2017 Super Rugby Final
# 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.

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 |

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

### 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) |

* 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 ||||

* Man of the Match:
* Ryan Crotty
* Assistant Referees:
