2001 Super 12 season

The 2001 Super 12 season was the sixth season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The season ran from February to May 2001, 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 ACT Brumbies and the Coastal Sharks at Bruce Stadium, Canberra. The ACT Brumbies won 36 – 6 to win their first Super 12 title, and became the first Super Rugby champions from outside New Zealand.^[1] This was the first year where a New Zealand team failed to make the playoffs.

Table

Key to colours

Top four teams advance to playoffs.

	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts
1	Brumbies	11	8	0	3	348	204	+144	8	40
2	Sharks	11	8	0	3	322	246	+76	6	38
3	Cats	11	7	0	4	285	244	+41	6	34
4	Reds	11	6	0	5	300	277	+33	8	32
5	Highlanders	11	6	0	5	284	295	−11	5	29
6	Chiefs	11	6	0	5	301	330	−29	4	28
7	Stormers	11	5	0	6	278	285	−7	6	26
8	Waratahs	11	5	0	6	306	302	+4	5	25
9	Hurricanes	11	5	0	6	291	316	−25	5	25
10	Crusaders	11	4	0	7	307	331	−55	7	23
11	Blues	11	4	0	7	243	298	−55	4	20
12	Bulls	11	2	0	9	241	378	−137	3	11

Results

Round 1

	23 February 2001	Coastal Sharks	30 – 17	Northern Bulls	Kings Park Stadium, Durban

	23 February 2001	ACT Brumbies	51 – 16	Canterbury Crusaders	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

	23 February 2001	Otago Highlanders	23 – 8	Auckland Blues	Carisbrook, Dunedin

	24 February 2001	Stormers	24 – 29	Golden Cats	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
					Attendance: 46,544

	24 February 2001	Queensland Reds	27 – 18	Wellington Hurricanes	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
					Attendance: 20,000

	24 February 2001	NSW Waratahs	42 – 23	Waikato Chiefs	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney

Round 2

	2 March 2001	Auckland Blues	17 – 12	Canterbury Crusaders	Eden Park, Auckland
				Pen: Aaron Mauger, Ben Blair(3)	Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Paul Honiss

	3 March 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	26 – 20	Northern Bulls	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
					Attendance: 29,848

	3 March 2001	Waikato Chiefs	32 – 29	Queensland Reds	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
					Attendance: 12,000

	3 March 2001	Coastal Sharks	17 – 16	ACT Brumbies	Kings Park Stadium, Durban
					Attendance: 32,000

	3 March 2001	Golden Cats	56 – 21	Otago Highlanders	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
					Attendance: 26,000

	4 March 2001	NSW Waratahs	35 – 7	Stormers	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
					Attendance: 20,755

Round 3

	9 March 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	15 – 27	Stormers	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
					Attendance: 31,682

	10 March 2001	Canterbury Crusaders	40 – 11	Waikato Chiefs	Jade Stadium, Christchurch
					Attendance: 18,000

	10 March 2001	NSW Waratahs	53 – 7	Northern Bulls	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
					Attendance: 23,019

	10 March 2001	Golden Cats	17 – 19	ACT Brumbies	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
					Attendance: 40,000

	10 March 2001	Coastal Sharks	30 – 29	Otago Highlanders	Kings Park Stadium, Durban
					Attendance: 33,500

	11 March 2001	Auckland Blues	39 – 35	Queensland Reds	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland
					Attendance: 20,000

Round 4

	16 March 2001	Waikato Chiefs	34 – 16	Auckland Blues	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
					Attendance: 14,000

	17 March 2001	ACT Brumbies	39 – 30	Northern Bulls	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
					Attendance: 15,900

	17 March 2001	Golden Cats	28 – 21	NSW Waratahs	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
					Attendance: 32,000

	17 March 2001	Coastal Sharks	39 – 21	Wellington Hurricanes	Kings Park Stadium, Durban
					Attendance: 34,090

	18 March 2001	Otago Highlanders	24 – 23	Stormers	Carisbrook, Dunedin
					Attendance: 12,000

Round 5

	23 March 2001	Golden Cats	18 – 15	Wellington Hurricanes	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
					Attendance: 10,000

	23 March 2001	Canterbury Crusaders	32 – 26	Queensland Reds	Jade Stadium, Christchurch
					Attendance: 18,500

	24 March 2001	Otago Highlanders	32 – 10	Northern Bulls	Carisbrook, Dunedin
					Attendance: 11,400

	24 March 2001	ACT Brumbies	40 – 25	Stormers	Canberra Stadium, Canberra
					Attendance: 15,534

	24 March 2001	Coastal Sharks	42 – 17	NSW Waratahs	Kings Park Stadium, Durban
					Attendance: 51,344

Round 6

	30 March 2001	Golden Cats	26 – 25	Coastal Sharks	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
					Attendance: 35,000

	30 March 2001	Queensland Reds	15 – 23	ACT Brumbies	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
					Attendance: 17,796

	30 March 2001	Waikato Chiefs	50 – 19	Otago Highlanders	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
					Attendance: 21,476

	31 March 2001	NSW Waratahs	35 – 19	Auckland Blues	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney
					Attendance: 30,893

	31 March 2001	Canterbury Crusaders	29 – 41	Wellington Hurricanes	Jade Stadium, Christchurch
					Attendance: 20,000

Round 7

	6 April 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	34 – 19	ACT Brumbies	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
					Attendance: 34,500

