Super Rugby Unlocked (known as Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked for sponsorship reasons) was a professional

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 its m ...

competition played in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

from 10 October to 21 November 2020. Sponsored by communications company

Vodacom Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include n ...

, the tournament replaced the South African component of the incomplete

2020 Super Rugby season The 2020 Super Rugby season was the 25th season of Super Rugby, an international men's rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR involving teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. It is the third tournament in its ...

that was shut down in March of that year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. 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 a ...

as part of a combined

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

and domestic

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

tournament, the seven-team competition featured the , , and from Super Rugby, with the addition of the , and . The competition was won by the , who topped the standings of the seven-week

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

Format

The seven participating teams played each other once, home or away. The top-placed team at the end of that seven-week round-robin was awarded the Super Rugby Unlocked title. All tournament points were then carried forward to the 2020–21 Currie Cup, incorporating a return round-robin of matches followed by cup playoffs. Tournament points in the Super Rugby Unlocked standings were awarded to teams as follows: * 4 points for a win. * 2 points for a draw. * 1 bonus point for a loss in a match by seven points or under. * 1 bonus point for scoring three tries more than the opponent. Teams were ranked firstly by tournament points, then number of matches won, overall points difference (points scored less points conceded), number of tries scored, overall try difference (tries scored less tries conceded) and, if needed, coin toss.

Standings

Matches

All matches for Super Rugby Unlocked are listed below:

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

On 24 October, the match between the and was postponed due to two positive COVID-19 cases found following a second batch of Coronavirus testing within the Lions squad, following earlier positive cases earlier in the week, and so falling in line with COVID-19 protocols. On 4 November, this game was declared as a 0–0 draw due to the inability to reschedule the match.

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

On 13 November, the match between the and the was postponed due to two positive COVID-19 cases found in the second batch of Coronavirus testing within the Pumas squad, following an earlier positive test during the week.

Round 7

On 17 November, the match between the and the was postponed following positive COVID-19 tests within the Sharks squad. The match between the and the was also moved from 20 November to 21 November for player welfare reasons. * Notes:

Players

Player Statistics

Team rosters

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Super Rugby Unlocked Rugby union competitions for provincial teams Fox Sports (Australian TV network) 2020 Super Rugby season 2020 in South African rugby union 2020 rugby union tournaments for clubs Professional sports leagues in South Africa