2018 Varsity Cup

2018 Varsity Cup
2018 Varsity Cup
Countries	South Africa
Date	29 January – 16 April 2018
Champions	Maties (4th title)
Runners-up	NWU Pukke
Relegated	NMU Madibaz
Top try scorer	Duncan Saal; (10 - Maties)
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Varsity Cup was contested from 29 January to 16 April 2018. The tournament (known as the FNB Varsity Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-university rugby union competition featuring South African universities.

Competition rules and information

There were nine participating universities in the 2018 Varsity Cup. During the round-robin stage of the competition, these teams played each other once over the course of the season, either home or away. Teams received four points for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points were awarded to teams that scored four or more tries in a game, as well as to teams that lost a match by seven points or less. Teams were ranked by log points, then points difference (points scored less points conceded).

The top four teams qualified for the title play-offs. In the semi-finals, the team that finished first had home advantage against the team that received fourth, while the team that finished second had home advantage against the team that finished third. The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.

Tries were worth five or seven points, depending on the point where the try-scoring move originated. If the try-scoring move originated in the opponents' half, it would count five points. If the move originated in the try-scoring team's own half, two bonus points were awarded and the try would be worth seven points.

For the 2018 season, the Varsity Cup introduced a Power Play rule; when a team calls for the Power Play, they can nominate two opposition backline players to be removed from the field of play for a period of three minutes.^[1]

Teams

Location of teams in the 2018 Varsity Cup

The following teams took part in the 2018 Varsity Cup competition:

2018 Varsity Cup teams
Team name	University	Stadium
CUT Ixias	Central University of Technology	CUT Stadium, Bloemfontein
Maties	Stellenbosch University	Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
NMU Madibaz	Nelson Mandela University	NMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth
NWU Pukke	North-West University	Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom
UCT Ikey Tigers	University of Cape Town	UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town
UFS Shimlas	University of the Free State	Shimla Park, Bloemfontein
UJ	University of Johannesburg	UJ Stadium, Johannesburg
UP Tuks	University of Pretoria	LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria
Wits	University of the Witwatersrand	Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg

Standings

The final standings for the 2018 Varsity Cup were:^[2]^[3]

2018 Varsity Cup standings
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Maties	8	6	2	0	301	129	+172	40	16	6	0	34
2	NWU Pukke	8	6	1	1	304	156	+148	39	21	6	1	33
3	UJ	8	5	1	2	261	154	+107	31	22	4	1	27
4	Wits	8	4	1	3	241	230	+11	33	29	6	1	25
5	UFS Shimlas	8	5	0	3	246	284	-38	33	38	4	0	24
6	UCT Ikey Tigers	8	4	0	4	182	181	+1	23	24	2	3	21
7	UP Tuks	8	2	1	5	257	208	+49	35	26	3	2	15
8	CUT Ixias	8	1	0	7	178	435	-257	24	55	3	1	8
9	NMU Madibaz	8	0	0	8	139	332	−193	17	44	1	3	4

Legend and competition rules

Legend:
	Top four teams; qualified to the semi-finals.	P = Games played, W = Games won, D = Games drawn, L = Games lost, PF = Points for, PA = Points against, PD = Points difference, TF = Tries for, TA = Tries against, TB = Try bonus points, LB = Losing bonus points, Pts = Log points
	To relegation play-off.
	Relegated to the 2019 Varsity Shield.

Competition rules:
Play-offs: The top four teams qualified to the semi-finals. The first-placed team hosted the fourth-placed team and the second-placed team hosted the third-placed team. The higher-ranked semi-final winner then hosted the lower-ranked semi-final winner in the final. Points breakdown: * 4 points for a win * 2 points for a draw * 1 bonus point for a loss by seven points or less * 1 bonus point for scoring four or more tries in a match

Pool Stages

The following matches were played in the 2018 Varsity Cup:^[4]

