2015 Cricket World Cup Pool A, Matches, Australia vs Afghanistan
Afghanistan's chase was dented at regular intervals by the Australian fast bowlers. Former Afghan captain Nawroz Mangal top-scored for his team with 33 and no other batsman could go past 25. Mitchell Johnson picked up four wickets for Australia as Afghanistan were bowled out for 142 in 37.3 overs. This gave Australia a 275-run victory, the largest victory in terms of runs in a World Cup match.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool A, Matches, Australia vs Sri Lanka
Australian captain Michael Clarke won the toss and elected to bat. A shaky start in the opening, led to the fall of David Warner for 9. The shaky start from Australia continued when the other opener Finch fell for 24.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B
Pool B of the 2015 Cricket World Cup took place from 15 February to 15 March 2015. The group consisted of India, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Zimbabwe, West Indies and South Africa. This phase of the tournament was played as a full round-robin amongst all seven teams, with India, South Africa, Pakistan and West Indies advancing to the quarter-finals.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B, Matches, India vs Pakistan
India won the toss and elected to bat. After losing Rohit Sharma (14) in the 8th over, Shikhar Dhawan (73) and Virat Kohli (107) put on a 129 run partnership for the 2nd wicket. After Shikhar Dhawan was run out in the 30th over, Suresh Raina joined Kohli in the middle and put on 110 for the 3rd wicket. India lost five wickets in the last five overs for 27 runs and finished with 300 runs in 50 overs. Sohail Khan was the pick of Pakistani Bowlers with 5/55 from his 10 overs.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B, Matches, India vs Pakistan
Pakistan lost Younis Khan in the 4th over to Mohammed Shami and also lost their next 4 wickets in less than 25 overs. Pakistan Captain Misbah-ul-Haq achieved 76 (84) but Shami took 3 wickets in his 2nd spell and Pakistan lost the match in the 46th over. Virat Kohli was named Man of the Match for his century.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B, Matches, Ireland vs West Indies
The West Indies were put into bat by Ireland, who reduced them to 31/2 and 87/5 before Lendl Simmons and Darren Sammy shared a 154 run partnership. They finished their 50 overs with a score of 304/7. In reply, Ireland made 71 runs before losing their first wicket. Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce made a partnership of 106, before Stirling was dismissed. Niall O'Brien finished 79* from 60 balls, to get Ireland over the line with more than four overs remaining. This was Ireland's fourth World Cup victory over a Test playing side and their third successful chase of 300 or more runs in a World Cup.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B, Matches, India vs South Africa
India got to 307 runs in 50 overs via Dhawan's highest score in ODIs. South Africa kept losing wickets at regular intervals and lost the match by 130 runs. Dhawan was named Man of the Match for his century and two catches.


2015 Cricket World Cup Pool B, Matches, Ireland vs Pakistan
This was Pakistan's highest opening first wicket stand in the tournament. The pair of Ahmad Shahzad and Sarfraz Ahmad put a first-wicket partnership of over 100 runs, with Sarfraz scoring 101 not out, and becoming man of the match in the two consecutive games he played. While Ahmad Shahzad scored 63 runs, ensuring Pakistan a spot in the quarter-finals to face Australia at the same ground.


2015 Cricket World Cup knockout stage
The knockout stage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, following the group stage, was held from 18 to 29 March 2015. The top four teams from Pool A and Pool B advanced to the knockout stage to compete in a single-elimination style tournament. If a quarter-final or semi-final ended as a tie or no result, then the team which was placed higher in the group stages would have qualified. If the final ended in a tie, the match would have been decided by a one-over eliminator.


2015 Cricket World Cup knockout stage
Of the eight teams entering the stage, the team finishing first on Pool A played the team finishing fourth in Pool B while the team finishing second in Pool A played the team finishing third in Pool B and so on, in the format A1 v B4, A2 v B3, A3 v B2 and A4 v B1. Hosts Australia and New Zealand had home advantage for the quarter-final and semi-final matches that they qualified for.


2015 Cricket World Cup knockout stage
New Zealand, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh qualified for this stage from Pool A, while India, South Africa, Pakistan and West Indies qualified from Pool B.


2015 Cricket World Cup knockout stage
New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and India qualified for the semi-finals by beating West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh respectively. In the semi-finals, New Zealand beat South Africa and Australia beat India to qualify for the finals.


2015 Cricket World Cup officials
Officials for the 2015 Cricket World Cup were selected by the Umpire selection panel and the information was released on 2 December, 2014. Umpire selection panel selected 20 umpires to officiate at the World Cup: five were from Australia, five from England, five from Asia, two each from New Zealand and South Africa and one from West Indies. It also selected five match referees for the event.


2015 Cricket World Cup officials
The umpire selection panel consisted of Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager - Cricket), Ranjan Madugalle (ICC Chief Match Referee), David Lloyd (former player, coach, umpire and now television commentator) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (former elite panel umpire).


2015 Cricket World Cup officials, Umpires
Out of the selected umpires, twelve of them belong to the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires while the remaining eight belong to the International Panel of Umpires and Referees.


2015 Cricket World Cup officials, Umpires
The members of the Elite Panel of ICC umpires are generally thought to be the best umpires in the world and hence officiate in almost all international cricket tournaments and ICC Events. The rest six of the International Panel of Umpires have been identified as emerging and talented match officials, who have already officiated at international level and are now ready to umpire in the World Cup.


2015 Cricket World Cup officials, Referees
Five referees were also selected by the selection panel. All the selected referees belong to the Elite Panel of ICC Referees and are considered as the best cricket referees in the world.


2015 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony
The opening ceremonies of the 2015 Cricket World Cup took place in New Zealand and Australia on 12 February 2015, the eve of the beginning of the World Cup hosted by them after 23 years. Two ceremonies took place at the same time, one in North Hagley Park, Christchurch in New Zealand while the other in Melbourne, Australia. Thousands of fans turned up to watch the opening ceremony in both locations.


2015 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony, Performances
There were performances showcasing the culture of each of the participating nation at both the venues. These included the following:


