SANZAAR has announced the tournament dates for the 2019 Super Rugby competition that will kick-off on Friday February 15 when the Chiefs host the Highlanders in New Zealand. The Final will take place on Saturday July 6.

As there will be no June inbound international matches in 2019 – due to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan later in the year – Super Rugby will run uninterrupted for 21 weeks.

Plus, there will be a uniform start to the tournament in Round 1 with a full round of seven matches to kick-off Super Rugby.

Apart from the Chiefs and Highlanders clash other week 1 highlights include the NSW Waratahs hosting the star-studded Hurricanes in Sydney on Saturday February 16, a big South African derby with the Stormers taking on the Bulls in Cape Town and the Jaguares welcoming the Lions to Argentina.

Click HERE for the full 2019 Super Rugby match schedule.

The tournament’s 15-team, three-Conference format remains the same.

Each team plays 16 regular season conference matches that include eight matches within their own Conference (home and away) and four matches against teams from each of the other Conferences (home or away). Each team also has two byes.

This is a total of 120 matches in the regular season that will be followed by a seven-match, eight-team finals series. The conferences remain:

Australia Conference: Brumbies, Rebels, Reds, Waratahs, Sunwolves

New Zealand Conference: Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders, Hurricanes

South African Conference: Bulls, Lions, Sharks, Stormers, Jaguares

The Finals series will also remain unchanged with each of the three Conference winners qualifying for and hosting a quarter-final.

The team with the most tournament points that is not a Conference winner, regardless of Conference, will host the fourth quarter-final.

This Wildcard team will be joined in the quarter-finals by the next best four Wildcard teams based on tournament points and regardless of Conference.

The released schedule confirms all tournament match dates and kick-off times. However, the match venues will be announced later in the year once teams have determined where their home matches will be allocated.