What are these provencial competitions?

[fsquid]

Ok, I've been watching Super 14 and have enjoyed that (Go Brumbies). I know that each country has X amount of regional teams that play one another. Now, what is this Air New Zealand and other competitions? Do the players that play in the Super 14 play in this competition too or is it a minor league for the Super 14? Help me out because I'm lost!

 

[gjwoodq]

Air New Zealand cup is NZ's provincial championship. The players that make up the NZ super 14s will be in this(excluding a number of AB's).



The super 14 teams are regional franchises which combine a number of provinces together.

 

[fsquid]

So is the Air New Zealand Cup played before the Super 14? If so, is it like a tryout for those players to make a Super 14 squad?

 

[Boggle]

Hi there.

Here's a link to a wiki on teh Currie cup if you're interested
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currie_Cup

Basically the Currie cup is one of the oldest Rugby competitions in the world, and is the feeding ground for the Super 14 teams and Springboks.

Super 14 teams basically = Currie cup sides in most cases.

But they do also pull players from different regions and sometimes different provinces (*as is the case with Bulls and Cheetahs*).
But mostly the currie cup side = the bulk of the Super 14 side.


Here's a map of the Unions which make up the Currie cup Premier and first devisions.

http://images.supersport.co.za/Map14Unions2005_730.jpg

 

[fsquid]

thank you sir. Are the matches more wideopen at the Provence level due to the talent being spaced out a little?

 

[BokMagic]

thank you sir. Are the matches more wideopen at the Provence level due to the talent being spaced out a little? [/b]

Not really in the Currie Cup. As Boggle already explained, the 5 biggest unions in SA are basically the 5 S14 franchises, with just a small number of drafts from the smaller unions.

The big 5 unions have enourmous budgets, they can buy just about any half-decent player from the smaller unions. This also shows in the results- the Cheetahs recently beat one of the smaller unions by 75 points. Likewise, the Lions, even though they only finished 5th last year and missed out on the playoffs, beat the Pumas(one of the smaller unions) last year by 89-10.