2017 Super Rugby Final

The 2017 Super Rugby Final was played between the Lions and the Crusaders. The match, held at Ellis Park in Johannesburg was the 22nd final in the Super Rugby competition's history, and attracted a record crowd attendance of 62,000.[1]

2017 Super Rugby Final
Event2017 Super Rugby season
Date5 August 2017
VenueEllis Park, Johannesburg
RefereeJaco Peyper (South Africa)
Attendance62,000

The Crusaders won the final, defeating the Lions by eight points, and stretched their record number of Super Rugby title wins to eight. A strong Crusaders defence, several errors committed by the Lions and a red card were the losers' downfall in the highly anticipated Super Rugby final held on South African soil for the first time since 2010.

Both finalists had won their respective conferences in the regular season. The Lions, as the top-placed team in 2017 season standings, played all their matches in the finals series at home in Johannesburg. They beat fellow South African side the Sharks in a closely matched quarterfinal, before defeating the previous year's champion the Hurricanes in their semifinal match.

The Crusaders had comfortably beat local New Zealand rivals the Highlanders and Chiefs in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal playoffs at home in Christchurch before travelling to Johannesburg for the final.

Road to the final

Finals Series qualifying teams
Conference leaders
Pos Team W D L PD BP Pts
1 Lions 1401+322965
2 Crusaders 1401+241763
3 Stormers 1005+54343
4 Brumbies 609+361034
Wildcard teams
5 Hurricanes 1203+3241058
6 Chiefs 1212+141757
7 Highlanders 1104+180751
8 Sharks 915+69442
Source: SANZAAR [2]

The 18 teams were split geographically into two groups with two conferences in each group. The Australasian Group included five teams in the Australian Conference and five teams in the New Zealand Conference. The South African Group, with six South African teams, one Argentinean team and one Japanese team was split into a four-team Africa 1 Conference and a four-team Africa 2 Conference.[3]

The four conference winners qualified for the quarterfinals with a home ground advantage against 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.

The quarterfinals featured away wins for the Hurricanes over the Brumbies, and Chiefs over the Stormers. The Crusaders beat Highlanders, keeping them scoreless, and the Lions beat the Sharks. For the semifinals, the Crusaders defeated the Chiefs in Christchurch and the Lions defeated the Hurricanes in Johannesburg.

The play-off fixtures were as follows:

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
22 July – Cape Town
 
 
Stormers11
 
29 July – Christchurch
 
Chiefs17
 
Crusaders27
 
22 July – Christchurch
 
Chiefs13
 
Crusaders17
 
5 August – Johannesburg
 
Highlanders0
 
Lions17
 
22 July – Johannesburg
 
Crusaders25
 
Lions23
 
29 July – Johannesburg
 
Sharks21
 
Lions44
 
21 July – Canberra
 
Hurricanes29
 
Brumbies16
 
 
Hurricanes35
 

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

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:
FB15Andries Coetzee
RW14Ruan Combrinck
OC13Lionel Mapoe
IC12Harold Vorster
LW11Courtnall Skosan
FH10Elton Jantjies
SH9Ross Cronjé
N88Ruan Ackermann
OF7Kwagga Smith  38'
BF6Jaco Kriel
LL5Franco Mostert
RL4Andries Ferreira
TP3Ruan Dreyer
HK2Malcolm Marx
LP1Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes:
HK16Akker van der Merwe
PR17Corné Fourie
PR18Johannes Jonker
LK19Lourens Erasmus
FL20Cyle Brink
SH21Faf de Klerk
IC22Rohan Janse van Rensburg
FB23Sylvian Mahuza
Coach:
Johan Ackermann
Crusaders:
FB15David Havili
RW14Israel Dagg
CE13Jack Goodhue
SF12Ryan Crotty
LW11Seta Tamanivalu
FH10Richie Mo'unga
SH9Bryn Hall
N88Kieran Read
OF7Matt Todd
BF6Jordan Taufua
LL5Sam Whitelock
RL4Scott Barrett
TP3Owen Franks
HK2Codie Taylor
LP1Joe Moody
Substitutes:
HK16Ben Funnell
PR17Wyatt Crockett
PR18Michael Alaalatoa
LK19Luke Romano
FL20Pete Samu
SH21Mitchell Drummond
FH22Mitchell Hunt
WG23George Bridge
Coach:
Scott Robertson

Man of the Match: Ryan Crotty

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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