Vodacom Cup

Template:Short description Template:Use South African English The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the successor of the Bankfin Nite Series which was played in 1996 and 1997. Mobile communications provider Vodacom was the title sponsor for the entire duration of the competition.

The competition was the third most prestigious in South African rugby, behind Super Rugby and the Currie Cup. It was contested at roughly the same time as Super Rugby each season from February to June and featured a combination of Super Rugby players returning from injury, reserve players attempting to maintain their fitness levels and younger players trying to break through to the Super Rugby or Currie Cup sides. It therefore served as an important developmental competition for South African rugby.

The competition was held every season between the fourteen South African rugby unions, but several additional teams also took part during the competition's history. The Template:Rut, officially a sub-union of the Template:Rut, took part as a separate team between 2013 and 2015. Namibian side the Template:Rut played in the competition between 1999 and 2001, in 2010, 2011 and in 2015. Argentine side Template:Rut participated in the competition between 2010 and 2013 and a Template:Rut from Kenya competed in 2014.

The most successful teams in the history of the competition were Template:Rut and the Template:Rut, each winning it on five occasions. The Golden Lions also won the competition for three consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2004.

Between 2001 and 2004, the competition was split into two tier, with the top half of teams competing for the Vodacom Cup and the bottom half competing for the Vodacom Shield.

The final edition of the competition was in 2015, with SARU deciding to restructure the domestic competitions from the 2016 season onwards. A competition called the Rugby Challenge succeeded the Vodacom Cup in 2017.

File:Vodacom Cup logo old.svg

The Vodacom Cup logo 1998–2010

Teams

The results of the teams that participated in the Vodacom Cup throughout the competition's history is as follows:

Vodacom Cup 1998–2015
Team	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Template:Rut				1st	2nd	2nd	2nd			2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd
Template:Rut				2nd
Template:Rut
Template:Rut
Template:Rut									1st
Template:Rut			1st								2nd		2nd
Template:Rut	2nd	1st			1st	1st	1st									1st	2nd
Template:Rut
Template:Rut	1st	2nd	2nd					1st		1st		1st			2nd		1st
Template:Rut								2nd
Template:Rut	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Template:Rut	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		1st			—	—
Template:Rut																2nd		1st
Template:Rut									2nd
Template:Rut	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		—
Template:Rut
Template:Rut	—				—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—			—	—	—
Template:Rut															1st			2nd
Key:	Champion		Runner-up		Lost in SF		Lost in QF		Did not enter
Some teams played under different names. Each team's record is shown against the team name as per the 2015 Vodacom Cup.

Finals

The results of the finals played in the Vodacom Cup competition are as follows:

Vodacom Cup finals
Season	Winner	Score	Runner-Up
1998	Template:Rut	57–0	Template:Rut
1999	Template:Rut	73–7	Template:Rut
2000	Template:Rut	44–24	Template:Rut
2001	Template:Rut	42–24	Template:Rut
2002	Template:Rut	54–38	Template:Rut
2003	Template:Rut	26–17	Template:Rut
2004	Template:Rut	35–16	Template:Rut
2005	Template:Rut	27–25	Template:Rut
2006	Template:Rut	25–17	Template:Rut
2007	Template:Rut	33–29	Template:Rut
2008	Template:Rut	25–21	Template:Rut
2009	Template:Rut	28–19	Template:Rut
2010	Template:Rut	31–29	Template:Rut
2011	Template:Rut	14–9	Template:Rut
2012	Template:Rut	20–18	Template:Rut
2013	Template:Rut	42–28	Template:Rut
2014	Template:Rut	30–6	Template:Rut
2015	Template:Rut	24–7	Template:Rut

The Vodacom Cup Trophy

Overall Record

The overall record for the teams in the Vodacom Cup competition is as follows:

Vodacom Cup Overall Record
Ranking	Team Name	Champions	Runner-Up	Semi-Final	Quarter Final
1	Template:Rut	5 (1998, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014)	3	3	3
2	Template:Rut	5 (1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2013)	2	1	6
3	Template:Rut	3 (2001, 2008, 2010)	6	4	2
4	Template:Rut	1 (2000)	2	3	5
5	Template:Rut	1 (2012)	1	3	5
6	Template:Rut	1 (2015)	1	3	1
7	Template:Rut	1 (2006)	0	3	0
8	Template:Rut	1 (2011)	0	0	2
9	Template:Rut	0	1	5	4
10	Template:Rut	0	1	4	3
11	Template:Rut	0	1	3	3
12	Template:Rut	0	0	1	3
	Template:Rut	0	0	1	3
14	Template:Rut	0	0	0	0
	Template:Rut	0	0	0	0
	Template:Rut	0	0	0	0
	Template:Rut	0	0	0	0
	Template:Rut	0	0	0	0

Vodacom Shield

From 2001 to 2004, the teams finishing outside the top 4 in the pool phases played in a secondary competition called the Vodacom Shield.

Finals

The results of the finals played in the Vodacom Shield competition are as follows:

Vodacom Cup finals
Season	Winner	Score	Runner-Up
2001	Template:Rut	40–27	Template:Rut
2002	Template:Rut	26–20	Template:Rut
2003	Template:Rut	32–0	Template:Rut
2004	Template:Rut	19–12	Template:Rut

Overall Record

The overall record for the teams in the Vodacom Cup competition is as follows:

Vodacom Shield Overall Record
Ranking	Team Name	Champions	Runner-Up	Semi-Final
1	Template:Rut	1 (2002)	1	1
2	Template:Rut	1 (2003)	0	1
3	Template:Rut	1 (2004)	0	0
	Template:Rut	1 (2001)	0	0
5	Template:Rut	0	1	1
	Template:Rut	0	1	1
7	Template:Rut	0	1	0
8	Template:Rut	0	0	2
9	Template:Rut	0	0	1
	Template:Rut	0	0	1
11	Template:Rut	0	0	0

See also

• Bankfin Nite Series
• SuperSport Rugby Challenge

External links

• Fight on for Currie Cup places
• Falcons soar over Wildebeest
• Griquas clinch Vodacom title at the death