Rugby Challenge
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2019 Rugby Challenge
Competition logo
SportRugby union
Founded2017
First season2017
No. of teams16
CountriesSouth Africa,
Namibia,
Zimbabwe
Most recent
champion(s)		Griquas
Most titlesGriquas,
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 and the Zimbabwe Academy. 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 sixteen teams are 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.[1]

Teams

The teams that compete in the Rugby Challenge are:

Rugby Challenge (South Africa) is located in South Africa
Blue Bulls XV
Falcons
Golden Lions XV
Griffons
Griquas
Leopards
Pumas
Welwitschias
Boland Cavaliers
Border Bulldogs
Eastern Province Elephants
Free State XV
Sharks XV
SWD Eagles
Western Province
Zimbabwe
Location of teams in the Rugby Challenge
Northern Section
Southern Section
Northern Section
Team Sponsored name
Blue Bulls XV Vodacom Blue Bulls XV
Falcons Hino Valke
Golden Lions XV Xerox Golden Lions XV
Griffons Down Touch Griffons
Griquas Tafel Lager Griquas
Leopards Leopards
Pumas Steval Pumas
Welwitschias Windhoek Draught Welwitschias
Southern Section
Team Sponsored name
Boland Cavaliers Boland Cavaliers
Border Bulldogs Border Bulldogs
Eastern Province Elephants Eastern Province Elephants
Free State XV Toyota Free State XV
Sharks XV Cell C Sharks XV
SWD Eagles SWD Eagles
Western Province DHL Western Province
Zimbabwe Academy Zimbabwe Academy

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 Province 28–19 Griquas
2018 Pumas 32–30 Griquas
2019 Griquas 28–13 Pumas

Overall record

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

Rugby Challenge overall record
Team Name Champions Runner-Up Semi-Final Quarter Final
Griquas 1 2 0 0
Pumas 1 1 0 1
Western Province 1 0 1 1
Blue Bulls 0 0 1 1
Boland Cavaliers 0 0 1 1
Free State Cheetahs 0 0 1 1
Golden Lions 0 0 1 1
Sharks XV 0 0 1 1
Eastern Province Elephants 0 0 0 1
Falcons 0 0 0 0
Leopards 0 0 0 0
SWD Eagles 0 0 0 0
Border Bulldogs 0 0 0 0
Griffons 0 0 0 0
Welwitschias 0 0 0 0
Zimbabwe Academy 0 0 0 0

Non-South African clubs

Team Location Stadium Capacity
Welwitschias Windhoek Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium 10,000

See also

References

  1. ^ "Provincial rugby gets SuperSport makeover" (Press release). South African Rugby Union. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
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