Well there are 3 conferences of Saffers, Aussies and New Zealanders with 5 teams a piece, local teams play each other twice home and away (8 games) and play 4 teams from the other conferences (2 home 2 away) for a total of 16 games, at the end the top of each conference automatically makes a play-off spot (meaning every nationality gets at least one play-off spot), and the next three on the "overall" points log also get places. When the top six has been determined 3v6 and 4v5 determines semi-finals to play 1 and 2 (higher ranked always gets the home The styles are incredibly varied even between conferences. For instance in the Australian conference the Force and the Brumbies play a more physical defense first with emphasis on territory type of game while the Reds, Rebels and Warratahs play a more expansive game. The NZ conference is generally always strong and usually has 4 strong teams with one "stumbling" team that suffers from having such strong local opposition, which has been the Blues in more recent years, the Chiefs have been the strongest side over the past two years and have been deserving winners but the gap is less pronounced this year.
This year most of the South African teams are struggling, with the exception of the Sharks who many would complain play a boring brand of rugby (although I would disagree) with only the Bulls having a shot at getting a 4-6 playoff spot. The NZ teams are all fairly good (the Blues are struglling however) and apart from the Chiefs who are probably the best team, any one/two of the other three teams (Highlanders, Hurricanes, Crusaders) could be in the top 6. As for the Aussies the Reds are having an uncharacteristically bad year and the rebels are improving but still struggling to keep the pace, while the Brumbies remain the best side with the Warratahs and Force content for a spot in the top 6 (The force have had a surprisingly good season).
I can't go through all the good players but my advice would be to pick a team to support so you get emotionally invested, Hurricanes for excitement, Chiefs or Crusaders for consistently performing each season and a Saffer team for... Timezones
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