Rugby Challenge (South Africa)

Rugby Challenge
Most recent season or competition:
2018 Rugby Challenge
Competition logo
Sport Rugby union
Founded 2017
Inaugural season 2017
No. of teams 15
Countries South Africa,
Namibia
Most recent
champion(s)		 Pumas
Most titles Pumas,
Western Province
Sponsor(s) SuperSport
Related
competitions		 Currie Cup

The Rugby Challenge – known as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge for sponsorship reasons – is the secondary domestic rugby union competition in South Africa. The competition is organised by the South African Rugby Union and featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus Namibian side the Welwitschias. The inaugural season of the competition was in 2017, set up as the long-term successor of the Vodacom Cup competition.

The competition is played at roughly the same time as Super Rugby each season, and features a combination of Super Rugby players returning from injury, reserve players attempting to maintain their fitness levels and younger players trying to break through to the Super Rugby or Currie Cup sides. It therefore serves as an important developmental competition for South African rugby.

Format

The fifteen teams are geographically divided into three sections – a Northern Section, Central Section and a Southern Section. Each team would play the other teams in their section twice during the regular season, once at home and once away. Some fixtures were moved to a neutral venue as part of a "SuperStack" initiative, where three matches--including a local amateur club match--were played at one site, with free entry available at these festivals to help promote rugby amongst all social strata. The winner and runner-up of each section would qualify to the Quarter Finals, along with the two third-placed teams with the best records.[1]

Teams

The teams that compete in the Rugby Challenge are:

Northern Section
Colours Team Sponsored Name
 Blue BullsVodacom Blue Bulls
 FalconsHino Valke
 Golden Lions XVXerox Golden Lions XV
 PumasSteval Pumas
 WelwitschiasWindhoek Draught Welwitschias
Central Section
Colours Team Sponsored Name
 Free State XVToyota Free State XV
 GriffonsDown Touch Griffons
 GriquasTafel Lager Griquas
 LeopardsLeopards
 Sharks XVCell C Sharks XV
Southern Section
Colours Team Sponsored Name
 Boland CavaliersBoland Cavaliers
 Border BulldogsBorder Bulldogs
 Eastern Province KingsEastern Province Kings
 SWD EaglesSWD Eagles
 Western ProvinceDHL Western Province

Finals

The results of the finals played in the Rugby Challenge competition are as follows:

Rugby Challenge finals
Season Winner Score Runner-Up
2017 Western Province28–19 Griquas
2018 Pumas32–30 Griquas

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Provincial rugby gets SuperSport makeover" (Press release). South African Rugby Union. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.