2017 Super Rugby Final

Event	2017 Super Rugby season
Lions Crusaders 17 25
Date	5 August 2017
Venue	Ellis Park, Johannesburg
Referee	Jaco Peyper ( South Africa)
Attendance	62,000
← 2016 2018 →

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]

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	14	0	1	+322	9	65
2	Crusaders	14	0	1	+241	7	63
3	Stormers	10	0	5	+54	3	43
4	Brumbies	6	0	9	+36	10	34
Wildcard teams
5	Hurricanes	12	0	3	+324	10	58
6	Chiefs	12	1	2	+141	7	57
7	Highlanders	11	0	4	+180	7	51
8	Sharks	9	1	5	+69	4	42
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-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	22 July – Cape Town
	Stormers	11
					29 July – Christchurch
	Chiefs	17
					Crusaders	27
	22 July – Christchurch
					Chiefs	13
	Crusaders	17
									5 August – Johannesburg
	Highlanders	0
									Lions	17
	22 July – Johannesburg
									Crusaders	25
	Lions	23
					29 July – Johannesburg
	Sharks	21
					Lions	44
	21 July – Canberra
					Hurricanes	29
	Brumbies	16
	Hurricanes	35

Quarter-finals

	21 July 2017	Brumbies	16–35	Hurricanes	GIO Stadium, Canberra
	19:35	Try: James Dargaville  3' Josh Mann-Rea  16' Con: Wharenui Hawera (0/2) Pen: Wharenui Hawera  11', 29' (2/3)		Try: Wes Goosen  7', 75' Jordie Barrett  25' TJ Perenara  69' Con: Jordie Barrett  26', 70', 77' (3/4) Pen: Jordie Barrett  39', 48', 65' (3/3) Cards: Jeff Toomaga-Allen  41'

	22 July 2017	Crusaders	17–0	Highlanders	AMI Stadium, Christchurch
	19:35	Try: Joe Moody  32' Codie Taylor  40' Con: Richie Mo'unga  34', 41' (2/2) Pen: Richie Mo'unga  5' (1/4)		Cards: Liam Squire  5'

	22 July 2017	Lions	23–21	Sharks	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
	2:30	Try: Franco Mostert  47' Jaco Kriel  51' Lionel Mapoe  61' Con: Elton Jantjies  61' (1/3) Pen: Elton Jantjies  10' (1/3) Cards: Franco Mostert  64'		Try: Kobus van Wyk  11' Dan du Preez  66' Con: Curwin Bosch  67' (1/2) Pen: Curwin Bosch  35', 39' (2/2) Drop: Curwin Bosch  17' (1/1) Cards: Stephan Lewies  45'

	22 July 2017	Stormers	11–17	Chiefs	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
	17:00	Try: Siya Kolisi  45' Con: SP Marais (0/1) Pen: SP Marais  23', 62' (2/3)		Try: Shaun Stevenson  75' Con: Damian McKenzie (0/1) Pen: Damian McKenzie  29', 32', 38', 51' (4/4) Cards: Sam Cane  60'

Semi-finals

	29 July 2017	Crusaders	27–13	Chiefs	AMI Stadium, Christchurch
	19:35	Try: Bryn Hall  16' Israel Dagg  49' Seta Tamanivalu  58', 72' Con: Richie Mo'unga  18', 59' (2/4) Pen: Richie Mo'unga  13' (1/1)		Try: Brodie Retallick  77' Con: Damian McKenzie  78' (1/1) Pen: Damian McKenzie  26', 38' (2/2)

	29 July 2017	Lions	44–29	Hurricanes	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
	2:10	Try: Jacques van Rooyen  39' Ross Cronjé  44' Malcolm Marx  52' Harold Vorster  61' Elton Jantjies  69' Kwagga Smith  74' Con: Elton Jantjies  40', 45', 63', 69' (4/6) Pen: Elton Jantjies  5', 58' (2/2)		Try: TJ Perenara  7' Wes Goosen  10' Ardie Savea  30' Ngani Laumape  55' Con: Jordie Barrett  11', 57' (2/3) Beauden Barrett  31' (1/1) Pen: Jordie Barrett  19' (1/2) Cards: Beauden Barrett  58'

Final

Summary

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2017)

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)

Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg Referee: Jaco Peyper ( South Africa)

Lions

Crusaders

Lions: FB 15 Andries Coetzee RW 14 Ruan Combrinck OC 13 Lionel Mapoe IC 12 Harold Vorster LW 11 Courtnall Skosan FH 10 Elton Jantjies SH 9 Ross Cronjé N8 8 Ruan Ackermann OF 7 Kwagga Smith  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 16 Akker van der Merwe PR 17 Corné Fourie PR 18 Johannes Jonker LK 19 Lourens Erasmus FL 20 Cyle Brink SH 21 Faf de Klerk IC 22 Rohan Janse van Rensburg FB 23 Sylvian Mahuza Coach: Johan Ackermann

Crusaders: FB 15 David Havili RW 14 Israel Dagg CE 13 Jack Goodhue SF 12 Ryan Crotty LW 11 Seta Tamanivalu FH 10 Richie 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 16 Ben Funnell PR 17 Wyatt Crockett PR 18 Michael Ala'alatoa LK 19 Luke Romano FL 20 Pete Samu SH 21 Mitchell Drummond FH 22 Mitchell Hunt WG 23 George Bridge Coach: Scott Robertson

References