2015 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony, Notable guests, At Christchurch
Apart from the performing singers, some notable guests were also present in the event at Christchurch like Mayor of Christchurch Lianne Dalziel, Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key, All Blacks captain Richie McCaw, Hollywood director Peter Jackson, cricketers Lasith Malinga, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and the other members of the New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe cricket teams playing in the tournament. There were also some former cricketers present there, namely Chris Harris, Rod Latham, Geoff Allott, Stephen Fleming and Richard Hadlee.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads
The 2015 Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand; India were the defending champions, having won the tournament in 2011. The 2015 Cricket World Cup Final took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and was won by Australia, who defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets in the final.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads
The fourteen teams that competed at the 2015 World Cup were all required to submit a final 15-man squad to the ICC headquarters in Dubai on or before 7 January 2015, although the squads did not have to be publicly that date. In order to assist this process, many teams chose to name larger probable squads in November or December, with the understanding that the final squad would be picked from within these players. Changes to the squad were allowed after this deadline at the discretion of the ICC's Technical Committee in necessary cases, such as due to player injury, and so some teams also chose to name standby players alongside their 15-man squad.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads
Sri Lanka chose to name veteran players Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara in their squad- they were the two most experienced ODI players at the tournament, as Jayawardene has played over 400 ODIs for Sri Lanka, and Sangakkara played his 400th ODI during the tournament. Jayawardene was also the most experienced World Cup player at the tournament, with 33 previous appearances. UAE's Khurram Khan was the oldest player at the tournament, whilst fellow Emirati Mohammad Tauqir became the oldest ever World Cup captain; both players were 43 years old. Afghanistan's Usman Ghani was the youngest player at the tournament, at the age of 18.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads
Below is a list of the squads chosen for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Afghanistan
Afghanistan named their 15-man squad on 29 December 2014. In addition to the 15-man squad presented, Afghanistan also named four standby players: Shafiqullah (wk), Sharafuddin Ashraf, Izatullah Dawlatzai, Hashmatullah Shaidi.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Afghanistan
1 On 25 February, Mirwais Ashraf was ruled out of the World Cup, and replaced by Shafiqullah.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Australia
Australia announced their 15-man squad publicly on 11 January 2015. Michael Clarke's selection was provisional on his fitness, but on 18 February, Clarke was declared fit to play against Bangladesh. As this match was abandoned without a ball being bowled, Clarke's first game of the World Cup was against co-hosts New Zealand on 28 February. George Bailey captained the side in their opening game against England, but was then dropped from the team when Clarke returned.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Bangladesh
Bangladesh announced their 15-member squad on 4 January 2015. The squad was initially scheduled to be announced at 1300 local time (UTC+06:00). However, it was delayed by two hours as a result of a last minute discussion between the selection committee, the board of directors of the BCB, and BCB President Nazmul Hassan. Two standby players were also announced, with Shafiul Islam, Abul Hasan named. After receiving a 40% match fee fine and a warning for slow over rate, captain Mashrafe Mortaza sat out of the last Group Stage match against New Zealand, to avoid being suspended for their quarter-final with India; Shakib Al Hasan captained the team for this match.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Bangladesh
1 On 23 February, Al-Amin Hossain was sent home from the tournament after breaking a team curfew. He was replaced by Shafiul Islam. 2 On 6 March, the injured Anamul Haque was replaced by Imrul Kayes.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, England
England were the first team to name their 15-man squad, doing so on 20 December 2014. The same 15-man squad was used for the Carlton Mid Triangular Series in Australia in 2014–15, and was captained by Eoin Morgan after Alastair Cook was sacked as ODI captain in December. Shortly before the World Cup, Jos Buttler was named as vice-captain for the tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, New Zealand
New Zealand released their 15-man squad to the public on 8 January 2015.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, New Zealand
1 On 22 March, Adam Milne was ruled out of the World Cup with a heel injury. He was replaced by Matt Henry.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Scotland
Scotland released their 15-man squad to the public on 9 January 2015. They had previously released a 24-man provisional squad on 9 December 2014, which included all the players who went on their warm-up tour of Australia and New Zealand in September/October 2014.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Scotland
1 On 11 March, Majid Haq was sent home after breaking the team's internal code of conduct.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka named their 15-man squad on 7 January 2015. Lasith Malinga's selection was provisional on his fitness, however he was passed fit prior to Sri Lanka's opening match, and played in every match. However, over the course of the tournament, five other players had to be withdrawn due to injury. Sri Lanka used 19 different players over the course of the World Cup, more than any other team; every squad player except Prasad made an appearance at the World Cup.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group A, Sri Lanka
1 On 7 February, Prasad was ruled out of the World Cup, after fracturing his hand in training. He was replaced by Dushmantha Chameera on 9 February. 2 On 25 February, Jeevan Mendis was ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Upul Tharanga. 3 On 5 March, Dimuth Karunathne was ruled out of the World Cup with an injury to his little finger. He was replaced by Seekkuge Prasanna. 4 On 10 March, Dinesh Chandimal was ruled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Kusal Perera. 5 On 17 March, Rangana Herath was ruled out of the World Cup with an injury to his spinning finger. He was replaced by Tharindu Kaushal.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, India
India named their 15-man squad on 6 January 2015. Dhawal Kulkarni was picked as a standby injury cover for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, although he was not called up for the tournament. India used the same 11 players for every match except against the UAE, where Bhuvneshwar Kumar played instead of Mohammed Shami,as a result, they used the fewest players (12) of any team in the tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, India
1 On 7 February, Ishant Sharma was ruled out of the World Cup, after failing to recover from a knee injury. He was replaced by Mohit Sharma.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Ireland
Ireland announced their 15-member squad on 5 January 2015. The squad was the same as for the Dubai Triangular Series 2014–15.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Ireland
1 Max Sorensen replaced Tim Murtagh, who was originally selected before pulling out due to injury.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Pakistan
1 On 2 February, Junaid Khan pulled out of the World Cup with a hamstring injury. On 6 February, the ICC approved Rahat Ali as a replacement for Junaid Khan. 2 On 8 February, Mohammad Hafeez was ruled out of the World Cup with a calf injury, and was replaced by Nasir Jamshed.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates (UAE) released their 15-man squad on 10 January 2015. On the same day, Mohammad Tauqir was named as captain, replacing Khurram Khan, making Tauqir the oldest World Cup captain. Khan was vice-captain for this tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, West Indies
West Indies announced their 15-man squad on 11 January 2015. Both ex-captain Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard were not included in the squad,having been dropped from the team before the South Africa series, Darren Sammy, who also missed that series, was included in the World Cup squad. Marlon Samuels was appointed vice-captain for the tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, West Indies
1 Narine withdrew from the squad on 27 January, citing confidence problems with his new bowling action. On 29 January, Nikita Miller was named as a replacement. 2 Darren Bravo was ruled out with a hamstring injury on 27 February. He was replaced by Johnson Charles.


2015 Cricket World Cup squads, Group B, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe named their 15-man squad on 7 January 2015; they had previously named a 30-man provisional squad. Captain Elton Chigumbura did not play the last 2 games due to a muscle tear; Brendan Taylor captained the team for these matches.


2015 Cricket World Cup statistics
This is a list of statistics for the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Each list contains the top five records except for the partnership records.


2015 Cricket World Cup statistics, Team statistics, Lowest team totals
This is a list of completed innings only, low totals in matches with reduced overs are omitted except when the team was all out. Successful run chases in the second innings are not counted.


2015 Cricket World Cup statistics, Individual statistics, Fielding, Most dismissals
This is a list of wicket-keepers with the most dismissals in the tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup statistics, Individual statistics, Fielding, Most catches
This is a list of the fielders who took the most catches in the tournament.


2015 Cricket World Cup statistics, Other statistics, Highest partnerships
The following tables are lists of the highest partnerships for the tournament.


2015 Critérium International
The 2015 Critérium International was the 84th edition of the Critérium International cycling stage race. It took place on the island of Corsica, around the city of Porto-Vecchio. Just like the previous three editions, the race consisted of three stages, two on the first race day (including a short individual time trial) and one on the second day.


2015 Critérium International
The race was won by Jean-Christophe Péraud of AG2R La Mondiale for the second year in a row, having claimed the overall lead by winning the final stage. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) finished second in the general classification and won the young rider classification. Fabio Felline of Trek Factory Racing, who won the time trial on stage 2, was third in the general classification and won the points classification. UnitedHealthcare's rider Marco Canola claimed the mountains classification, while French team AG2R La Mondiale won the teams classification.


