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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Angus Fontaine

Super Rugby kicks off with high hopes of Australian drought being broken

Players from each Super Rugby team pose at Sydney's Little Bay beach.
Players from each Super Rugby team pose at Sydney's Little Bay beach in the run-up to the 2025 season. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

The most important Wallabies winter in two decades begins this weekend when Australia’s Super Rugby Pacific sides play their first games of the 2025 season. With all four state provinces reinforced by key players from the disbanded Melbourne Rebels, hopes have never been higher for a first local champion in 11 years.

The trophy cabinet at Rugby Australia headquarters desperately needs new silverware. Although the Wallabies won back the Ella-Mobbs Trophy with their season-high triumph over England in November, the Bledisloe Cup hasn’t been seen hereabouts since 2003 when the Rugby World Cup, resident for eight years of the 90s, also left.

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