1998 Currie Cup

1998 Currie Cup
Countries	South Africa
Date	8 July – 29 October 1998
Champions	Blue Bulls (18th title)
Runners-up	Western Province
Matches played	94
← 1997 1999 →

The 1998 Currie Cup was the 60th season of the Currie Cup, South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, since it started in 1889. The competition was known as the Bankfin Currie Cup for sponsorship reasons and was contested from 8 July to 29 October 1998.^{[note 1]}

The competition was won by the Blue Bulls for the 18th time in their history; they beat Western Province 24–20 in the final played on 29 October 1998.

Competition rules and information

There were fourteen participating teams in the 1998 Currie Cup. These teams played all the other teams once over the course of the season, 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 4 teams qualified for the title play-offs. In the semi-finals, the team that finished first had home advantage against the team that finished fourth, while the team that finished second had home advantage against the team that finished third. The winners of these semi-finals advanced to the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.

Teams

Team Listing

1998 Currie Cup teams
Team	Sponsored Name	Stadium/s	Sponsored Name
Blue Bulls	Blue Bulls	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	Minolta Loftus
Boland Cavaliers	Bokomo Boland Cavaliers	Boland Stadium, Wellington	Boland Stadium
Border	Border	Waverley Park, East London	Waverley Park
Eastern Province	Eastern Province	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth	PE Stadium
Falcons	MTN Falcons	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan	Bosman Stadium
Free State Cheetahs	Free State Cheetahs	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	Vodacom Park
Golden Lions	Golden Lions	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg	Ellis Park Stadium
Griqualand West	Griqualand West	Griqua Park, Kimberley	ABSA Park
Mpumalanga Pumas	Mpumalanga Pumas	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium
North West	North West	Olën Park, Potchefstroom	Olën Park
Northern Free State	Northern Free State	North West Stadium, Welkom	North West Stadium
Sharks	Sharks	University of Natal, Durban	University of Natal
SWD Eagles	SWD Eagles	Outeniqua Park, George	Outeniqua Park
Western Province	Norwich Western Province	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town	Fedsure Park Newlands

Changes from 1997

There were name changes prior to this season:

• Boland were renamed Boland Cavaliers^[1]
• Gauteng Lions were renamed Golden Lions
• Northern Transvaal were renamed the Blue Bulls^[2]

Log

The final log of the round-robin stage of the 1998 Currie Cup:^{[3] [note 2]}

1998 Currie Cup log
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
1	Griqualand West	13	10	0	3	478	216	+262	70	26	8	2	50
2	Blue Bulls	13	10	0	3	461	231	+230	65	28	7	2	49
3	Sharks	13	9	1	3	410	242	+168	54	25	7	2	47
4	Western Province	13	10	0	3	371	247	+124	49	27	5	2	47
5	Free State Cheetahs	13	8	1	4	453	314	+139	56	31	8	1	43
6	Falcons	13	9	1	3	381	285	+96	48	35	5	0	43
7	SWD Eagles	13	7	1	5	378	290	+88	51	38	7	2	39
8	Golden Lions	13	7	0	6	389	279	+110	55	37	6	2	36
9	Eastern Province	13	5	0	8	345	313	+32	46	45	5	3	28
10	Boland Cavaliers	13	5	0	8	253	456	−203	38	67	3	1	24
11	Mpumalanga Pumas	13	4	0	9	284	381	−97	37	52	3	2	21
12	Border	13	2	0	11	236	472	−236	27	68	3	2	13
13	North West	13	2	0	11	236	637	−401	28	100	1	1	10
14	Northern Free State	13	1	0	12	212	524	−312	27	72	4	1	9
Final standings.