2015 Critérium International, Teams
A total of 16 teams were selected to take part in the race:


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné
The 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné was the 67th edition of the Critérium du Dauphiné cycling stage race. The eight-stage race in France began in Ugine on 7 June and concluded in Modane Valfréjus on 14 June, and was the sixteenth of the twenty-eight races in the 2015 UCI World Tour season. The Dauphiné was viewed as a preview for July's Tour de France and a number of the contenders for the general classification of the Tour participated in the race.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné
The first leader of the general classification was Team Sky's Peter Kennaugh, who won the opening stage. He lost the race lead to BMC Racing Team rider Rohan Dennis, whose team won stage three's team time trial. His teammate Tejay van Garderen then took over after the race's first mountain stage, stage five. Vincenzo Nibali of the Astana team took the lead after stage six, before Van Garderen regained it following stage. Chris Froome (Team Sky), who was second to Van Garderen after the penultimate stage, claimed the race victory with his win on the final stage. Van Garderen finished second overall, ten seconds in arrears, with Lampre–Merida's Rui Costa third, a further one minute and six seconds down.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné
In the race's other classifications, Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) won the sprinter's points classification. The mountains classification was won by MTN–Qhubeka's Daniel Teklehaimanot, who achieved it by getting in the early breakaways and placing highly over categorised climbs. Simon Yates of Orica–GreenEDGE won the young rider classification as the best rider born after 1 January 1990. The team classification was won by Movistar Team.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Teams
As the Critérium du Dauphiné was a UCI World Tour event, all seventeen UCI WorldTeams were invited automatically and obligated to send a squad. Four second-tier UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard invitations, forming the race's 21-team peloton. The number of riders allowed per squad was eight, therefore the start list contained a total of 168 riders.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Pre-race favourites
Former winners of the general classification named in the start list were both the 2008 and 2009 edition's Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), 2013's Chris Froome (Team Sky) and the 2014's Andrew Talansky (Cannondale–Garmin). The leading contenders for general classification were two of the four Tour de France favourites, Froome and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Both winners of the previous two Tours, they were thought to have planned to use the Dauphiné's likeness to Tour's mountainous route as preparation. The riders considered outsiders included Talansky, Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha), Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team), Rui Costa (Lampre–Merida), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), Bauke Mollema (Trek Factory Racing) and 2014's winner of the young rider classification, Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL–Jumbo).


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Route
On 2 April 2015, the organiser of the race, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), announced the route of the 2015 Critérium du Dauphiné at a presentation in Lyon, France. The eight-stage race in the Dauphiné region of France was held from 7–14 June, and was seen as a preview for the Alpine stages in the Tour de France, which took place the following month. The race opened with a 132 km (82.0 mi) hilly circuit stage around Albertville. Stage two crossed the flat Dombes area west from Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes and covered a distance of 173 km (107.5 mi).


