DHL Stormers guide to SupeRugby 2016

With three new teams and a four-conference system in place, there are a few changes this season with each team playing 15 matches in the regular season before the knock-out phase of the tournament.

There will be two South African conferences comprising of four teams each, with the addition of the Southern Kings, the Sunwolves from Japan and the Jaguares from Argentina, and an Australian and New Zealand conference with five teams each.

The DHL Stormers are in a conference with the Vodacom Bulls, Free State Cheetahs and the Sunwolves from Japan, and they will play all three of these sides both at home at DHL Newlands and away.

They will also play each team in the other South African conference once during the regular season – Cell C Sharks (home), Southern Kings (home), Jaguares (away) and Emirates Lions (away).

The balance of their matches before the play-off stages will be against the Australian teams with the Reds, Brumbies and Waratahs visiting DHL Newlands and the Melbourne Rebels and Western Force hosting them on tour. This will switch around in 2017, when the DHL Stormers will face all of the teams in the New Zealand conference.

This means that eight of the DHL Stormers’ games in the regular season will be played on home turf at DHL Newlands, whilst the overseas tour will be much shorter than in recent years.

Each team will also have two bye weeks in the competition, with the DHL Stormers taking a break in Round Six after their trip to Argentina to play the Jaguares and Round 11 ahead of their trip to Singapore to face the Sunwolves.

The top team from each conference will host a quarterfinal, and will be joined by the next best team from the South African group along with the next three best teams from the Australasian group.

Click here to take a look at all of the fixtures for the 2016 Vodacom SupeRugby season.

Take a look at the video below for a full explanation: