The defending champion Canterbury Crusaders will play the Auckland Blues in the first match of rugby's 2007 Super 14 tournament, which will begin a week early to accommodate next year's World Cup in France.
Matches in Auckland, Perth, Australia and at a South African venue yet to be named involving a South African team yet to be chosen will take place on the first day of the competition, Friday, Feb. 2.
The tournament will conclude May 19, allowing international players additional time to recover ahead of the World Cup, which begins in September.
The Super 14's organizing body, SANZAR, released the schedule for the 2007 tournament Friday with the identity of the fifth South African-based franchise still to be decided.
The South African Rugby Union had intended to promote the Port Elizabeth-based Spears into the 2007 competition at the expense of last year's bottom-placed Cats, but legal action has since left that move in question.
South Africa's Bulls, Cheetahs, Sharks and Blues have had their tournament places confirmed but the South African union has yet to decide whether the Cats or Spears will take the final place.
The Blues, Sharks, Otago Highlanders, New South Wales Waratahs, Wellington Hurricanes, Western Force and the unidentified South African team will each have seven home matches.
The Waikato Chiefs, Queensland Reds, Cheetahs, Crusaders, ACT Brumbies, Bulls and Stormers will each play six home games in a tournament of 94 games.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