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Route
The third stage was a team time trial, the first since the 1980 edition. The 24.5 km (15.2 mi) route from Roanne to Montagny was described by Stephen Farrand of Cyclingnews.com as rolling and could "seriously influence" the general classification. Stage four, the longest at 228 km (141.7 mi), moved the race south to Sisteron and to the Alps. The fifth stage covered the same distance and course as stage seventeen in the Tour de France. It featured the Col d'Allos mountain pass and ended with a summit finish at the Pra-Loup ski resort.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Route
Stage six took the race north, with the 183 km (113.7 mi) route from Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans including six climbs. The penultimate stage was another mountainous stage that featured the Col de la Croix Fry and Col des Aravis climbs before a final accent to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. The final stage took in the Lacets de Montvernier before moving through the Maurienne valley to the finish at Modane Valfréjus.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
7 June 2015 — Ugine to Albertville, 132 km (82.0 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
The race opened with its shortest race stage, at 132 km (82.0 mi). The route left Ugine and passed the finishing city of Albertville, before a loop that featured the category 4 Côte d’Esserts-Blay, 17 km (10.6 mi) in. On the return to Albertville the riders crossed the finish line for the first time for a  19.5 km (12.1 mi) lap. In this lap were two climbs, the third-category Côte du Villard (442 m (1,450 ft)) and the fourth-category Côte du Cruet, the highest of the stage at 551 m (1,808 ft). As the race crossed the finish line for the second time, a shorter 15.5 km (9.6 mi) circuit was undertaken five times, with primary difference the exclusion of the Côte du Cruet.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
In the opening 5 km (3.1 mi), Gert Dockx of Lotto–Soudal was involved in a crash and was forced to abandon the race due to his injuries. After 11 km (6.8 mi), a breakaway was formed by Romain Guillemois (Team Europcar), Björn Thurau (Bora–Argon 18), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN–Qhubeka) and Maarten Wijnants (LottoNL–Jumbo). Their advantage over the peloton increased to over four minutes at the 33 km (20.5 mi) mark, which moved up to a maximum of around seven minutes twenty seconds. Teklehaimanot accrued enough mountains classification points to secure the polka dot jersey with two climbs of the Côte du Villard to go.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
Wijnants and Guillemois were dropped from the quartet on the penultimate ascent of the Villard, with 28 km (17.4 mi) to go. Thurau attacked Teklehaimanot on the last passing of the Villard, which led to an attack by Daniel Oss (BMC Racing Team) from the chasing peloton. With 10 km (6.2 mi) remaining, four more riders joined Oss and the group caught Thurau in the final 5 km (3.1 mi), with the six-rider group holding a margin of twelve seconds.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 1
Peter Kennaugh of Team Sky attacked from the group with 2 km (1.2 mi) and took the stage victory two seconds ahead of the bunch sprint. Kennaugh's first place gave him a ten-second time bonus in the general classification; he also took the lead of the points classification and Sky topped the team classification. Tiesj Benoot of Lotto–Soudal became the first lead of the young rider classification.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
8 June 2015 —  Le Bourget-du-Lac to Villars-les-Dombes, 173 km (107.5 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
Stage two's 173 km (107.5 mi) course was the flattest of the race. The stage left the start at Le Bourget-du-Lac and within 3 km (1.9 mi) crossed the  second-category Col du Chat. After five smaller climbs, 74 km (46.0 mi) in, the riders then came to the day's highest climb at 1,156 m (3,793 ft), the first-category Col de Cuvery. The route then followed a 52 km (32.3 mi) descent that included three uncategorised climbs. The final 44 km (27.3 mi) to the finish in Villars-les-Dombes were flat.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
The early breakaway was formed by three riders, Perrig Quéméneur (Team Europcar), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ) and, for the second day running, Daniel Teklehaimanot. Teklehaimanot took the maximum points over the Col du Chat. The trio were under seven minutes ahead of the peloton at the foot of the Col de Cuvery. Teklehaimanot again took the points at the top, where the lead had dropped to over a minute.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 2
A crash in the peloton with 21 km (13.0 mi) remaining left a group of riders chasing to the back of the main group, including pre-race favourite Joaquim Rodríguez. The breakaway was caught with 3 km (1.9 mi). In the final kilometre, the MTN–Qhubeka team controlled the front before leading out their sprinter, Edvald Boasson Hagen. His move was made too early and he was overtaken by three other riders, with Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) crossing the finish line first. Third-placed Sacha Modolo (Lampre–Merida) took the lead of the points classification, with Bouhanni becoming the best young rider.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
9 June 2015 — Roanne to Montagny, 24.5 km (15.2 mi) (TTT)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
The route for the team time trial of stage three from Roanne to Montagny was 24.5 km (15.2 mi) in length. At the 8 km (5.0 mi) in mark, a small climb preceded a descent to the intermediate time check at 14 km (8.7 mi). A gradual incline took the stage to its finish.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
FDJ were the first team to set a time, with 31' 31". They were soon displaced by the third team to start BMC Racing Team, the team time trial world champions, who set a time of 29' 58". Astana then came in with a four-second deficit to BMC and placed second. Movistar Team were next recording a time of 30' 16", which put them third. Etixx–Quick-Step's time of 30' 16" placed them fourth, with fifth taken by Orica–GreenEDGE, a further five seconds in arrears.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 3
Team Sky, who placed sixth, lost their lead of the team classification to stage winners BMC. Although BMC's highest placed rider in the general classification was Manuel Quinziato, he was not one of the five riders required to finish; the highest of the five was Rohan Dennis, who became the new leader in both the general and young rider classifications. Second placed overall Tejay van Garderen, who was BMC's general classification leader and a pre-race favourite praised his team's effort and was confident about his chances in the race, saying "I feel good. This was the first big test of the Dauphiné, and going into the mountains I feel ready to put up a good challenge." Nacer Bouhanni moved into the lead of the points classification.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
10 June 2015 — Anneyron  to Sisteron, 228 km (141.7 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
The fourth stage was the longest of the race at 228 km (141.7 mi). Starting in Anneyron, the route covered rolling terrain until the passing of the third-category Col de Lescou at 93.5 km (58.1 mi). A short descent led to the foot of the fourth-category Col de Pre-Guittard, the stage's highest point. A similarly sized uncategorised climb followed. The long descent featured a number of small rises before the Côte de la Marquise with 12.5 km (7.8 mi) to go. A series of small climbs then took the stage to the flat finish at Sisteron.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
A breakaway duo consisting of Martijn Keizer (LottoNL–Jumbo) and Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto–Soudal) escaped 3 km (1.9 mi) into the stage. Their lead was six minutes and thirty seconds after they had passed the Lescou and Pre-Guittard climbs. At the foot of the Côte de la Marquise, the pair had a one-minute advantage. Van der Sande was dropped on the climb and Keizer led over the summit with margin of twenty seconds. Attacks from the peloton on the descent saw the formation of a group consisting of Cyril Gautier (Team Europcar), Tim Wellens (Lotto–Soudal), Lawson Craddock (Team Giant–Alpecin) and Wilco Kelderman. Wellens attacked and then passed Keizer.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 4
Wellens was caught by the peloton in the final 2 km (1.2 mi), before a failed move by a trio consisting of Daniel Oss, Tony Martin (Etixx–Quick-Step) and Bram Tankink (LottoNL–Jumbo). Tony Gallopin (Lotto–Soudal) launch a late attack, but was caught by the bunch sprint that was won by Nacer Bouhanni, his second stage victory of the race. There were no changes to the classifications.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
11 June 2015 — Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup, 161 km (100.0 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
Stage five from Digne-les-Bains to Pra-Loup was the first classified as mountainous and was 161 km (100.0 mi) in length. The first section of the stage was flat, until the passing of the third-category Col des Léques at 40 km (24.9 mi). After a descent and small rise a came another third-category climb, the Col de Toutes Aures. The route then dropped down before a further rising up to the second-category Col de la Colle-Saint-Michel which topped at 96 km (59.7 mi) in. The descent was followed by the first-category Col d'Allos at 139 km (86.4 mi). The resulting descent, which began with 22 km (13.7 mi) to go, was long and technical. The final climb to the finish at Pra-Loup was 6.2 km (3.9 mi)-long and had an average gradient of 6.5%.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
Mountains classification leader Daniel Teklehaimanot was the first to initiate the early seven-rider breakaway; the other riders were Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Tim Wellens, Pieter Serry (Etixx–Quick-Step), Romain Sicard (Team Europcar), Arnaud Courteille, and Albert Timmer (both Team Giant–Alpecin). Courteille claimed the points at the Col des Lèques, with Teklehaimanot second, with the aforementioned first over the Col de Toutes Aures and Col de la Colle-Saint-Michel. Team Sky set a high pace at the head of the peloton throughout the Col d'Allos, leading to a large number of riders being dropped, including the race leader Rohan Dennis. In the breakaway, an attack by Serry dropped Riblon, Teklehaimanot, and Courteille. Before the summit of the climb, with 24 km (14.9 mi) remaining, the break was caught.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 5
As the race reached the summit, Romain Bardet attacked, and the bottom had gained a twenty-second advantage over the front group of around thirty riders, increasing it to one minute at the foot of the Pra-Loup climb. Sky again controlled the head of the chase, with Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde and Wilco Kelderman the notable riders distanced. Chris Froome launched an attack in the final 2 km (1.2 mi), with Tejay van Garderen and Beñat Intxausti following. Van Garderen dropped Intxausti and passed Froome to take second place, thirty-six seconds behind stage winner Bardet. The new leaders in the classifications were Van Garderen in the general, Bardet in the young riders' and Sky in the team standings.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
12 June 2015 — Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans, 183 km (113.7 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
The sixth stage from Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Villard-de-Lans moved the race into the high mountains with six categorised climbs. It was the second longest stage at 183 km (113.7 mi). The opening third of the route crossed hilly terrain that featured two third-category climbs, the Rampe du Motty and the Côte du Barrage de Sautet. The riders traversed the second-category Col de la Croix Haute at the 67.5 km (41.9 mi) mark, before a short descent and a further rise to the third-category Col de Grimone.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
After a long descent and short rise, the race came to the foot of the first-category Col du Rousset. At the summit with 51 km (31.7 mi) remaining, the day's highest point (1,254 m (4,114 ft)), the riders dropped down to the final hills before the summit finish at the third-category climb to Villard-de-Lans.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
Early in the wet stage, a group of nine riders broke away, only to be pulled back the peloton, with a second group of nineteen also failing. An unsuccessful move from Tony Martin was followed by an attack by Vincenzo Nibali over the Col de Grimone and the formation of an elite five-strong group on descent with Rui Costa, Alejandro Valverde, and Tony Gallopin. This attack reduced the main group of chasers and caused the abandonment of several riders. The advantage of the break was over three minutes as they climbed the Col de Rousset, with Nibali briefly escaping on the subsequent descent.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 6
Martin was dropped with 22 km (13.7 mi) remaining, with the advantage at over two minutes. In the chasing main group, Simon Yates (Orica–GreenEDGE) and Dan Martin (Cannondale–Garmin) moved clear. Gallopin launched an attack from the breakaway with 4.5 km (2.8 mi) to go, with Nibali following at 1.5 km (0.9 mi). Costa was able to pull both back ahead and passed them to take the stage win. Nibali took over the lead of the general classification, with a margin of twenty-nine seconds over Costa. Movistar Team moved into the lead of the team classification.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
13 June 2015 — Montmélian to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, 155 km (96.3 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
Stage seven was the queen stage of the race, with five first-category climbs and the third-category Col des Aravis. It was the shortest in length of the three mountain stages. The initial 27.5 km (17.1 mi) were flat apart from one small climb. The riders then began the climb of the Col de Tamié, which was followed by the ascent of Col de la Forclaz. After a descent and a number of small hills, the Col de la Croix Fry was climbed.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
At the top a small drop and climb over the Col des Aravis took the riders to a descent and a long gradual incline. A further descent and flat section placed the race at the foot of the Côte des Amerand. After a small drop the stage concluded with the climb to Saint-Gervais-les-Bains.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
Another wet stage saw a breakaway of thirty-five riders move away 15 km (9.3 mi) in, which decreased to twenty-five on the Col de la Croix Fry. On the aforemetenioed climb, Team Sky reduced the size peloton and the advantage of the breakaway. Daniel Teklehaimanot took maximum points over the opening four climbs to secure the mountains classification. The Col des Aravis split the breakaway, and on the descent, an attack out of the eighteen-strong leading group by Daniel Navarro (Cofidis) and Riccardo Zoidl (Trek Factory Racing) gained a lead of three minutes. The peloton fractured on the Côte des Amerands, with race leader Vincenzo Nibali being dropped.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 7
At the start of the final climb, the leading duo were joined by Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar Team) and Bartosz Huzarski (Bora–Argon 18). Sky set a high pace in pursuit of the leading group, and with 4 km (2.5 mi) to go, Chris Froome attacked, followed by Tejay van Garderen, and they soon passed the leaders. With 1.5 km (0.9 mi) remaining, Froome attacked to win the stage by a margin of seventeen seconds. Van Garderen moved into the lead of the general classification, and although placing second in the stage, he was content, saying "My tactic was just to mark Froome and when he went there was no way I could follow him, but I'm very happy with the yellow jersey."


