Hawke’s Bay have withdrawn their bid to become the new team when Super Rugby expands to a Super 15 in 2011.
Hawke’s Bay were one of two New Zealand franchises that submitted a Super 15 Expression of Interest (EOI) but their withdrawal leaves Taranaki as New Zealand’s sole Super 15 bidder.
The planned Super 15 tournament suffered a knock earlier in the week when Australia’s New South Wales Country also withdrew their interest in joining the Super 15.
The Super 15 will have a new format which includes three conferences or pools of five teams each. The new Super 15 team will participate in the Australian conference which means that it is most likely that the new Super 15 team will be an Australian team.
After the two teams withdrawal there are still at least six other interested franchises in Australia, plus one from South Africa.
Melbourne is considered as the current favourite to host the new Super 15 team. There are three bidders from Victoria still in the running.
