1998 Super 12 season

1998 Super 12
Countries  Australia
 South Africa
 New Zealand
Tournament format(s) Round-robin and knockout
Champions Canterbury Crusaders (1st title)
Matches played 69
Top point scorer(s) Andrew Mehrtens (206)
(Canterbury Crusaders)
Top try scorer(s) Joeli Vidiri (10)
(Auckland Blues)
1997 (Previous) (Next) 1999

The 1998 Super 12 season was the third season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 1998, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semi finals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semi final qualified for the final, which was contested by the Auckland Blues and the Canterbury Crusaders at Eden Park, Auckland. The Canterbury Crusaders won 20 – 13 to win their first Super 12 title.

Contents

Teams

The 1998 Super 12 competition consisted of 12 teams, four from South Africa, three from Australia and five from New Zealand.
ACT Brumbies (Australia)
Auckland Blues (New Zealand)
Canterbury Crusaders (New Zealand)
Coastal Sharks (South Africa)
Golden Cats (South Africa)
Northern Bulls (South Africa)
Otago Highlanders (New Zealand)
Queensland Reds (Australia)
Waikato Chiefs (New Zealand)
Waratahs (Australia)
Wellington Hurricanes (New Zealand)
Western Stormers (South Africa)

Table

Key to colours
     Top four teams advance to playoffs.
Team Pld W D L PF PA PD BP Pts
1 Auckland Blues 11 9 0 2 388 296 +92 7 43
2 Canterbury Crusaders 11 8 0 3 340 260 +80 9 41
3 Coastal Sharks 11 7 0 4 329 263 +66 8 36
4 Otago Highlanders 11 7 0 4 343 279 +64 6 34
5 Queensland Reds 11 6 1 4 273 229 +44 5 31
6 NSW Waratahs 11 6 1 4 306 276 +30 4 30
7 Waikato Chiefs 11 6 0 5 279 291 −12 5 29
8 Wellington Hurricanes 11 5 0 6 313 342 −29 6 26
9 Western Stormers 11 3 0 8 248 364 −166 6 18
10 ACT Brumbies 11 3 0 8 228 308 −80 5 17
11 |Northern Bulls 11 3 0 8 249 306 −57 4 16
12 Golden Cats 11 2 0 9 266 346 −80 7 15


Results

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Finals

Semi finals

22 May 1998
Auckland Blues 37 – 31 Otago Highlanders Eden Park, Auckland
Tries: Adrian Cashmore (2), Joeli Vidiri, Lee Stensness
Con: Adrian Cashmore (4)
Pen: Adrian Cashmore (3)
Tries: Jeff Wilson, Taine Randell, Isitolo Maka
Cons: Simon Culhane, Tony Brown
Pens: Simon Culhane (3), Tony Brown
23 May 1998
Canterbury Crusaders 36 – 32 Coastal Sharks Lancaster Park, Christchurch
Tries: Norm Berryman (2), Daryl Lilley, Daryl Gibson
Cons: Andrew Mehrtens (2)
Pens: Andrew Mehrtens (4)
Tries: Ollie le Roux (2), Shaun Payne, Stefan Terblanche, Kevin Putt
Cons: André Joubert (2)
Pens: André Joubert

Grand final

30 May 1998
Auckland Blues 13 – 20 Canterbury Crusaders Eden Park, Auckland
Tries: James Christian
Con: Adrian Cashmore
Pen: Adrian Cashmore
Drop: Adrian Cashmore
Tries: James Kerr, Norm Maxwell
Con: Andrew Mehrtens (2)
Pen: Andrew Mehrtens (2)

Leading try-scorers

Top 3 try scorers
Pos Name Tries Team
1 Jeff Wilson 10 Otago Highlanders
1 Joeli Vidiri 10 Auckland Blues
1 Stefan Terblanche 10 Coastal Sharks

Leading point-scorers

Top 3 points scorers
Pos Name Tries Team
1 Andrew Mehrtens 206 Canterbury Crusaders
2 Adrian Cashmore 180 Auckland Blues
3 Jon Preston 112 Wellington Hurricanes