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
14 June 2015 — Saint-Gervais-les-Bains to Modane Valfréjus, 156.5 km (97.2 mi)


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
The final stage of the race left from the location of the previous stage's finish, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, for a 156.5 km (97.2 mi) route. After the riders climbed a 7.5 km (4.7 mi) rise from the start, they went down a long descent with the second-category Côte d'Héry-sur-Ugine in the middle. The terrain remained flat until the fourth-category Côte d’Aiton, 65.5 km (40.7 mi) in. This was followed by the third-category Côte de Saint-Georges-d'Hurtières. A further flat section placed the riders at the foot of the first-category Lacets de Montvernier.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
After the subsequent descent began a long gradual incline to the climb of the third-category Côte de Saint-André. A small descent took the race to Modane and the ascent to the summit finish at the Valfréjus ski resort; the length of the climb was 8.4 km (5.2 mi) with an average gradient of 5.7%.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
Wilco Kelderman's move in the opening 10 km (6.2 mi) initiated a breakaway of thirteen riders. Tony Martin attacked from the break on the Côte de Saint-Georges-d'Hurtières and at the foot of the Lacets de Montvernier he had an advantage of one-and-a-half minutes over them and around four over the peloton. The last of the riders from the break caught Martin on the Côte de Saint-André, where Steve Cummings of MTN–Qhubeka attacked this front group.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
Cummings's lead over the peloton at the foot of the final climb was one minute and twenty seconds. With 5.5 km (3.4 mi) remaining, Vincenzo Nibali moved to the front in support of Astana teammate Michele Scarponi, whose failed attack led to the formation of an elite group of chasers including the general classification leaders. Chris Froome was the only rider to have the support of a teammate, Wouter Poels, who rode on the front until Froome attacked as they caught Cummings.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Stages, Stage 8
At first Tejay van Garderen could follow this move, but he was eventually unable to keep up with Froome and was caught by Simon Yates and Rui Costa. Froome took the stage victory, eighteen seconds ahead of the three behind, and finished the race as the winner of the general classification.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
In the Critérium du Dauphiné, four different jerseys were awarded. The most important was the general classification, which was calculated by adding each rider's finishing times on each stage. The rider with the least accumulated time is the race leader, identified by a yellow jersey with a blue bar; the winner of this classification was considered the winner of the race.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
Additionally, there was a points classification, which awarded a green jersey. In the classification, cyclists received points for finishing in the top 10 in a stage. For stages, 1, 2 and 4 the win earned 25 points, second place 22, third 20, fourth 18, fifth 16, sixth 14, seventh 12, eighth 10, ninth 8 and tenth 6. For stages 5, 6, 7 and 8 the win earned 15 points, second place 12, third 10, fourth 8, fifth 6, and 1 point fewer per place down to a single point for 10th. Points towards the classification could also be achieved at each of the intermediate sprints; these points were given to the top three riders through the line with 5 points for first, 3 for second, and 1 point for third.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
There was also a mountains classification, the leadership of which was marked by a red jersey with white polka dots. In the mountains classification, points towards the classification were won by reaching the top of a climb before other cyclists. Each climb was categorised as either first, second, third, or fourth-category, with more points available for the higher-categorised climbs. First-category climbs awarded the most points; the first six riders were able to accrue points, compared with the first four on second-category climbs, the first two on third-category and only the first for fourth-category.


2015 Critérium du Dauphiné, Classification leadership
The fourth jersey represented the young rider classification, marked by a white jersey. This was decided the same way as the general classification, but only riders born on or after 1 January 1990 were eligible to be ranked in the classification. There was also a team classification, in which the times of the best three cyclists per team on each stage were added together; the leading team at the end of the race was the team with the lowest total time.


2015 Croatia Open Umag
The 2015 Croatia Open Umag  (also known as the Konzum Croatia Open Umag for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 26th edition of the Croatia Open, and part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2015 ATP World Tour. It took place at the International Tennis Center in Umag, Croatia, from 20 July through 26 July 2015.


2015 Croatia Open Umag, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2015 Croatia Open Umag, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2015 Croatia Open Umag – Doubles
František Čermák and Lukáš Rosol were the defending champions, but Čermák chose not to participate this year. Rosol played alongside Rameez Junaid, but they lost in the semifinals to Máximo González and André Sá. González and Sá went on to win the title, defeating Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Santiago González in the final, 4–6, 6–3, [10–5].


2015 Croatia Open Umag – Singles
Pablo Cuevas was the defending champion, but he chose to defend his title in Båstad instead.


2015 Croatia Open Umag – Singles
Dominic Thiem won the title, defeating João Sousa in the final, 6–4, 6–1.


2015 Croatia Open Umag – Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2015 Croatian Football Cup Final
The 2015 Croatian Cup Final was a one-legged affair played between Dinamo Zagreb and RNK Split. The final was played in Zagreb on 20 May 2015.


2015 Croatian Football Cup Final
Dinamo Zagreb won the trophy after the penalty shoot-out. For the first time the final was played as a single game.


2015 Croatian Football Cup Final, Final
Assistant referees:Tomislav Petrović (Valpovo)Miro Grgić (Osijek)Fourth official:Dalibor Conjar (Osijek)Additional assistant referees:Domagoj Vučkov (Rijeka)Mario Zebec (Cestica)


2015 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections
2015 Croatian national minorities' councils and representatives elections took place on 31 May. The elections were the fourth minority elections since 2003 and 278.932 citizens of Croatia were entitled to vote for councils and additional 24.399 for representatives. Citizens over the age of 18 who are members of a certain national minority group were entitled to vote. They had the right to vote in their municipality or town of residence for local council or representative of their minority if such elections are required based on an absolute or relative local minority population. 19 national minority groups in Croatia elected members of 288 councils and 173 individual minority representatives. Voters turnout was 13,5%.


