including past champions and format history, see our guide to the Super Rugby Pacific 2026 season.

The line-up has changed in recent seasons. The Melbourne Rebels folded after 2024, and Auckland-based Moana Pasifika withdrew after the 2026 season because of financial and operational problems, with New Zealand Rugby leaving open a possible return in 2028. That took the competition from 11 teams in 2026 down to 10 teams from 2027.

The 2026 season fixtures in review

The 2026 regular season ran from 13 February to the finals in June. Eleven teams each played 14 matches — seven home and seven away, with two byes — before the top six advanced to the finals. The qualifying finals paired first against sixth, second against fifth and third against fourth, with the winners and the highest-ranked losing team moving into the semi-finals.

The Hurricanes topped the ladder and went on to win the title, beating the Chiefs 60-5 at Wellington Regional Stadium on 20 June 2026. It was the Hurricanes’ second Super Rugby crown and the biggest winning margin in a Grand Final, built on a 29-0 half-time lead. You can check how every side finished on the final 2026 Super Rugby table, and read how the decider itself is structured in our explainer on the Super Rugby final.

The 2026 draw also arrived alongside several law tweaks designed to cut stoppages, such as free kicks rather than scrums for accidental offside and limits on players joining a ruck after “use it” is called. These do not change the fixture list, but they changed the rhythm of the matches on it.

What is changing for the 2027 fixtures

The 2027 season brings the biggest schedule change in years. With the field reduced to 10 teams, the regular season expands rather than shrinks: each side plays 16 matches across a 17-round schedule, two more games than in 2026, and now has only one bye instead of two. The season runs from 12 February 2027 to the Grand Final on 26 June 2027.

The finals format is also new. The top six still qualify, but the top two teams now earn a bye straight into the semi-finals, while third hosts sixth and fourth hosts fifth in sudden-death elimination finals. The winners of those two matches travel to face the top two seeds in the semis, and the semi-final winners meet in the Grand Final. The draw, released in September 2026, notably includes a record number of Sunday fixtures and a full round over Easter.

Points are unchanged: four for a win, two for a draw, and bonus points for losing by seven or fewer or for scoring at least three more tries than the opponent. If you want to understand how those points shape the run to the finals, our guide to the Super Rugby standings explains the table and tie-breakers in plain terms.

For fans, the practical effect of the longer 2027 schedule is simple: more weekends of rugby, fewer gaps between your team’s matches, and a draw that is easier to follow because almost every round features the whole competition. The single bye also means your side sits out only once, so there is less chance of forgetting when they are next in action.

Where to find official fixtures and kick-off times

Fixture lists appear in many places, but only a few are authoritative. For confirmed dates, venues and kick-off times, use these in order:

• The official competition website publishes the full draw, live scores and any schedule changes.
• Each club’s own site lists that team’s home and away fixtures, often with ticket links, and clubs usually announce their draw on the same day it is released.
• Your broadcaster’s schedule confirms the exact start time in your timezone, which can differ from the listed local time for trans-Tasman games.

Always double-check the time in New Zealand time, because Australian venues run on different timezones and daylight-saving dates do not always line up. A fixture listed as a 7:35pm local kick-off in Perth, for example, is much later in the evening in New Zealand, since Perth is several hours behind. Saving the fixture to a phone calendar as soon as the draw lands — with the time already converted — is the simplest way to avoid missing a kick-off.

It also pays to check a day or two beforehand. Kick-off times and even venues can shift after the initial release, most often to accommodate a free-to-air broadcast slot, a double-header or ground maintenance. The official competition and club pages are updated when that happens, whereas third-party listings and old social-media posts frequently are not.

How to watch in New Zealand

New Zealand Rugby signed a broadcast deal that keeps Sky as the home of Super Rugby Pacific from 2026 through 2030. In practice that means:

• Sky Sport shows live coverage of every match across the season.
• Sky Open, Sky’s free-to-air channel, carries one Friday-night match each week at no cost, and is also available through the ThreeNow app.
• Sky Sport Now is the streaming option for watching on phones, tablets, computers and smart TVs without a satellite subscription.

Because kick-off times are set partly around these broadcast windows, the Friday free-to-air slot and the weekend prime-time matches are the most reliable to plan an evening around.

Buying tickets to matches

Tickets for home matches are sold through each club and the stadium’s official ticketing agent, so the safest route is to start from the club’s own website and follow its ticket link. Prices vary by fixture, with marquee derbies and finals costing more than early-season games. Members and season-ticket holders usually get first access, and big matches at venues such as Eden Park can sell out well in advance, so buying early is wise for high-demand fixtures.

If you are travelling to an away game, factor in that Australian and Fijian venues have their own ticketing systems and entry rules. Buy only from the official club or stadium seller to avoid resale mark-ups and invalid tickets.

Common mistakes when following the fixtures

• Reading local time as New Zealand time. Trans-Tasman fixtures are listed in the host city’s timezone; convert before you set a reminder.
• Assuming the line-up is fixed. Teams have left in recent seasons, so an old fixture list may name sides that no longer compete.
• Relying on unofficial sites. Schedules can shift for weather or broadcast reasons; confirm against the official competition or club page.
• Forgetting byes. Your team does not play every weekend, so check the draw before planning to attend.
• Mixing up the men’s and women’s competitions. The women’s season, Super Rugby Aupiki, has its own separate fixture list and dates.

Who this guide is for

This page suits new fans learning how the draw is structured, supporters planning which matches to attend or stream, and anyone trying to tell the current line-up apart from older schedules still floating around online. If you enjoy the on-field rivalries that the draw keeps bringing back, the trans-Tasman meeting of the Blues vs Chiefs is a good example of a fixture that recurs because of how the schedule is built.

Frequently asked questions

How many games does each Super Rugby Pacific team play?

It depends on the season’s size. In 2026, with 11 teams, each side played 14 regular-season matches (seven home, seven away) with two byes. From 2027, with 10 teams, each side plays 16 matches across a 17-round schedule with a single bye, before the finals series begins.

When does the Super Rugby Pacific season start and finish?

The competition is a summer-to-winter season in the Southern Hemisphere. The 2026 season ran from 13 February to the Grand Final on 20 June 2026. The 2027 season starts on 12 February 2027 and ends with the Grand Final on 26 June 2027.

Which teams play in Super Rugby Pacific now?

From 2027 there are 10 teams: the Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders and Hurricanes from New Zealand; the Brumbies, Force, Reds and Waratahs from Australia; and the Fijian Drua. Moana Pasifika withdrew after the 2026 season, and the Melbourne Rebels folded after 2024.

Where can I watch Super Rugby Pacific fixtures in New Zealand?

Sky is the New Zealand broadcaster through 2030. Every match is shown live on Sky Sport, one Friday-night game each week is free-to-air on Sky Open, and all matches can be streamed on Sky Sport Now without a satellite subscription.

How do the Super Rugby Pacific finals work?

The top six teams on the regular-season ladder qualify. From 2027, the top two earn a bye to the semi-finals, while third hosts sixth and fourth hosts fifth in sudden-death elimination finals. The winners travel to meet the top two seeds in the semi-finals, and the two semi-final winners contest the Grand Final.