PRESS RELEASE - Melbourne gets ARU's Super 15 nod

Melbourne has won endorsement from the ARU Board as Australia’s sole contender for the 15th Super Rugby licence.

The hugely-popular provincial competition will expand by one team in 2011 with the SANZAR joint venture to decide later this year on where the new side will be established.

While the 15th team will play in the Australian Conference as part of a revamped and extended Super Rugby format, interested parties in South Africa and New Zealand are also bidding to have the side based within their national boundaries.

“It was for this reason that the ARU Board accepted a recommendation from Management to put forward only one bid to the next stage of the selection process,” said ARU Managing Director and CEO John O’Neill.

The complete Press Release is attached.