2015 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections
Elections were called by the decision of the Government of Croatia. The decision was made based on the Constitutional Act on the Rights of National Minorities in the Republic of Croatia, and ordinary Law on Election of Members of Representative of Bodies of Local and Regional Self-Government Units and the Law on Local Elections. The Government spent 764.000 Croatian kuna for organization of the elections.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Croatia on 8 November 2015. All 151 seats in the Parliament were up for election. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the first multi-party election  in 1990 and the first since Croatia joined the European Union in 2013. The ruling center-left Croatia is Growing coalition, led by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, was challenged by the center-right Patriotic Coalition led by the HDZ and headed by its party chairman Tomislav Karamarko, and also faced several new political coalitions.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election
The elections produced a hung parliament, with the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition winning 56 seats in the 10 electoral constituencies within Croatia and 3 of the 8 representatives of national minorities (Ermina Lekaj-Prljaskaj and Veljko Kajtazi are members of HNS and Sándor Juhász is a member of SDP). The opposition Patriotic Coalition won 56 seats within Croatia and all three seats allocated to Croatian citizens living abroad, winning 59 seats, technically tying with the ruling coalition. The IDS-PGS-RI coalition was expected to side with Croatia is Growing, as well as the remaining 5 minority representatives, giving Prime Minister Milanović's coalition 67 seats to 59 for Karamarko's opposition coalition. This left Milanović 9 seats short of a majority, while Karamarko needed 17 seats.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election
The third-placed MOST led by Metković mayor Božo Petrov, which won 19 seats, was expected to be the deciding factor in the formation of the next government of Croatia. After the election Drago Prgomet of MOST stated that neither Milanović nor Karamarko would be their choice for Prime Minister and that MOST will decide on who will head the 13th government of Croatia. Some within MOST had stated they prefer the formation of a national unity government made up of HDZ, SDP and MOST, though this was considered extremely unlikely. On 11 November Patriotic coalition leader Karamarko openly rejected the prospect of an HDZ-SDP-MOST government. This was followed by more than 45 days of negotiations between all three coalitions.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election
On 22 December it was stated that Croatia is Growing would form a government with MOST, however, on 23 December, MOST decided to give its support to a government with the HDZ. The coalition was further supported by Milan Bandić 365 and two independent minority representatives, giving them a slim majority of 78 seats in Parliament, two more than the required 76 seats. They nominated a Croatian-Canadian businessman named Tihomir Orešković, who was generally unknown to the public and who had spent most of his life in Canada, to be the next Prime Minister. A new government finally took office on 22 January 2016 with Orešković as the 11th Prime Minister, after a record 76 days of negotiations.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Background
The 2011 general election was held on 4 December 2011 and resulted in the victory of the center-left Kukuriku coalition led by the Social Democratic Party and supported by the Croatian People's Party – Liberal Democrats, Croatian Party of Pensioners and the Istrian Democratic Assembly. The largest opposition party is the center-right Croatian Democratic Union. Other smaller opposition parties are the Croatian Labourists – Labour Party and the Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Background
The previous 7th Assembly of the Croatian Parliament was dissolved on 28 September 2015, with the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović subsequently being tasked with scheduling the elections on a Sunday within 60 days of the dissolution.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Electoral system
Elections were held in 10 electoral districts inside Croatia each with a roughly equal number of registered voters and 14 seats, supplemented by one electoral district for Croatian citizens living abroad (3 seats), and one electoral district for national minorities (8 seats). Parties or alliances had to pass a 5% threshold in each electoral district in order to qualify for seats, which were then distributed proportionally between the qualified lists using the D'Hondt method. As voters were allowed to select both a list and a candidate from it, the ranking of candidates on the list was superseded by voter selection wherever candidates got at least 10% of the list's votes.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Electoral system, Electoral law amendments
In February 2015 the Croatian parliament voted to amend the country's election rules by introducing a number of changes, most importantly introducing an element of preferential voting by letting candidate selection function as a most open list system for candidates receiving a minimum of 10%, while keeping list ranking for those that do not meet this quota. In addition there were several other changes, including a gender quota, a ban on convicted criminals running, new rules for monitoring of the elections, changes to the way media covers elections etc.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Electoral system, Electoral law amendments
The proposal came from the ruling Social Democratic Party as well as several other minor changes. The opposition left Parliament and did not participate in the voting process. However, on 25 September 2015 the Constitutional Court of Croatia ruled that some of the changes to the electoral law were unconstitutional, including a ban on criminals convicted for misuse of position running for office, while maintaining this ban for other offences, an electoral list quota of 40% candidates of each gender and an obligation to collect 1,500 signatures for a political party to run in an electoral district.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
On November 9, 2015 State Election Commission published only the provisional official results from the 99.9% of regular polling stations because elections were repeated in 7 polling stations due to irregularities on election day. Final results were announced on 24 November.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
Centre-right Patriotic Coalition won 59 seats, centre-left Croatia is Growing coalition 58 (2 national minority representatives side with the Croatian People's Party - Liberal Democrats), centre Bridge of Independent Lists 19, centre-left Istrian Democratic Assembly 3, right wing Croatian Democratic Alliance of Slavonia and Baranja and centre Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity 2 each, centre Human Blockade and centre People's Party - Reformists 1 each.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
As for the 8 mandates of minority representatives, 3 go to Croatia is Growing because those representatives are members of HNS party or its parliamentary club, while Independent Democratic Serb Party that won 3 seats confirmed that it would negotiate with Croatia is Growing. In addition, Istrian Democratic Assembly also confirmed that it would negotiate only with Croatia is Growing.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
A total of 17 parties won representation in the 8th assembly of the Croatian Parliament: HDZ (51), SDP (42 + 1 representative of national minorities), MOST (19), HNS (9 + 2 national minority representatives), Labourists (3), IDS (3), HSP-AS (3), HSU (2), HSLS (2), Bandić Milan 365 (2), HDSSB (2), BUZ (1), HSS (1), Human Blockade (1), HRAST (1), HDS (1) and Reformists (1). Such a fractured political situation meant that forming a stable majority that would serve a full 4-year term would be a challenge.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
Furthermore, the total number of MOST's seats in Parliament, who held the balance of power, fell from 19 to 15 within months of election day, namely Drago Prgomet, who was expelled from MOST only four days after the election, founded his own party Croatian Dialogue Initiative (HRID), which two more MOST parliamentarians soon jointed, while Stipe Petrina another MOST MP became an independent.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Results
National minorities elected 8 representatives through a separate election system: Milorad Pupovac (75,9% of votes), Mile Horvat (59,2%) and Mirko Rašković (54,4%) for the Serb national minority, Sándor Juhász (50,2%) for the Hungarian minority, Furio Radin (65,8%) for the Italian minority, Vladimir Bilek (75,7%) for the Czech and Slovak minorities, Veljko Kajtazi (41,4%) for the Austrian, Bulgarian, German, Jewish, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Rusyn, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vlach minorities and Ermina Lekaj Prljaskaj (21,1%) for the Albanian, Bosniak, Macedonian, Montenegrin and Slovene minorities.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
According to official results the ruling Croatia is Growing coalition won 56 seats, amounting to 59 due to the coalition with IDS. The opposition Patriotic Coalition and MOST (Croatian for bridge) were the second and third largest blocs, respectively. MOST has stated that it will not enter into coalition with either of the two largest blocs and that it will instead present its own candidate for prime minister. On 12 November, MOST MP Drago Prgomet was expelled from the party for holding private talks with Prime Minister Zoran Milanović without the knowledge of other members of the party's leadership.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
There are four possible outcomes: HDZ forms a coalition with MOST, SDP forms a coalition with MOST, forming of a coalition between HDZ and SDP, and called a new election. Jutarnji reported that Milanović is closer to gaining the 76 seats needed for a majority in parliament than Tomislav Karamarko, the former having reportedly gained the support of IDS and the eight MPs elected by national minorities. It was also reported that Milan Bandić, whose party won two seats, as well as Radimir Čačić of Forward Croatia! - Progressive Alliance are also more likely to support Milanović.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
The regional party HDSSB is considered very unlikely to support a Patriotic Coalition government due to animosity on the local level (although they are ideologically closer), but they might support Croatia is Growing in a minority government. The first round of talks on the formation of the next government, held on 26 November at the Presidential palace proved inconclusive, with none of the leaders of parliamentary parties presenting the required 76 MPs needed for the naming of a Prime Minister-designate.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović called the first session of the eighth assembly of parliament for 3 December and set the date for new talks on 7 December. On 27 November, Milanović offered the position of Speaker of Parliament to MOST chairman Božo Petrov, who declined stating that he was not interested in holding a position, but rather for reforms to be agreed upon first. On 23 December, the Patriotic Coalition, MOST, Milan Bandić 365 - The Party of Labour and Solidarity and two minority representatives (Ermina Lekaj-Prljaskaj and Mirko Rašković) agreed upon non-partisan candidate Tihomir Orešković as prime minister-designate.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
Orešković presented the 78 signatures of support to Grabar-Kitarović, upon which she gave him the task of forming a new government and called the second attempt at constituting the parliament for 28 December. Željko Reiner was elected Speaker on 28 December with 88 votes in favor, 62 abstentions and 1 against, thus constituting the 8th Assembly of Parliament 50 days after the elections were held. The confirmation of the cabinet to be led by Tihomir Orešković took place on 22 January 2016.


2015 Croatian parliamentary election, Government formation
After a 14-hour parliamentary debate the new government was supported by a majority of 83 out of 151 parliamentary representatives. Zoran Milanović handed over the office of Prime Minister to Tihomir Orešković at 23:55 pm on the same day. This ended a record-breaking 76 days of negotiations that began on 9 November 2015.


