The 2017 Super Rugby Final was played between the and the . 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.
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 in a closely matched quarterfinal, before defeating the previous year's champion the in their semifinal match.
The Crusaders had comfortably beat local New Zealand rivals the and in their respective quarterfinal and semifinal playoffs at home in Christchurch before travelling to Johannesburg for the final. It was their first Grand Final appearance since 2008.
Road to the final Finals Series qualifying teams Conference leadersTeam 1 14 0 1 +322 9 65 2 14 0 1 +241 7 63 3 10 0 5 +54 3 43 4 6 0 9 +36 10 34 Wildcard teams 5 12 0 3 +324 10 58 6 12 1 2 +141 7 57 7 11 0 4 +180 7 51 8 9 1 5 +69 4 42Source: SANZAAR
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.
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 Summary
Details
Lions: FB 15Andries CoetzeeRW 14Ruan CombrinckOC 13Lionel MapoeIC 12Harold VorsterLW 11Courtnall SkosanFH 10Elton JantjiesSH 9 Ross CronjéN8 8 Ruan AckermannOF 7 Kwagga Smith BF 6 Jaco KrielLL 5 Franco MostertRL 4 Andries FerreiraTP 3 Ruan DreyerHK 2 Malcolm MarxLP 1 Jacques van RooyenSubstitutes:HK 16Akker van der MerwePR 17Corné FouriePR 18Johannes JonkerLK 19Lourens ErasmusFL 20Cyle BrinkSH 21Faf de KlerkIC 22Rohan Janse van RensburgFB 23Sylvian MahuzaCoach: Johan AckermannCrusaders: FB 15David HaviliRW 14Israel Dagg CE 13Jack GoodhueSF 12Ryan CrottyLW 11Seta TamanivaluFH 10Richie Mo'ungaSH 9 Bryn HallN8 8 Kieran ReadOF 7 Matt ToddBF 6 Jordan TaufuaLL 5 Sam WhitelockRL 4 Scott BarrettTP 3 Owen FranksHK 2 Codie TaylorLP 1 Joe MoodySubstitutes:HK 16Ben FunnellPR 17Wyatt CrockettPR 18Michael AlaalatoaLK 19Luke RomanoFL 20Pete Samu SH 21Mitchell DrummondFH 22Mitchell HuntWG 23George BridgeCoach: Scott Robertson Man of the Match: Ryan Crotty
Assistant Referees:
References