Super Rugby will make its earliest start to a year in the history of the competition with the match to be held in January.
Auckland Blues will sponsor the Waikato Chiefs on January 31 at the season opener and also also the tournament will operate uninterrupted until July, when the new Test window begins.
In preceding non-World Cup decades, the southern hemisphere competition took a three-week break before restarting early July, to adapt an window in June.
«An earlier than usual start was required to get through the 21-week championship and supply the federal teams with a transparent week leading in the July evaluation series,» said Andy Marinos, the first executive of regulating body SANZAAR.
The 2020 Super Rugby year will also be the period for Japan’s Sunwolves later SANZAAR cut on them after the Japan Rugby Union’s decision to withdraw their financial support of the group.
It is going to also be the year of the seminar system, with a straight round-robin format.
When they face Waratahs champions Crusaders will start their bid for a fourth consecutive title on February 1.