Legend and Competition rules
Legend:
	Qualify 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
Competition rules:
Qualification: The top four teams qualified to the semi-finals.
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

Matches

The following matches were played in the 1998 Currie Cup:^{[4][note 1]}

Round One

	8 July 1998	North West	10–34	Golden Lions	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[5]

	9 July 1998	Griqualand West	87–14	Border	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[6]

Round Two

	15 July 1998	Boland Cavaliers	14–9	Northern Free State	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[7]

	15 July 1998	Golden Lions	26–27	SWD Eagles	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[8]

	16 July 1998	Border	15–23	North West	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[9]

	16 July 1998	Eastern Province	26–35	Blue Bulls	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[10]

	16 July 1998	Free State Cheetahs	40–13	Falcons	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[11]

	16 July 1998	Western Province	24–21	Griqualand West	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[12]

	17 July 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	17–31	Sharks	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[13]

Round Three

	22 July 1998	North West	7–57	Western Province	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[14]

	23 July 1998	Falcons	19–17	Golden Lions	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[15]

	23 July 1998	Griqualand West	18–15	Blue Bulls	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[16]

	23 July 1998	Sharks	43–24	Eastern Province	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[17]

	23 July 1998	Northern Free State	34–33	Free State Cheetahs	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[18]

	23 July 1998	SWD Eagles	44–16	Mpumalanga Pumas	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[19]

	24 July 1998	Border	29–19	Boland Cavaliers	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[20]

Round Four

	29 July 1998	Free State Cheetahs	36–18	Border	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[21]

	30 July 1998	Blue Bulls	68–11	North West	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[22]

	30 July 1998	Golden Lions	54–9	Northern Free State	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[23]

	30 July 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	10–20	Falcons	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[24]

	30 July 1998	Sharks	17–23	Griqualand West	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[25]

	31 July 1998	Eastern Province	11–13	SWD Eagles	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[26]

Round Five

	5 August 1998	Blue Bulls	48–3	Mpumalanga Pumas	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[27]

	5 August 1998	Griqualand West	46–8	North West	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[28]

	6 August 1998	Falcons	39–17	Boland Cavaliers	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[29]

	6 August 1998	Golden Lions	11–10	Sharks	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[30]

	6 August 1998	Northern Free State	21–27	Border	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[31]

	6 August 1998	Western Province	34–30	Eastern Province	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[32]

	7 August 1998	SWD Eagles	27–38	Free State Cheetahs	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[33]

Round Six

	11 August 1998	Free State Cheetahs	27–23	Mpumalanga Pumas	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[34]

	12 August 1998	Boland Cavaliers	29–19	Eastern Province	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[35]

	12 August 1998	Falcons	17–13	Western Province	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[36]

	12 August 1998	North West	25–14	Northern Free State	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[37]

	12 August 1998	SWD Eagles	29–32	Blue Bulls	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[38]

Round Seven

	19 August 1998	Blue Bulls	27–22	Falcons	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[39]

	19 August 1998	Eastern Province	20–7	Free State Cheetahs	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[40]

	19 August 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	21–44	Golden Lions	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[41]

	19 August 1998	Sharks	15–14	SWD Eagles	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[42]

	19 August 1998	Western Province	31–7	Northern Free State	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[43]

	21 August 1998	Boland Cavaliers	17–13	Griqualand West	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[44]

Round Eight

	26 August 1998	Falcons	29–40	Sharks	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[45]

	26 August 1998	Northern Free State	5–28	Blue Bulls	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[46]

	27 August 1998	Golden Lions	43–22	Eastern Province	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[47]

	27 August 1998	Griqualand West	48–28	Free State Cheetahs	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[48]

	27 August 1998	North West	34–36	Boland Cavaliers	Rustenburg Platina Rugby Club, Rustenburg
			Scoreboard[49]

	28 August 1998	Border	14–15	Western Province	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[50]

Round Nine

	2 September 1998	Free State Cheetahs	89–25	North West	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[51]

	3 September 1998	Blue Bulls	59–21	Border	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[52]

	3 September 1998	Eastern Province	20–17	Mpumalanga Pumas	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[53]

	3 September 1998	Sharks	57–3	Northern Free State	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[54]

	3 September 1998	SWD Eagles	21–21	Falcons	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[55]

	3 September 1998	Western Province	25–39	Boland Cavaliers	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[56]

	4 September 1998	Griqualand West	36–16	Golden Lions	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[57]

Round Ten

	9 September 1998	Boland Cavaliers	22–31	SWD Eagles	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[58]

	9 September 1998	Northern Free State	19–52	Griqualand West	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[59]

	10 September 1998	Border	26–50	Falcons	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[60]

	10 September 1998	Free State Cheetahs	19–19	Sharks	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[61]

	10 September 1998	Golden Lions	12–20	Blue Bulls	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[62]

	10 September 1998	North West	15–64	Eastern Province	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[63]

	11 September 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	19–31	Western Province	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[64]

