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HSBC Waratahs

Congratulations to the NSW Waratahs for their 2010 season.

The 2011 Super Rugby season is changing and with this new format (outlined below) there will be 6 games played at the Sydney Football Stadium and we are now taking expressions of Interest for the 2011 season.

Click here to register your expression of interest

Establishment of 3 conferences of 5 teams each;

Australian Conference	New Zealand Conference	South African Conference
Brumbies	Blues (Auckland)	Bulls
HSBC Waratahs	Chiefs (Waikato)	Cheetahs
Melbourne	Crusaders (Canterbury)	Lions
Queensland Reds	Highlanders (Otago)	Sharks
Western Force	Hurricanes (Wellington)	Stormers

Each team plays;

16 match regular season (eight home and eight away);
Four other teams in its conference twice both home and away (eight matches);
- once against four out of five of the other teams from each of the other conferences – with four of these matches home and four away (eight matches);
The conference and cross conference matches will be scheduled across the regular season
The competition will involve;
- 120 regular season matches and five playoff matches for a total of 125 matches;
- Start and end dates and competition length in a Standard Year (2012, 2013, 2014) – start the 4th weekend of February with the final played on the first Saturday in August. A total competition length of 24 weeks; In Rugby World Cup Years (2011 and 2015) – start in the 2nd weekend of February with the final played on the second Saturday in July. A total competition length of 21 weeks;
- Number of Byes in a standard year – In Rugby World Cup Year – two byes (note there are no IRB scheduled June Inbound tests in a Rugby World Cup year)
- The Finals Series will be contested over three weeks with six teams qualifying as follows:
- Conference Winners – the three winners of each conference will qualify in spots 1, 2 and 3;
- Wildcard Teams - the three teams with the highest number of competition points outside of the conference winners will qualify as wildcard teams in spots 4, 5 and 6;
- The format for the three weeks of Finals will be as follows:

Week	Match	Home Team	Away Team
1	A Elimination	Rank 4	Rank 5
	B Elimination	Rank 3	Rank 6
2	C Semi Final	Rank 2	Winner of match A or B with highest play off ranking
2	D Semi Final	Rank 1	Other winner from match A or B
3	Final	Winner of match C or D with highest playoff ranking	Other winner from match C or D