2015 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season
The 2015 Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks season is the 49th in the club's history. Coached by Shane Flanagan and captained by Paul Gallen, they competed in the NRL's 2015 Telstra Premiership.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election
The 2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election was the 9th gubernatorial election of Cross River State. Held on April 11, 2015, the People's Democratic Party nominee Benedict Ayade won the election, defeating Odey Ochicha of the All Progressives Congress.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
PDP candidate and a serving Senator representing Cross River North Senatorial District, Benedict Ayade defeated 5 other contestants to clinch the party ticket. He won with 752 votes out of 782 votes cast to defeat his closest rival Joe Agi who received 11 votes. Former Group General Manager of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Goddy Jedy Agba received 5 votes, Francis Eworo received 5 votes, a former National Publicity Secretary of Peoples Democratic Party, Emmanuel Ibeshi and Peter Oti both received 0 votes. 831 delegates were accredited, nine votes was invalid.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
Before the election, the immediate past Commissioner for Works, Legor Idagbo, the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Mike Aniah, Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Larry Odey and former Executive Secretary, National Planning Commission, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo all stepped down for Benedict Ayade. Goddy Jedy Agba who got 5 votes, said he had earlier withdrawn from the primary because he felt that the delegates congress list was fraught with irregularities. After the primaries, Joe Agi who came second sued Benedict Ayade to the Federal High Court, Abuja.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
Joe Agi urged the Federal High Court, Abuja, to disqualify Benedict Ayade for allegedly falsifying his age in some declarations at the Independent National Electoral Commission. Joe Agi told the court that Benedict Ayade claimed to have been born on March 2, 1969, in INEC Form CF 001 whereas in the screening form, he wrote March 2, 1968, as his date of birth. Joe Agi also contested that Benedict Ayade was not a bonafide member of the PDP.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
The Federal High Court, Abuja dismissed Joe Agi's suit and said that it lacked merit and that the court lacks powers to intervene. The judge also said that the conduct of party primaries and election of candidates were purely domestic affairs of political parties and not the court own to judge. Joe Agi appealed the case at the Appeal court with suit NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/25/2015. The Appeal court upheld the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja and Joe Agi took the case to the Supreme court.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, PDP primary
The Supreme court dismissed the case and held that Benedict Ayade was validly nominated by the PDP as their candidate in the election. The Supreme court said that the false declaration of age against Benedict Ayade was not proven beyond reasonable doubt as required by law. About Benedict Ayade being a bona fide member of the PDP, the court held that it was solely a party issue and they would not interfere. The Court thereby dismissed the case as lacking merit.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, APC primary
APC candidate Odey Ochicha defeated 2 other contestants to clinch the party ticket. He won with 1,177 votes to defeat his closest rival Lazarus Undie, who received 168 votes. Mike Ogar received 40 votes. Vote cast was 1,394, valid votes was 1,385, invalid votes was 9 and those that abstained from voting was 119. The primary, according to the APC chairman in the state, Usani Usani was free and fair, devoid of violence and rigging and all the contestants accepted the result.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, Results
A total of 5 candidates contested in the election. Benedict Ayade from the PDP won the election, defeating Odey Ochicha from the APC.


2015 Cross River State gubernatorial election, Aftermath
After the election, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo from the LP challenged the outcome of the election at the Cross River State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal. The LP candidate told the tribunal to nullify the governorship election, stating that it was marred by irregularities. On the day of the judgement, Ntufam Fidelis Ugbo told the tribunal that he is withdrawing the case against the PDP and the winner of the election, Benedict Ayade and so it should be struck out. The court in its ruling said the case lacked merit and substance and dismissed the petition.


2015 CrossFit Games
The 2015 CrossFit Games were the ninth CrossFit Games, which were held on July 21–26, 2015 at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Ben Smith was the men's winner, and Katrin Davidsdottir was the women's winner. The Affiliate Cup was won by CrossFit Mayhem Freedom from Cookeville, Tennessee, captained by four-time individual men's champion Rich Froning Jr. who moved to team competition this year.


2015 CrossFit Games
In the 2015 season, the 17 regions of previous seasons were combined into 8 "super-regions" for the Regionals. This season a Teenage competition for boys and girls was added in the Open for two age groups. The Teenage and Masters Games events were the same and took place from July 21–23.


2015 CrossFit Games
Both the men's and women's competitions were closely fought at the Games. Ben Smith, a Games competitor every year since 2009, won for the first time (he placed third in 2011 and 2013), having secured the win only in the final event by holding off 2014's second-place finisher Mat Fraser who many had predicted would be the 2015 champion. In the women's competition, Iceland's Katrin Davidsdottir overtook fellow countrywoman Sara Sigmundsdóttir, who led for much of the competition, in the final event. Tia-Clair Toomey, who made her debut at this year's Games, finished second and was named Rookie of the Year.


2015 CrossFit Games, Qualification
Approximately 273,000 participants signed up for the 2015 CrossFit Games Open, which was held over the course of five weeks from February 26 to March 30, 2015. There were 6 scored events in the Open this year – the first workout was split into two parts. A scaled division with official scaled version of workouts was introduced this year. Also this year winner of each state and country would be crowned the State and National champions.


2015 CrossFit Games, Qualification
The top 20 men, 20 women, and 15 teams from the 12 American and Canadian regions, the top 30 men, 30 women, and 20 teams in the European and Australian regions, and the top 10 men, 10 women, and 10 teams from Latin America, Africa, and Asia qualified for the CrossFit Regionals.


2015 CrossFit Games, Qualification
The Regionals were modified this year – the 17 regions were combined into 8 "super-regions", and the top athletes from each of the 17 regions were funnelled into these "Super Regionals". For example, the NorCal and SoCal Regionals were combined into one California Regional, with 40 men, 40 women and 30 teams competing. Five men and women from this region qualifying for the CrossFit Games.


2015 CrossFit Games, Qualification
The scoring system for the Regionals was also changed this year; in previous year it had the same system as the Open (one point for first, two for second, etc. ), starting this year the scoring table system used in the Games was adopted for the Regionals (e.g. 100 points for first, 95 for second, etc.). After three days of Regional competitions held around the world, 40 men, 40 women, and 40 teams qualified for the Games.


2015 CrossFit Games, Qualification
in 2015, the CrossFit Games also added a Teenage competition to the Open in two age groups (14-15 and 16-17) for boys and girls. Towards the end of the Open, it was announced that the top 10 in each age group after the completion of the Open would qualify to participate in the Games. Masters athletes who qualified through the Open then competed in an online Games qualification, called the Masters Qualifier, instead of Regionals. The top 20 Masters men and women in each age group were invited to participate at the Games.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual
As in previous years, the men's and women's competitions were similar, with the only differences being weights of lifted objects, heights of obstacles, etc. Elements introduced for the first time this year included open-ocean paddleboarding and peg board climbing. Unlike previous years, no athletes were cut in the later stages of the competition.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Event 1: Pier Paddle
For the fourth straight year, the CrossFit Games began on the Wednesday before the traditional weekend events. The Games have started with a swim every year since 2011, with this year's event consisted of 500 meters of ocean swimming, followed by two miles of paddling on a paddleboard, and finished with another 500 meters of ocean swimming.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Event 1: Pier Paddle
Jonne Koski won the event for the men and Kara Webb won for the women.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Event 2: Sandbag 2015
The athletes moved weighted sandbags across the tennis stadium in the StubHub Center. They started by carrying/dragging the sandbags from the top of the stadium down to the floor, used a wheelbarrow to take them to the other side, and then pushed them over a wall and carried them to the top of the stadium. The men had to move 720 pounds and the women had 480 pounds total weight of sandbags. This event was nearly identical to an event held in 2010 except that the weight was increased and the wheelbarrows were specially made to handle the weight.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Wednesday, July 22, 2015, Event 2: Sandbag 2015
Lukas Högberg and Anna Tunnicliffe won the event men's and women's events, respectively.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 3: Murph
While wearing a weighted vest (20lb. for men / 14lb. for the women):


