2017 SARU Gold Cup

2017 SARU Gold Cup
Countries	South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe
Date	9 September – 29 October 2017
Attendance
← 2016 2018 →

The 2017 SARU Gold Cup will be the second season of the SARU Gold Cup competition since its name change, having previously been known as the Community Cup. The competition will be the top competition for non-university rugby union clubs in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The 2017 competition will retain the same timeslot as the 2016 edition, taking place between 9 September and 29 October 2017.

The format of the Gold Cup will be the same as the Rugby World Cup. The teams will be divided into four pools, each containing five teams. Each team will play four pool games, facing all the other teams in their pools once, with two of those matches being home games and two being away games.

The winner and runner-up of each pool will enter the play-off stage, which will consist of quarter finals, semi-finals and the final. The winner of each pool will meet the runner-up of a different pool in a quarter final, at the home venue of the pool winner. The winner of each quarter-final will progress to the semi-finals and the semi-final winners to the final, which will be held at the home venue of the finalist with the best record in the pool stages.

Defending champions Rustenburg Impala qualified for the 2017 SARU Gold Cup competition. They will be joined by the highest-placed non-university clubs from the club leagues of South Africa's fourteen provincial unions, Limpopo, Namibia and Zimbabwe, plus two wildcard spots.

The following teams qualified for the 2017 SARU Gold Cup:

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