2017 Super Rugby Final

2017 Super Rugby Final
Event 2017 Super Rugby season
Lions Crusaders
South Africa New Zealand
17 25
Date 5 August 2017
Venue Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
Referee Jaco Peyper (South Africa)

The 2017 Super Rugby Final was played between the Lions and the Crusaders. It was the 22nd final in the Super Rugby competition's history and the second but concluding installment under the current expanded 18-team format since a reduction to a 15-team format beginning from the next season. The Lions had qualified in first place of the log standings during the regular season, while the Crusaders had qualified in second place. Both teams hosted quarter-final and semi-final matches. In the quarter-finals the Lions beat the Sharks while the Crusaders beat fellow New Zealand team the Highlanders. For the semi-finals it was the Lions defeating last years winners the Hurricanes in Johannesburg and the Crusaders defeating the Chiefs in Christchurch. Because of being the higher placed team in the regular season log standings, the final was held in Johannesburg.

The match was won by the Crusaders who beat the Lions by eight points. The Crusaders, stretched their record number of Super Rugby wins to eight. A very strong Crusaders defence, several errors committed by the Lions and a red card were the losers downfall in the highly-anticipated Super Rugby final that attracted a record crowd attendance of 62,000.[1]

Road to the Final

Finals Series qualifying teams
Conference leaders
Pos Team W D L PD TF TA TB LB Pts
1 South Africa Lions 14 0 1 +322 81 27 9 0 65
2 New Zealand Crusaders 14 0 1 +241 77 37 7 0 63
3 South Africa Stormers 10 0 5 +54 64 61 3 0 43
4 Australia Brumbies 6 0 9 +36 41 32 3 7 34
Wildcard teams
5 New Zealand Hurricanes 12 0 3 +324 89 31 9 1 58
6 New Zealand Chiefs 12 1 2 +141 55 30 6 1 57
7 New Zealand Highlanders 11 0 4 +180 62 40 5 2 51
8 South Africa Sharks 9 1 5 +69 38 37 1 3 42
Source: SANZAAR [2]

The 18 teams were grouped geographically in two regional groups, each consisting of two conferences: the Australasian Group, with five teams in the Australian Conference and five teams in the New Zealand Conference and the South African Group, with six South African teams, one Argentinean team and one Japanese team split into a four-team Africa 1 Conference and a four-team Africa 2 Conference.[3] The four conference winners qualified for the Quarter Finals, where they had home ground advantage against the four wildcard teams, made up of the third to fifth placed teams in the Australasian Group and the third placed team in the South African Group.

In the quarter-finals, there were wins for Hurricanes over the Brumbies, Crusaders beat Highlanders while keeping them with no points, Lions beat Sharks and Chiefs triumphing over Stormers. In the semi-finals, the Crusaders defeated Chiefs in Christchurch and the Lions defeated Hurricanes in Johannesburg.

The play-off fixtures were as follows:

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final
22 July – Cape Town        
 South Africa Stormers  11
29 July – Christchurch
 New Zealand Chiefs  17  
 New Zealand Crusaders  27
22 July – Christchurch
     New Zealand Chiefs  13  
 New Zealand Crusaders  17
5 August – Johannesburg
 New Zealand Highlanders  0  
 South Africa Lions  17
22 July – Johannesburg    
   New Zealand Crusaders  25
 South Africa Lions  23
29 July – Johannesburg
 South Africa Sharks  21  
 South Africa Lions  44
21 July – Canberra
     New Zealand Hurricanes  29  
 Australia Brumbies  16
 New Zealand Hurricanes  35  
 

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

Details

5 August 2017
Lions 17–25 Crusaders
Try: Malcolm Marx  64' Corné Fourie  72'
Con: Elton Jantjies  65', 73' (2/2)
Pen: Elton Jantjies  26' (1/1)
 Try: Seta Tamanivalu  7'
Jack Goodhue  11'
Kieran Read  43'
Con: Richie Mo'unga  8', 44' (2/3)
Pen: Richie Mo'unga  41', 52' (2/2)
Lions
Crusaders
Lions:
FB 15Andries Coetzee
RW 14Ruan Combrinck
OC 13Lionel Mapoe
IC 12Harold Vorster
LW 11Courtnall Skosan
FH 10Elton Jantjies
SH 9 Ross Cronjé
N8 8 Ruan Ackermann
OF 7 Kwagga Smith Red card 38'
BF 6 Jaco Kriel
LL 5 Franco Mostert
RL 4 Andries Ferreira
TP 3 Ruan Dreyer
HK 2 Malcolm Marx
LP 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes:
HK 16Akker van der Merwe
PR 17Corné Fourie
PR 18Johannes Jonker
LK 19Lourens Erasmus
FL 20Cyle Brink
SH 21Faf de Klerk
IC 22Rohan Janse van Rensburg
FB 23Sylvian Mahuza
Coach:
South Africa Johan Ackermann
Crusaders:
FB 15David Havili
RW 14Israel Dagg
CE 13Jack Goodhue
SF 12Ryan Crotty
LW 11Seta Tamanivalu
FH 10Richie Mo'unga
SH 9 Bryn Hall
N8 8 Kieran Read
OF 7 Matt Todd
BF 6 Jordan Taufua
LL 5 Sam Whitelock
RL 4 Scott Barrett
TP 3 Owen Franks
HK 2 Codie Taylor
LP 1 Joe Moody
Substitutes:
HK 16Ben Funnell
PR 17Wyatt Crockett
PR 18Michael Alaalatoa
LK 19Luke Romano
FL 20Peter Samu
SH 21Mitchell Drummond
FH 22Mitchell Hunt
WG 23George Bridge
Coach:
New Zealand Scott Robertson

Man of the Match:

Assistant Referees:

References

  1. ↑ "Mistakes cost the Lions their first Super Rugby trophy". Randburg Sun. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "SA Rugby Log – 2017 Vodacom Super Rugby". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Outline of the Super Rugby competition structure" (PDF). All Blacks. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
Preceded by
2016 Super Rugby Final		 Super Rugby Final
2017 		Succeeded by
2018 Super Rugby Final
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