And 2016's Super Rugby favourite is...

Name: Rugby: Highlander victory parade
Uploaded: 2015-07-06T15:17:35+12:00
Duration: 110 s
Description: Thousands of Highlanders fans lined streets for a victory parade in central Dunedin in honour of the Super Rugby champions. The team left the Dental School about noon and were led by the Kaikorai Brass band down George St on the back of utes to celebrate winning the final against Hurricanes on Saturday. James Gunn / Southern Stringers

By Chris Rattue

NZ Herald·

6 Jul, 2015 10:51 PM2 mins to read

Thousands of Highlanders fans lined streets for a victory parade in central Dunedin in honour of the Super Rugby champions. The team left the Dental School about noon and were led by the Kaikorai Brass band down George St on the back of utes to celebrate winning the final against Hurricanes on Saturday. James Gunn / Southern Stringers

The mighty Highlanders have received a hefty slap down from the bookies.

While friend and foe drool over the unfancied southerners following their Cinderella Super Rugby title win, the TAB remains cold-heartedly unconvinced they are much more than a flash in the pan.

The just-released odds for 2016 have the Chiefs and Crusaders as favourites on $5.50, with the Hurricanes and flaky Waratahs close behind.

The Jamie Joseph-coached champs are next and well back on $9 alongside South Africa's Sharks, who finished clear of the 2015 playoffs in 11th place.

The betting agency has also given the expanded competition a sort of thumbs down, rating the new Japanese and Argentinian franchises as $251 no-hopers.

The Super Rugby final was a betting bonanza, with more than $1.7m wagered - much more than for any other Super final including the million dollar 2006 fog-bound duel between the Crusaders and Hurricanes.

It also pulled in much more money than the Bledisloe Cup betting leader from 1996, which totalled around $1.15m. Saturday's final in Wellington had the seventh highest betting turnover for a sports event on a list headed by the 2011 World Cup final and David Tua's world heavyweight title fight against Lennox Lewis in 2000.