Login
Login

Rugby Challenge (South Africa)

{{Short description|Secondary domestic rugby union competition in South Africa}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

{{Use South African English|date=April 2017}}

{{Infobox sports league

| title = Rugby Challenge

| current_season = 2024 SA Cup

| logo = SuperSport Rugby Challenge logo.svg

| pixels =

| caption = Competition logo

| sport = Rugby union

| founded = 2017

| inaugural = 2017

| folded =

| teams = 16

| countries = South Africa,
Namibia,
Zimbabwe

| champion = {{Rut|Griquas}}

| most_champs = {{Rut|Griquas}},
{{Rut|Pumas}},
{{Rut|Western Province}}

| sponsor = SuperSport

| related_comps = Currie Cup

}}

The Rugby Challenge – known as the SuperSport Rugby Challenge for sponsorship reasons – was the secondary domestic rugby union competition in South Africa from 2017 to 2019. The competition was organised by the South African Rugby Union and featured all fourteen South African provincial unions plus {{nrut|Namibia}}n side the {{Rut|Welwitschias}} and the Zimbabwe Academy. The inaugural season of the competition was in 2017, and was intended as the long-term successor of the Vodacom Cup competition.

The competition was played at roughly the same time as Super Rugby each season, and featured 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 served as an important developmental competition for South African rugby.

Format

The sixteen teams were geographically divided into two sections – a North Section and a Southern Section. Each team would play the other teams in their section once during the regular season, either at home or 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.{{cite press release | url=http://www.sarugby.co.za/article.aspx?category=sarugby/curriecup&id=3901474 | title=Provincial rugby gets SuperSport makeover | publisher=South African Rugby Union | date=28 February 2017 | access-date=28 February 2017}}

Teams

The teams that competed in the Rugby Challenge were:

{{Location map+ | South Africa | float=right | width=350 | caption=Location of teams in the Rugby Challenge
8px Northern Section
8px Southern Section | places=

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-25.753333 | long=28.186944 | label={{Rut|Blue Bulls XV}} | position=top }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-26.104849 | long=28.213320 | label={{Rut|Falcons}} | position=right }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-26.234797 | long=27.982353 | label={{nowrap|{{Rut|Golden Lions XV}}}} | position=left }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-27.976893 | long=26.693602 | label={{Rut|Griffons}} }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-28.754944 | long=24.758008 | label={{Rut|Griquas}} | position=left }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-26.711397 | long=27.086931 | label={{Rut|Leopards}} | position=left }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-25.461737 | long=30.929722 | label={{Rut|Pumas}} | position=right }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Blue pog.svg | lat=-22.607603 | long=17.089131 | label={{Rut|Welwitschias}} }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-33.644063 | long=19.011455 | label={{Rut|Boland Cavaliers}} | position=top }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-33.006720 | long=27.907376 | label={{Rut|Border Bulldogs}} }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-33.937824 | long=25.599582 | label={{Rut|Eastern Province Elephants}} }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-29.117292 | long=26.208847 | label={{Rut|Free State XV}} }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-29.829444 | long=31.030278 | label={{Rut|Sharks XV}} | position=bottom }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-33.953222 | long=22.447622 | label={{Rut|SWD Eagles}} | position=bottom }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-33.903461 | long=18.411153 | label={{Rut|Western Province}} | position=left }}

{{Location map~ | South Africa | mark=Red pog.svg | lat=-34.020298 | long=18.447526 | label=Zimbabwe | position=right }}

}}

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; width:50%;"
colspan="100%" | Northern Section
width="40%" | Team

! width="60%" | Sponsored name

{{Rut|Blue Bulls XV|ib=y}}Vodacom Blue Bulls XV
{{Rut|Falcons|ib=y}}Hino Valke
{{Rut|Golden Lions XV|ib=y}}Xerox Golden Lions XV
{{Rut|Griffons|ib=y}}Down Touch Griffons
{{Rut|Griquas|ib=y}}Tafel Lager Griquas
{{Rut|Leopards|ib=y}}Leopards
{{Rut|Pumas|ib=y}}Steval Pumas
{{Rut|Welwitschias|ib=y}}Windhoek Draught Welwitschias

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; width:50%;"
colspan="100%" align=center | Southern Section
width="40%" | Team

! width="60%" | Sponsored name

{{Rut|Boland Cavaliers|ib=y}}Boland Cavaliers
{{Rut|Border Bulldogs|ib=y}}Border Bulldogs
{{Rut|Eastern Province Elephants|ib=y}}Eastern Province Elephants
{{Rut|Free State XV|ib=y}}Toyota Free State XV
{{Rut|Sharks XV|ib=y}}Cell C Sharks XV
{{Rut|SWD Eagles|ib=y}}SWD Eagles
{{Rut|Western Province|ib=y}}DHL Western Province
Zimbabwe AcademyZimbabwe Academy

=Finals=

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

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; width:50%"
colspan=4 | Rugby Challenge finals
style="width:10%;" | Season

! style="width:40%;" | Winner

! style="width:10%;" | Score

! style="width:40%;" | Runner-Up

style="text-align:center" | 2017{{Rut|Western Province}}style="text-align:center" | 28–19{{Rut|Griquas}}
style="text-align:center" | 2018{{Rut|Pumas}}style="text-align:center" | 32–30{{Rut|Griquas}}
style="text-align:center" | 2019{{Rut|Griquas}}style="text-align:center" | 28–13{{Rut|Pumas}}

=Overall record=

The overall record for the teams in the Rugby Challenge competition is as follows:

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; width:50%;"
colspan=6 | Rugby Challenge overall record
style="width:40%;" | Team Name

! style="width:15%;" | Champions

! style="width:15%;" | Runner-Up

! style="width:15%;" | Semi-Final

! style="width:15%;" | Quarter Final

style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Griquas}}1200
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Pumas}}1101
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Western Province}}1011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Blue Bulls}}0011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Boland Cavaliers}}0011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Free State Cheetahs}}0011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Golden Lions}}0011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Sharks XV}}0011
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Eastern Province Elephants}}0001
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Falcons}}0000
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Leopards}}0000
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|SWD Eagles}}0000
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Border Bulldogs}}0000
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Griffons}}0000
style="text-align:left" | {{Rut|Welwitschias}}0000
style="text-align:left" | Zimbabwe Academy0000

Non-South African clubs

class="wikitable sortable"

!Team

!Location

!Stadium

!Capacity

Welwitschias

|Windhoek

|Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium

|10,000

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{Rugby Challenge}}

{{Rugby union in South Africa}}

{{Top-level rugby union club competitions}}

Category:Rugby union competitions for provincial teams

Category:2017 establishments in South Africa

Category:Recurring sporting events established in 2017

Category:Professional sports leagues in South Africa