Round one

	29 January 2018	UP Tuks	17–19	UFS Shimlas	LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria
	16:45

	29 January 2018	UCT Ikey Tigers	26–30	Wits	UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town
	18:30

	29 January 2018	NWU Pukke	70–7	CUT Ixias	Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom
	18:30

	29 January 2018	UJ	3–31	Maties	UJ Stadium, Johannesburg
	19:00

Bye/s: NMU Madibaz

Round two

	5 February 2018	NMU Madibaz	17–27	UCT Ikey Tigers	NMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth
	16:45

	5 February 2018	Maties	56–21	UFS Shimlas	Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
	18:30

	5 February 2018	UJ	48–21	CUT Ixias	UJ Stadium, Johannesburg
	18:30

	5 February 2018	Wits	25–19	UP Tuks	Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg
	19:00

Bye/s: NWU Pukke

Round three

	12 February 2018	CUT Ixias	38–37	NMU Madibaz	CUT Stadium, Bloemfontein
	16:45

	12 February 2018	UFS Shimlas	44–24	Wits	Shimla Park, Bloemfontein
	18:30

	12 February 2018	UCT Ikey Tigers	18–15	NWU Pukke	UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town
	18:30

	12 February 2018	Maties	24–16	UP Tuks	Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
	19:00

Bye/s: UJ

Round four

	19 February 2018	NMU Madibaz	29–32	Wits	NMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth
	16:45

	19 February 2018	Maties	75–12	CUT Ixias	Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
	18:30

	19 February 2018	UCT Ikey Tigers	27–32	UFS Shimlas	UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town
	18:30

	19 February 2018	NWU Pukke	18–15	UJ	Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom
	19:00

Bye/s: UP Tuks

Round five

	26 February 2018	Wits	30–30	Maties	Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg
	16:45

	26 February 2018	UCT Ikey Tigers	23–13	UP Tuks	UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town
	18:30

	26 February 2018	NMU Madibaz	5–37	NWU Pukke	NMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth
	18:30

	26 February 2018	UFS Shimlas	12–49	UJ	Shimla Park, Bloemfontein
	19:00

Bye/s: CUT Ixias

Round six

	5 March 2018	UP Tuks	26–40	NWU Pukke	LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria
	16:45

	5 March 2018	UJ	69–8	NMU Madibaz	UJ Stadium, Johannesburg
	18:30

	5 March 2018	CUT Ixias	18–52	Wits	CUT Stadium, Bloemfontein
	18:30

	5 March 2018	Maties	33–14	UCT Ikey Tigers	Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch
	19:00

Bye/s: UFS Shimlas

Round seven

	12 March 2018	Wits	17–29	UJ	Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg
	16:45

	12 March 2018	CUT Ixias	26–54	UP Tuks	CUT Stadium, Bloemfontein
	18:30

	12 March 2018	NMU Madibaz	0–19	Maties	NMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth
	18:30

	12 March 2018	NWU Pukke	56–21	UFS Shimlas	Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom
	19:00

Bye/s: UCT Ikey Tigers

Round eight

	19 March 2018	CUT Ixias	23–30	UCT Ikey Tigers	CUT Stadium, Bloemfontein
	16:45

	19 March 2018	UFS Shimlas	28–22	NMU Madibaz	Shimla Park, Bloemfontein
	18:30

	19 March 2018	Wits	31–35	NWU Pukke	Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg
	18:30

	19 March 2018	UP Tuks	30–30	UJ	LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria
	19:00

Bye/s: Maties

Round nine

	26 March 2018	UFS Shimlas	69–33	CUT Ixias	Shimla Park, Bloemfontein
	16:45

	26 March 2018	UP Tuks	82–21	NMU Madibaz	LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria
	18:30

	26 March 2018	UJ	18–17	UCT Ikey Tigers	UJ Stadium, Johannesburg
	18:30

	26 March 2018	NWU Pukke	33–33	Maties	Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom
	19:00

Bye/s: Wits

Play-offs

Semi-finals		Final

2 April 2018

NWU Pukke	60
		16 April 2018
UJ	31
		Maties	40
2 April 2018
		NWU Pukke	07
Maties	65

Wits	18

Semi-finals

2 April 2018
16:30

NWU Pukke	60–31	UJ

Fanie du Toit Sport Ground, Potchefstroom

2 April 2018
19:00

Maties	65–18	Wits

Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch

Final

16 April 2018
19:00

Maties	40–7	NWU Pukke
Try: van der Merwe Momsen Hartzenberg Nwagbara Con: Smith (4) Drop: Smith		Try: Bezuidenhout Con: Hugo