Round Eleven

	16 September 1998	Falcons	62–24	Northern Free State	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[65]

	16 September 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	62–17	North West	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[66]

	17 September 1998	Eastern Province	12–19	Griqualand West	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[67]

	17 September 1998	Golden Lions	35–42	Western Province	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[68]

	17 September 1998	SWD Eagles	52–16	Border	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[69]

	18 September 1998	Sharks	55–14	Boland Cavaliers	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[70]

Round Twelve

	23 September 1998	Griqualand West	64–7	Mpumalanga Pumas	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[71]

	24 September 1998	Boland Cavaliers	3–57	Blue Bulls	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[72]

	24 September 1998	Border	21–36	Sharks	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[73]

	24 September 1998	Northern Free State	25–46	SWD Eagles	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[74]

	25 September 1998	Western Province	17–24	Free State Cheetahs	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[75]

Round Thirteen

	30 September 1998	Northern Free State	13–43	Mpumalanga Pumas	North West Stadium, Welkom
			Scoreboard[76]

	30 September 1998	SWD Eagles	14–33	Griqualand West	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[77]

	1 October 1998	Blue Bulls	20–38	Western Province	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[78]

	1 October 1998	Border	5–12	Golden Lions	Waverley Park, East London
			Scoreboard[79]

	1 October 1998	Falcons	21–10	Eastern Province	Bosman Stadium, Brakpan
			Scoreboard[80]

	1 October 1998	North West	24–57	Sharks	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[81]

	2 October 1998	Boland Cavaliers	19–59	Free State Cheetahs	Boland Stadium, Wellington
			Scoreboard[82]

Round Fourteen

	7 October 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	19–0	Boland Cavaliers	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[83]

	8 October 1998	Eastern Province	35–8	Border	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[84]

	8 October 1998	Free State Cheetahs	34–18	Golden Lions	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
			Scoreboard[85]

	8 October 1998	Sharks	24–19	Blue Bulls	University of Natal, Durban
			Scoreboard[86]

	8 October 1998	North West	22–43	Falcons	Olën Park, Potchefstroom
			Scoreboard[87]

	8 October 1998	Western Province	20–8	SWD Eagles	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[88]

Round Fifteen

	14 October 1998	Golden Lions	67–24	Boland Cavaliers	Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg
			Scoreboard[89]

	14 October 1998	Mpumalanga Pumas	27–22	Border	Johann van Riebeeck Stadium, Witbank
			Scoreboard[90]

	15 October 1998	Blue Bulls	33–19	Free State Cheetahs	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[91]

	15 October 1998	Eastern Province	52–29	Northern Free State	PE Stadium, Port Elizabeth
			Scoreboard[92]

	15 October 1998	Griqualand West	18–25	Falcons	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[93]

	15 October 1998	SWD Eagles	52–15	North West	Outeniqua Park, George
			Scoreboard[94]

	15 October 1998	Western Province	24–6	Sharks	Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
			Scoreboard[95]

Semi-Finals

	22 October 1998	Blue Bulls	31–17	Sharks	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[96]

	22 October 1998	Griqualand West	11–27	Western Province	Griqua Park, Kimberley
			Scoreboard[97]

Final

	29 October 1998	Blue Bulls	24–20	Western Province	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
			Scoreboard[98]

Honours

The honour roll for the 1998 Currie Cup was:

1998 Currie Cup Honours
Champions:	Blue Bulls (18th title)

Notes

References