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Gold Cup (rugby union)

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(Redirected from SARU Community Cup)

Gold Cup
Upcoming season or competition:
Current sports event 2019 Gold Cup (rugby union)
FormerlySARU Community Cup
SportRugby union
Founded2013
First season2013
No. of teams20
CountriesSouth Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe
Most recent
champion(s)
False Bay
Most titlesRustenburg Impala (2)
TV partner(s)Supersport
Sponsor(s)Cell C

The Gold Cup is the premier rugby union club competition in South Africa for non-university teams.[1]

The competition was launched as the SARU Community Cup in 2013 to replace the existing SARU National Club Championships and renamed to the Gold Cup for 2016, when teams from Namibia and Zimbabwe were also included in the competition.

History

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The SARU Community Cup logo

On 20 September 2012, the South African Rugby Union announced the launch of the SARU Community Cup to replace the National Club Championships. The inaugural edition started in February 2013. Several rugby union clubs in South Africa are affiliated to universities, which already competed in the annual Varsity Rugby tournaments. The Community Cup was created as a national competition for non-university clubs.

After three seasons during which the matches were played over the Easter weekend, it was rebranded as the Gold Cup, moved to a timeslot later in the year and also included teams from Namibia and Zimbabwe.[2]

Format

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Each season, twenty teams qualify for the Gold Cup from the club leagues of the fourteen provincial unions in South Africa. In addition, the Blue Bulls Limpopo sub-union also entered a team every year and from 2016 onwards, the champions of the Namibian and Zimbabwean club competitions would also enter. The defending champions of the Gold Cup would automatically qualify to the next edition. Each of the provincial unions would nominate a team which would automatically qualify for the competition – it is dependent on the rules of the individual league whether this will be the team that finishes top of the log during the round-robin stage of the competition or the title play-off winner. All university teams are ineligible and would be excluded from participation.

In addition to the automatic qualifiers, the remainder of the participating teams would consist of wildcard entries. For 2013 and 2014, teams were nominated to enter a wildcard draw, but from 2015 onwards a play-off competition was introduced, where the second-best eligible teams from the provincial unions could play off for the remaining spots.

The format of the Gold Cup is the same as the Rugby World Cup. The teams are divided into four pools, each containing five teams. They then play four pool games, playing every other teams in their respective pools once. Each team plays two home games and two away games.

The winner and runner-up of each pool enter the play-off stage, held at a neutral venue over the Easter long weekend each year. The play-offs consist of quarter finals, semi-finals and the final. The winner of each pool meets the runner-up of a different pool in the quarter-final. The winner of each quarter-final goes on to the semi-finals and the semi-final winners to the Cup final. The losing semi-finalists play each other in the 3rd-place play-off. The losing quarter finalists meet in the Plate semi-final, the winners of which will play in the Plate final, with the losers playing in the 7th-place play-off.

Sponsorship

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The sponsored version of the logo

In February 2013, it was announced that mobile phone provider Cell C would sponsor the SARU Community Cup for three seasons, with the tournament being known as the Cell C Community Cup.[3]

Teams

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The teams that participated in the Gold Cup and their finishing positions are as follows:

SARU Community / Gold Cup participants
Team Union Community Cup Gold Cup
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
African Bombers Eastern Province 12
Bloemfontein Crusaders Free State 15 10 15
Bloemfontein Police Free State 20 18 10
Boksburg Falcons 15
Brakpan Falcons 3 9 4
Bridgton SWD 17
Centurion Blue Bulls 7
College Rovers Kwa-Zulu Natal 2 4 6 6 2
Despatch Eastern Province 1 5 4
Durban Collegians Kwa-Zulu Natal 9 14
Durbanville-Bellville Western Province 5 1 3
East London Police Border 16
Evergreens SWD 8 12 7
False Bay Western Province 2 1
Hamiltons Western Province 3 3
Mossel Bay Barbarians SWD 14
Noordelikes Limpopo Blue Bulls 19 19 19
Northam Rhinos Limpopo Blue Bulls 17 8
Old Georgians Zimbabwe 13 9
Old Selbornians Border 10 8 10 11 17
Pirates Golden Lions 10
Port Elizabeth Police Eastern Province 17 8
Progress (George) SWD 6
Progress (Uitenhage) Eastern Province 11
Pretoria Police Blue Bulls 6 5 5
QBR Blue Bulls 3
Raiders Golden Lions 9 11 15
Roodepoort Golden Lions 7 2
Roses United Boland 13 6 12
Rustenburg Impala Leopards 4 1 2 1 4
Sasol Mpumalanga 7
Sishen Griquas 17 11 16 9 16
SK Walmers Western Province 11
Spring Rose Eastern Province 12
Springs Falcons 18
Swallows Border 14
Tygerberg Western Province 5
Vaal Reefs Leopards 20
Vereeniging Falcons 13
Villagers Worcester Boland 16 13 19
Wanderers Golden Lions 7
Welkom Griffons 20 19
Welkom Rovers Griffons 14 13 20 15
Wesbank Boland 18 8
Western Suburbs Namibia 18
White River Mpumalanga 18 20
Windhoek Wanderers Namibia 12
Witbank Ferros Mpumalanga 16 14
  • The top eight teams are ranked by the results of the finals tournament. Teams 9 to 20 are ranked by their final log position in the pool stages.
  • N/A indicates the team did not qualify to the relevant edition of the Gold Cup.
  • (Q) indicates the team qualified to the next edition of the Gold Cup.

References

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  1. ^ "Club rugby in South Africa receives a major boost". South African Rugby Union. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
  2. ^ "Club rugby revival enters new 'Golden' era" (Press release). South African Rugby Union. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Cell C named as Community Cup sponsor". South Africa Rugby Union. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.

See also

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