On 1 March 1996, the world’s greatest regional rugby competition launched when the Auckland Blues beat the Wellington Hurricanes in the inaugural Super 12 match.
With groundbreaking sponsorship and an insatiable demand for TV coverage, the Sanzar competition was the jewel in the crown of southern-hemisphere rugby and underlined the game’s status as a global spectacle at the birth of professionalism.
The Kiwi dominance of the competition began immediately as the Blues beat the Hurricanes in the opener and then the Sharks in the final.
Relive the spectacle here:
