| 2018 Varsity Shield | |
| Countries: | South Africa |
| Date: | 19 February – 9 April 2018 |
| Count: | 2 |
| Matches: | 24 |
| Tries: | 172 |
| Prevseason: | 2017 |
| Nextseason: | 2019 |
The 2018 Varsity Shield was the 8th season of the Varsity Shield, the second-tier competition in the annual Varsity Rugby series. It was played between 19 February and 9 April 2018 and featured seven university teams.
The competition was won by, who beat the 55–10 in the final played on 9 April 2018, also winning promotion to the 2019 Varsity Cup.
There were seven participating university teams in the 2019 Varsity Shield. They played each other once during the pool stage, either at 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 after the pool stage qualified for the semifinals, which were followed by a final.
The teams that played in the 2018 Varsity Shield were:
| 2018 Varsity Shield teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team name | University | Stadium | |
| Rhodes University | |||
| University of Fort Hare | |||
| University of KwaZulu-Natal | |||
| Walter Sisulu University |
The final log for the 2018 Varsity Shield was:
| 2018 Varsity Shield log | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts< | --Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts--> |
| 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 331 | 86 | +245 | 46 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 30 | |||||||||||||||
| 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 137 | 111 | +26 | 20 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 22 | |||||||||||||||
| 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 148 | 140 | +8 | 20 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 17 | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 155 | −37 | 16 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 17 | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 116 | 126 | −10 | 16 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 12 | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 149 | 179 | −30 | 19 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||||||||
| 7 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 55 | 257 | −202 | 9 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
| Final standings. |
| Legend and competition rules | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Legend: | |||
| Qualified for the semifinals. | 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 | ||
| Competition rules: | |||
The table below shows a team's progression throughout the season. For each round, each team's cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.
| Team Progression – 2018 Varsity Shield | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | SF | F | |||||||||
| style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 5 (1st) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 10 (1st) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 10 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 15 (1st) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 20 (1st) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 25 (1st) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 30 (1st) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | Won | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | Won | |
| style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 5 (3rd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 10 (3rd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 14 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 18 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 22 (2nd) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 22 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | Won | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | Lost | |
| style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 4 (3rd) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 4 (4th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 6 (5th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 11 (4th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 12 (3rd) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 12 (4th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 17 (3rd) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | Lost | |||
| style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 4 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 8 (2nd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 12 (1st) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 12 (3rd) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 12 (4th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 13 (3rd) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 17 (4th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | Lost | |||
| style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 1 (4th) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 1 (6th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 6 (4th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 7 (5th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 11 (5th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 11 (5th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 12 (5th) | |||||
| style="background:#ECECEC;" | 0 (5th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 1 (5th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 1 (6th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 1 (6th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 2 (6th) | style="background:#CCFFCC;" | 7 (6th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 9 (6th) | |||||
| style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (6th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#ECECEC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | style="background:#FFCCCC;" | 0 (7th) | |||||
| Key: | win | draw | loss | bye |
The following matches were played in the 2018 Varsity Shield: