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Vodacom Cup
	Competition logo
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1998
First season	1998
Ceased	2015
No. of teams	16
Country	South Africa ; Namibia ; Argentina ; Kenya
Last; champion(s)	Pumas
Most titles	Golden Lions / ; Griquas (5)
Sponsor(s)	Vodacom
Related; competitions	Currie Cup

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 Limpopo Blue Bulls, officially a sub-union of the Blue Bulls, took part as a separate team between 2013 and 2015. Namibian side the Welwitschias played in the competition between 1999 and 2001, in 2010, 2011 and in 2015. Argentine side Pampas XV participated in the competition between 2010 and 2013 and a Simba XV from Kenya competed in 2014.^[1]^[2]

The most successful teams in the history of the competition were Griquas and the Golden Lions, 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.

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
Blue Bulls				1st	2nd	2nd	2nd			2nd	1st	2nd	1st	2nd
Boland Cavaliers				2nd
Border Bulldogs
Eastern Province Kings
Falcons									1st
Free State XV			1st								2nd		2nd
Golden Lions	2nd	1st			1st	1st	1st									1st	2nd
Griffons
Griquas	1st	2nd	2nd					1st		1st		1st			2nd		1st
Leopards XV								2nd
Limpopo Blue Bulls	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Pampas XV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		1st			—	—
Pumas																2nd		1st
Sharks XV									2nd
Simba XV	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		—
SWD Eagles
Welwitschias	—				—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—			—	—	—
Western Province															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	Griqualand West	57–0	Golden Lions
1999	Golden Lions	73–7	Griqualand West
2000	Free State Cheetahs	44–24	Griqualand West
2001	Blue Bulls	42–24	Boland Cavaliers
2002	Golden Lions	54–38	Blue Bulls
2003	Golden Lions	26–17	Blue Bulls
2004	Golden Lions	35–16	Blue Bulls
2005	Griquas	27–25	Leopards
2006	Falcons	25–17	Natal Wildebeest
2007	Griquas	33–29	Blue Bulls
2008	Blue Bulls	25–21	Free State Cheetahs
2009	Griquas	28–19	Blue Bulls
2010	Blue Bulls	31–29	Free State Cheetahs
2011	Pampas XV	14–9	Blue Bulls
2012	Western Province	20–18	Griquas
2013	Golden Lions	42–28	Pumas
2014	Griquas	30–6	Golden Lions
2015	Pumas	24–7	Western Province

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	Griquas	5 (1998, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014)	3	3	3
2	Golden Lions	5 (1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2013)	2	1	6
3	Blue Bulls	3 (2001, 2008, 2010)	6	4	2
4	Free State Cheetahs	1 (2000)	2	3	5
5	Western Province	1 (2012)	1	3	5
6	Pumas	1 (2015)	1	3	1
7	Falcons	1 (2006)	0	3	0
8	Pampas XV	1 (2011)	0	0	2
9	Sharks XV	0	1	5	4
10	Boland Cavaliers	0	1	4	3
11	Leopards	0	1	3	3
12	Eastern Province Kings	0	0	1	3
12	SWD Eagles	0	0	1	3
14	Border Bulldogs	0	0	0	0
	Griffons	0	0	0	0
	Limpopo Blue Bulls	0	0	0	0
	Simba XV	0	0	0	0
	Welwitschias	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	Griffons	40–27	Mighty Elephants
2002	Mighty Elephants	26–20	Natal
2003	Border Bulldogs	32–0	Griquas
2004	Boland Cavaliers	19–12	SWD Eagles

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	Eastern Province Kings	1 (2002)	1	1
2	Border Bulldogs	1 (2003)	0	1
3	Boland Cavaliers	1 (2004)	0	0
3	Griffons	1 (2001)	0	0
5	Griquas	0	1	1
5	SWD Eagles	0	1	1
7	Sharks XV	0	1	0
8	Western Province	0	0	2
9	Leopards	0	0	1
9	Pumas	0	0	1
11	Falcons	0	0	0

Notes and references

^ "Argentina and Namibia to play in Vodacom Cup". South African Rugby Union. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
^ "SA Rugby Log – 2010 Vodacom Cup". South African Rugby Union. Retrieved 30 May 2016.