New Zealand’s Auckland Blues will host last year’s winners the Canterbury Crusaders in the opening Super 14 match when the 2007 competition begins in February, organisers SANZAR said on Friday.
The competition will start a week earlier next year to allow for the Rugby World Cup in France.
The Blues will play the Crusaders at Eden Park on February 2. The Auckland side has contested the first match for the past two years.
New Zealand and South Africa both have five sides in the competition, while Australia has four.
The identity of South Africa’s fifth team has yet to be confirmed after South African Rugby reviewed an earlier plan to relegate the lowest-placed franchise.
New Zealand sides have won nine of the 11 Super 12 or Super 14 competitions, with six taken by the Canterbury Crusaders and three by the Blues. Australia’s Canberra-based Brumbies is the only other side to have won a title on two occasions.
Other opening round fixtures have the Perth-based Western Force at home to New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders, the Waikato Chiefs playing Australia’s Brumbies in Hamilton, and the Queensland Reds at home in Brisbane to the Wellington Hurricanes.
South African side the Cheetahs host the Stormers in Bloemfontein, while the Sharks play the Bulls in Durban. The fifth South African side will be at home to Australia’s Waratahs.
The semifinals of the Super 14 will be held on May 11-12 with the final a week later on May 19.
On Wednesday, Sanzar said the 2007 Tri-Nations series between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa would be reduced to a six-Test competition to give the teams extra time to prepare for the World Cup in France, which kicks off on September 7. – Reuters