The 2017 Rugby Challenge – known as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge for sponsorship reasons – is the first edition of the
Rugby Challenge, the secondary domestic
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
competition in South Africa, and the long-term successor of the
Vodacom Cup
The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...
competition. The competition was organised by the
South African Rugby Union
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) is the governing body for rugby union in South Africa and is affiliated to World Rugby. It was established in 1992 as the South African Rugby Football Union, from the merger of the South African Rugby Board ...
and was played between 22 April and 16 July 2017. The competition featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus n side the .
The competition was won by Western Province, after they beat Griquas 28–19 in the final in Cape Town. Golden Lions XV fly-half Shaun Reynolds was the top scorer in the competition with 138 points, while Griquas wing Enver Brandt and Pumas hooker Frank Herne were the joint top try scorer with 9 tries.
Competition rules and information
The fifteen teams in the competition were divided into three regional pools of five teams. Each team will play home and away matches against the other four teams in their pool over a ten-week period. The top two teams from each pool, along with the two third-placed teams with the best record will progress to the play-offs, which will consist of quarter finals, a semi-final and a final.
Teams
The teams that will compete in the 2017 Rugby Challenge are:
Northern Section
Log
* The and the qualified for the
quarterfinals
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
as section winners and runners-up respectively. The also qualified as a best third-placed team.
Round-by-round
The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, each team's cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.
Matches
Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
Round Five
Round Six
Round Seven
Round Eight
Round Nine
Round Ten
Central Section
Log
* and the qualified for the
quarterfinals
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
as section winners and runners-up respectively. The also qualified as a best third-placed team.
Round-by-round
The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, each team's cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.
Matches
Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
Round Five
Round Six
Round Seven
Round Eight
Round Nine
Round Ten
Southern Section
Log
* and the qualified for the
quarterfinals
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
as section winners and runners-up respectively.
Round-by-round
The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, each team's cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.
Matches
Round One
Round Two
Round Three
Round Four
Round Five
Round Six
Round Seven
Round Eight
Round Nine
Round Ten
Title play-offs
The final pool standings and title play-offs seeding were:
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Honours
The honour roll for the 2017 Rugby Challenge was as follows:
Players
Squads
The following squads were named for the 2018 Rugby Challenge:
Top scorers
The top ten try and point scorers during the 2017 Rugby Challenge were:
Referees
The following referees officiated matches in the 2017 Rugby Challenge:
See also
*
2017 Currie Cup Premier Division
*
2017 Currie Cup First Division
References
External links
SARU website
{{Rugby Challenge
Rugby Challenge (South Africa)
Rugby Challenge
Rugby Challenge