The 1998 Super 12 season was the third season of the Super 12, contested by teams from Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. The season ran from February to May 1998, with each team playing all the others once. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams entered the playoff semi finals, with the first placed team playing the fourth and the second placed team playing the third. The winner of each semi final qualified for the final, which was contested by the Auckland Blues and the Canterbury Crusaders at Eden Park, Auckland. The Canterbury Crusaders won 20 – 13 to win their first Super 12 title.

Teams

The 1998 Super 12 competition consisted of 12 teams, four from South Africa, three from Australia and five from New Zealand.

ACT Brumbies (Australia)

Auckland Blues (New Zealand)

Canterbury Crusaders (New Zealand)

Coastal Sharks (South Africa)

Golden Cats (South Africa)

Northern Bulls (South Africa)

Otago Highlanders (New Zealand)

Queensland Reds (Australia)

Waikato Chiefs (New Zealand)

Waratahs (Australia)

Wellington Hurricanes (New Zealand)

Western Stormers (South Africa)

Table

Key to colours

Top four teams advance to playoffs.

92

80

66

64

44

30

Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	BP	Pts
1	Auckland Blues	11	9	0	2	388	296
7	43
2	Canterbury Crusaders	11	8	0	3	340	260
9	41
3	Coastal Sharks	11	7	0	4	329	263
8	36
4	Otago Highlanders	11	7	0	4	343	279
6	34
5	Queensland Reds Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...	11	6	1	4	273	229
5	31
6	NSW Waratahs New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs are an Australian rugby union football team, representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super 15 Super Rugby competition...	11	6	1	4	306	276
4	30
7	Waikato Chiefs Chiefs (Super rugby franchise) The Chiefs are a professional Rugby union team based in Hamilton, New Zealand. Their home ground is Waikato Stadium. The Chiefs play in black, red and yellow coloured jerseys...	11	6	0	5	279	291	−12	5	29
8	Wellington Hurricanes Hurricanes (Super rugby franchise) The Hurricanes are a New Zealand professional Rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in the Super Rugby competition...	11	5	0	6	313	342	−29	6	26
9	Western Stormers Stormers The Stormers, for sponsorship reasons referred to as DHL Stormers, are a South African rugby union team based in Cape Town competing in the Super Rugby competition . Despite their lack of silverware over the years, their home stadium, Newlands, typically draws the highest average attendance figures...	11	3	0	8	248	364	−166	6	18
10	ACT Brumbies	11	3	0	8	228	308	−80	5	17
11	|Northern Bulls	11	3	0	8	249	306	−57	4	16
12	Golden Cats	11	2	0	9	266	346	−80	7	15

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Semi finals

Grand final

Leading try-scorers

Top 3 try scorers
Pos	Name	Tries	Team
1	Jeff Wilson Jeff Wilson (sportsman) -Cricket career:Wilson played his provincial cricket for Otago, as an all-rounder - both a hard-hitting batsman and a right-arm fast-medium pace bowler. His international appearances were in four games of a One Day Internationals series against Australia in the 1992-93 season, and again in an ODI...	10	Otago Highlanders
1	Joeli Vidiri Joeli Vidiri Joeli Vidiri is a retired Fijian rugby union footballer who also played for the All Blacks. He played as a wing.-Career:...	10	Auckland Blues
1	Stefan Terblanche Stefan Terblanche Stefan Terblanche is a South African rugby union player. He plays mostly at fullback also has the ability to play at centre or on the wing.-Career:...	10	Coastal Sharks

Leading point-scorers

Top 3 points scorers
Pos	Name	Tries	Team
1	Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens MNZM is a New Zealand rugby union footballer, currently playing in France for Béziers, a club in the third-level Fédérale 1 league...	206	Canterbury Crusaders
2	Adrian Cashmore Adrian Cashmore Adrian Richard Cashmore in Tokoroa, New Zealand. He is a New Zealand rugby player who played for Auckland and Bay of Plenty provincially, and the Auckland Blues and Chiefs in Super Rugby. He also played professionally in Japan and for Welsh region the Ospreys in the Celtic League...	180	Auckland Blues
3	Jon Preston	112	Wellington Hurricanes Hurricanes (Super rugby franchise) The Hurricanes are a New Zealand professional Rugby union team based in Wellington that competes in the Super Rugby competition...