Super Rugby’s Mission Impossible

No team has ever travelled across the Indian Ocean and won a Super Rugby final in the competition’s 20 year history.

On five occasions a team has made the trip from South Africa to Australia or New Zealand, and vice versa, and each time they have lost.

The NZ Herald has called the Crusaders Super Rugby final against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday ‘Mission Impossible’.

There have been 14 finals, in which teams have travelled to another country for the final. Of these 14 finals only one has ever been won by the visiting team. The Crusaders are the only team to ever win a final in another country when Andrew Mehrtens kicked a late penalty to beat the Brumbies 20-19 in Canberra, Australia.

Teams to play Super Rugby finals outside own country
1996 – Blues beat Sharks
1997 – Blues beat Brumbies
2000 – Crusaders beat Brumbies
2001 – Brumbies beat Sharks
2002 – Crusaders beat Brumbies
2004 – Brumbies beat Crusaders
2005 – Crusaders beat Waratahs
2008 – Crusaders beat Waratahs
2009 – Bulls beat Chiefs
2011 – Reds beat Crusaders
2012 – Chiefs beat Sharks
2013 – Chiefs beat Brumbies
2014 – Waratahs beat Crusaders
2016 – Hurricanes beat Lions