2022 Currie Cup Premier Division Explained

2022 Currie Cup Premier Division
Countries:	South Africa
Date:	14 January – 25 June
Count:	1
Matches:	44
Tries:	318
Top Point Scorer:	Ruan Pienaar (Free State Cheetahs, 115)
Top Try Scorer:	Louis van der Westhuizen (Free State Cheetahs, 14)
Prevseason:	2021
Nextseason:	2023

The 2022 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 84th edition of the top tier of the Currie Cup, the premier domestic rugby union competition in South Africa. It was sponsored by beer brand Carling Black Label and organised by the South African Rugby Union.^[1]

The tournament was played from January to June in 2022, following the realignment of the South African domestic rugby union calendar to dovetail with the northern hemisphere and the United Rugby Championship, which features four South African sides.

The competition again featured seven sides, with SA Rugby rejecting a proposal from the to join the competition immediately, however the winner of the 2022 Currie Cup First Division would be promoted to the Premier Division for 2023, forming an eight team competition. The 2022 Currie Cup First Division began later in the year.

Teams

The seven competing teams are:

Team	Sponsored name	Capacity
+ 2022 Currie Cup Premier Division
	Vodacom Blue Bulls	51,762
	Free State Cheetahs	48,000
	Sigma Golden Lions	62,567 5,000
	Griquas	11,000
	Airlink Pumas	40,929
	Cell C Sharks	52,000
	Western Province	55,000 16,000

Regular season

Standings

Tournament points in the standings were awarded to teams as follows:

4 points for a win.
2 points for a draw.
1 bonus point for a loss in a match by seven points or under.
1 bonus point for scoring four tries or more.

Teams were ranked in the standings firstly by tournament points then by: (a) points difference from all matches (points scored less points conceded); (b) tries difference from all matches (tries scored less tries conceded); (c) points difference from the matches between the tied teams; (d) points scored in all matches; (e) tries scored in all matches; and, if needed, (f) a coin toss.

Round-by-round

The table below shows the progression of all teams throughout the Currie Cup season. Each team's tournament points on the standings log is shown for each round, with the overall log position in brackets.

2022 Currie Cup team progression
Team	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	Semi	Final
Blue Bulls	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	5 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	10 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	10 (1st)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	10 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	15 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	20 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	25 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	30 (1st)	style="background:#97DEFF;padding:0;"	32 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	37 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	42 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	47 (1st)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	47 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	47 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	Lost	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ
Free State Cheetahs	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	4 (3rd)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	4 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	9 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	13 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	18 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	22 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	26 (1st)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	26 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	31 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	36 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	41 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	41 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	43 (2nd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	48 (1st)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	Lost	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ
Golden Lions	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	1 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	1 (7th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	1 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	2 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	3 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	3 (7th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (7th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	10 (7th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	15 (7th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	15 (7th)	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ
Griquas	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	0 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	1 (6th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	5 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	9 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	10 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	15 (4th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	15 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	16 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	20 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	21 (4th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	21 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	26 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	31 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	36 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	Won	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	Lost
Pumas	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	0 (7th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	5 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (6th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	5 (6th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	10 (5th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	15 (5th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	15 (5th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	19 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	20 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	22 (5th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	27 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	29 (4th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	Won	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	Won
Sharks	style="background:#ECECEC;"	0 (5th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	4 (5th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	9 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	14 (1st)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	18 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	18 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	18 (3rd)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	22 (3rd)	style="background:#97DEFF;padding:0;"	24 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	24 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	24 (3rd)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	24 (4th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	26 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	27 (5th)	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ
Western Province	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	5 (2nd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (3rd)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	5 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	6 (5th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	6 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	7 (5th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	7 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	8 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	9 (6th)	style="background:#ECECEC;"	9 (6th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	13 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	13 (6th)	style="background:#FFCCCC;padding:0;"	15 (6th)	style="background:#E8FFD8;"	19 (6th)	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ	style="line-height:1.2;padding:3px;"	DNQ

Key:	Win	Draw	Loss	No match	Bye

Matches

Listed below are all matches for the double round-robin, played for the 2022 Currie Cup Premier Division.^[2]

Round 14

Play-offs

Final


Griquas:
FB	15
RW	14
OC	13	Sango Xamlashe (c)
IC	12
LW	11
FH	10
SH	9
N8	8
BF	7
OF	6
RL	5	Derik Pretorius
LL	4
TP	3	Janu Botha
HK	2	Janco Uys
LP	1
Substitutes:
HK	16
PR	17
PR	18	Andries Schutte
LK	19
BR	20
SH	21
FH	22
CE	23
Coach:
Pieter Bergh


Pumas:
FB	15
RW	14
OC	13
IC	12
LW	11	Jade Stighling
FH	10
SH	9
N8	8
BF	7	Willie Engelbrecht (c)
OF	6
RL	5
LL	4
TP	3
HK	2
LP	1
Substitutes:
HK	16
PR	17
PR	18
BR	19
BR	20
SH	21	Giovan Snyman
CE	22
CE	23
Coach:
Jimmy Stonehouse

Assistant Referees:
Morné Ferreira
Griffin Colby
Television match official:
Quinton Immelman

Players

Team rosters

The respective team squads for the 2022 Currie Cup Premier Division are:

squad^[3]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[4]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[5]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[6]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[7]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[8]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

squad^[9]
Forwards
Backs
Coach

Referees

The following referees officiated matches in the competition:

2022 Currie Cup Premier Division referees

External links

SARU website

Notes and References

News: Carling Currie Cup gets January kick off. SA Rugby. 10 December 2021. 27 December 2021.
News: Currie Cup to start in January, sticks to 7 team Premier Division format for 2022. News24. 10 December 2021. 27 December 2021.
Web site: Blue Bulls squad . SA Rugby . 13 January 2022.
Web site: Currie Cup Players. 12 January 2022. Free State Cheetahs.
Web site: Golden Lions squad . SA Rugby . 16 January 2022.
Web site: Griquas squad . @griquas_rugby on Instagram . 2 November 2021 . 27 December 2021.
Web site: Pumas squad . SA Rugby . 12 January 2022.
Web site: Sharks squad . SA Rugby . 16 June 2021.
Web site: Western Province squad . SA Rugby . 14 January 2022.