	7 April 2001	Stormers	29 – 27	Queensland Reds	Outeniqua Park, George
					Attendance: 11,000

	7 April 2001	Otago Highlanders	39 – 20	NSW Waratahs	Carisbrook, Dunedin
					Attendance: 11,000

	7 April 2001	Auckland Blues	27 – 41	Coastal Sharks	Eden Park, Auckland
					Attendance: 18,000

	8 April 2001	Northern Bulls	29 – 42	Canterbury Crusaders	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
					Attendance: 16,000

	8 April 2001	Waikato Chiefs	22 – 18	Golden Cats	Tauranga Domain, Tauranga
					Attendance: 9,000

Round 8

	13 April 2001	Auckland Blues	23 – 26	Golden Cats	Okara Park, Whangarei

	13 April 2001	ACT Brumbies	48 – 21	NSW Waratahs	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

	14 April 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	35 – 33	Otago Highlanders	McLean Park, Napier

	14 April 2001	Waikato Chiefs	8 – 24	Coastal Sharks	Owen Delany Park, Taupō

	14 April 2001	Northern Bulls	19 – 29	Queensland Reds	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

	14 April 2001	Stormers	49 – 28	Canterbury Crusaders	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

Round 9

	20 April 2001	Otago Highlanders	16 – 9	ACT Brumbies	Carisbrook, Dunedin

	21 April 2001	Northern Bulls	37 – 49	Waikato Chiefs	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

	21 April 2001	Stormers	12 – 26	Auckland Blues	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

	22 April 2001	Queensland Reds	32 – 27	Coastal Sharks	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane

	22 April 2001	Canterbury Crusaders	31 – 32	Golden Cats	Trafalgar Park, Nelson

Round 10

	27 April 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	42 – 17	NSW Waratahs	Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth

	27 April 2001	Stormers	29 – 15	Waikato Chiefs	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

	28 April 2001	Canterbury Crusaders	34 – 24	Coastal Sharks	Jade Stadium, Christchurch

	28 April 2001	Queensland Reds	22 – 16	Golden Cats	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane

	28 April 2001	Northern Bulls	28 – 25	Auckland Blues	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Round 11

	4 May 2001	Wellington Hurricanes	27 – 51	Waikato Chiefs	Westpac Stadium, Wellington
					Attendance: 34,500

	5 May 2001	Auckland Blues	7 – 35	ACT Brumbies	Eden Park, Auckland

	5 May 2001	Northern Bulls	23 – 34	Stormers	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

	5 May 2001	Queensland Reds	33 – 22	Otago Highlanders	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane

	5 May 2001	NSW Waratahs	25 – 22	Canterbury Crusaders	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney

Round 12

	11 May 2001	Auckland Blues	36 – 17	Wellington Hurricanes	Eden Park, Auckland

	11 May 2001	ACT Brumbies	49 – 6	Waikato Chiefs	Canberra Stadium, Canberra

	11 May 2001	Golden Cats	19 – 21	Northern Bulls	Ellis Park, Johannesburg

	12 May 2001	Otago Highlanders	26 – 21	Canterbury Crusaders	Carisbrook, Dunedin

	12 May 2001	NSW Waratahs	20 – 25	Queensland Reds	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney

	12 May 2001	Stormers	19 – 23	Coastal Sharks	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town

Finals

Semi finals

Grand final

Brumbies

Sharks

Brumbies: FB 15 Andrew Walker RW 14 Graeme Bond OC 13 James Holbeck IC 12 Rod Kafer LW 11 Joe Roff FH 10 Stephen Larkham SH 9 George Gregan(c) N8 8 Jim Williams OF 7 George Smith BF 6 Peter Ryan RL 5 David Giffin LL 4 Justin Harrison TP 3 Ben Darwin HK 2 Jeremy Paul LP 1 Bill Young Substitutes: HK 16 Tom Murphy PR 17 Matt Weaver FL 18 David Pusey FL 19 Radike Samo FH 20 Travis Hall CE 21 Craig McMullen CE 22 Mark Bartholomeusz Coach: Eddie Jones

Sharks: FB 15 Ricardo Loubscher RW 14 Stefan Terblanche OC 13 Deon Kayser IC 12 Trevor Halstead LW 11 Justin Swart FH 10 Butch James SH 9 Craig Davidson N8 8 AJ Venter OF 7 Charl van Rensburg BF 6 Warren Britz RL 5 Mark Andrews (c) LL 4 Albert van den Berg TP 3 Etienne Fynn HK 2 John Smit LP 1 Ollie le Roux Substitutions: HK 16 Lukas Van Biljon PR 17 Brent Moyle LK 18 Shawn Sowerby N8 19 Brad McLeod-Henderson SH 20 Hentie Martens FH 21 Gaffie du Toit CE 22 André Snyman Coach: Rudolf Straeuli

Top scorers

• Points: Louis Koen 157 (Cats)
• Tries: Andrew Walker 8 (Brumbies), Aisea Tuilevu 8 (Highlanders)

Attendances

Team	Main Stadium	Capacity	Total Attendance	Average Attendance	% Capacity
Blues	Eden Park	50,000
Chiefs	Waikato Stadium	25,800
Hurricanes	Westpac Stadium	34,500
Crusaders	Jade Stadium	36,500
Highlanders	Carisbrook	29,000
Reds	Ballymore Stadium	18,000
Brumbies	Canberra Stadium	25,011
Waratahs	Sydney Football Stadium	44,000
Sharks	Kings Park Stadium	52,000
Bulls	Loftus Versfeld	51,762
Cats	Ellis Park	62,567
Stormers	Newlands Stadium	51,900

References