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 3: Murph
Murph is named after fallen sailor US Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, and it is usually performed by American affiliates on Memorial Day. The event was held on a very hot afternoon at the Games, and the heat caused problems for a number of athletes such as Kara Webb and Annie Thorisdottir. Both Webb and Thorisdottir suffered from heat stroke in the event, Webb collapsed at the finish line and Thorisdottir failed to finish. Although Thorisdottir carried on competing for a few more events, she had to withdraw eventually due to the ill-effects from this event.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 3: Murph
Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson won the men's event and Samantha Briggs won the women's. Samantha Briggs finished the event faster than any of the men aside from Guðmundsson.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 4: Snatch Speed Ladder
Within each round, each snatch is heavier than the last (a "ladder"), and the starting weight increases each round. Those who complete the ladder the fastest move on to the next round. Jon Pera won the men's event and Brooke Ence won the women's.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 5: Heavy DT
Five rounds for time, with a 205-pound barbell for the men and a 145-pound barbell for the women:


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 5: Heavy DT
"DT" is a CrossFit hero workout named for fallen airman USAF SSgt. Timothy P. Davis, and usually performed with a 155-pound/105-pound barbell for men/women. The event was announced after event 4, and the audience were given a choice of two different versions of DT for the athletes to compete in: Double DT or Heavy DT, and they chose Heavy DT.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Friday, July 24, 2015, Event 5: Heavy DT
Ben Smith won the men's event and Sara Sigmundsdottir won the women's.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Events 6 & 7: Sprint Course 1 & 2
A sprint across the soccer field at the StubHub Center through four pylons in a zig-zag and over four hurdles. Sprint Course 1 started with the four pylons followed by the hurdles and Sprint Course 2 was in the opposite direction after one minute of rest.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Events 6 & 7: Sprint Course 1 & 2
Dan Bailey won both events for the men and Lindy Barber won Sprint Course 1 for the women while Kristin Holte won Sprint Course 2.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 8: Soccer Chipper
The event took place on the soccer field and started with flipping a weighted box called a "pig". The box weight was 560 pounds for the men and 395 for the women, and the length was over 6 feet, making the flips more difficult than shorter objects that many athletes had trained with. The first two legless rope climbs were done on a 2-inch diameter rope and the last two on a 1.5-inch diameter rope. The handstand walks had to be completed in 50-foot unbroken increments.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 8: Soccer Chipper
Fraser struggled in flipping the pig, which led to his failure to finish the legless rope climb. The event was won by Ben Smith, and as a result Fraser lost his large lead over Smith, and Smith took over as leader. Elisabeth Akinwale won for the women.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 9: Clean & Jerk
Each athlete gets two 20-second windows in which to attempt their heaviest clean and jerk for one repetition.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 9: Clean & Jerk
Aaron Hanna won the event with a 350-pound lift for the men and Brooke Ence won with a 242-pound lift for the women.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 10: Triangle Couplet
Named "Triangle Couplet" because the repetitions per round are all triangular numbers. A thruster in CrossFit is a combination of a front squat and push press in one continuous movement and the weights were 165-pounds for the men and 115-pounds for the women. A bar muscle-up is a pull-up variant in which the athlete pulls themselves over the top of the pull-up bar and finishes with the bar at their hips.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Saturday, July 25, 2015, Event 10: Triangle Couplet
Mathew Fraser won for the men and Camille Leblanc-Bazinet won for the women.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 11: Midline Madness
The event took place inside the soccer stadium with the 400 meter run going up the stadium stairs, behind the jumbotron, and down the stars on the other side. The yoke, weighing 380 pounds for the men and 300 pounds for the women, was carried 300 feet across the soccer field.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 11: Midline Madness
Jacob Heppner won for the men and Samantha Briggs won for the women.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 12: Pedal to the Metal 1
The peg board ascents involved climbing a peg board using only two wooden pegs. The 24 calories were rowed on a Concept-2 rowing machine. The 16 calories were pedaled on an Assault AirBike. The dumbbell squat snatches are performed with a 100-pound/70-pound dumbbell for the men/women respectively and done with alternating arms. The peg board was introduced for the first time which many athletes found difficult, and only three women completed the peg board ascents and none completed the event.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 12: Pedal to the Metal 1
Spencer Hendel won for the men and Margaux Alvarez for the women. Mat Fraser finished second, which gave him an overall lead of just two points in front of Ben Smith going into the final event.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 13: Pedal to the Metal 2
This event took place two minutes after Event 12. The handstand push-ups were performed against a wall. The row and bike were identical to the previous event. The deadlifts were performed with a 203-pound/124-pound (men/women) kettlebell in each hand, and after every two lifts, the weights were carried forward.


2015 CrossFit Games, Individual, Sunday, July 26, 2015, Event 13: Pedal to the Metal 2
Spencer Hendel won again for the men in the event. Ben Smith finished fourth but well before Mat Fraser, thereby emerged the overall winner of the 2015 Games. Katrin Tanja Davidsdottir won for the women's event, which made her champion of the Games.


2015 CrossFit Games, Team events
All events scored 100 points apart from the 3 Synchros events and the 6 Solo Sprint events which were scored 50. Top ten teams advanced to compete after the Tire Relay event on the final day.


2015 CrossFit Games, Podium finishers, Masters men
* — Steve Marino originally finished in second place in the 55-59 division but was later disqualified for use of an anabolic agent. Heikens and Gantz were each moved up one position.


2015 Cruzeiro Esporte Clube season
The 2015 season is Cruzeiro's ninety-fourth season in existence and the club's forty-fifth consecutive season in the top flight of Brazilian football.


2015 Cult Energy Pro Cycling season
The 2015 season for the Cult Energy Pro Cycling cycling team began in January at the Trofeo Santanyi-Ses Salines-Campos. The team participated in UCI Continental Circuits and UCI World Tour events when given a wildcard invitation.


2015 Cup of China
The 2015 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 6–8. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. Skaters earned points toward qualifying for the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final.


2015 Cup of Nations (rugby union)
The 2015 Cup of Nations was the third Cup of Nations tournament, but the first held outside the United Arab Emirates. Unlike 2011 and 2012, the Cup of Nations was staged in Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Football Club Stadium from November 13 to 21. The tournament acted as a year ending tournament for tier 3 teams from different continents and provides greater preparation for teams to play in their regional competitions, especially this year participants who aim to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup haven failed to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.


2015 Cup of Nations (rugby union)
The four competing teams were hosts Hong Kong, who won the tournament in 2011, Zimbabwe who competed in 2012, while Portugal and Russia are new to the tournament having not competed in either of the 2015 World Rugby Tbilisi Cup or 2015 World Rugby Nations Cup.


2015 Cup of Nations (rugby union), Format
The tournament is being played as a single round-robin, with the winner being the leading team after the third round of fixtures.


2015 Cupa Ligii Final
The Cupa Ligii Final was the final match of the 2014–15 Cupa Ligii, played between Steaua București and Pandurii Târgu Jiu. Steaua București won the match with 3–0.


2015 Cupa României Final
The Cupa României Final was the final match of the 2014–15 Cupa României, played between Universitatea Cluj and Steaua București. Steaua București won the match 3–0.


2015 Cure Bowl
The 2015 Cure Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015 at Orlando Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The first edition of the Cure Bowl featured the San Jose State Spartans of the Mountain West Conference against the Georgia State Panthers of the Sun Belt Conference. It began at 7:00 p.m. EST and aired on CBS Sports Network. It was the one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer AutoNation, the game was officially known as the AutoNation Cure Bowl.


2015 Cure Bowl, Teams
The game featured the San Jose State Spartans against the Georgia State Panthers. It was the first overall meeting between the two schools.


2015 Cure Bowl, Teams, San Jose State Spartans
Because the Spartans finished 5–7 in their regular season, they would ordinarily be bowl-ineligible. However, only 77 teams finished at .500 or better on the season, leaving three bowl slots open to 5–7 teams based on their Academic Progress Rate (APR). The Spartans ranked fourth among such teams, after Nebraska and Missouri and together with Minnesota. However, since Missouri did not accept a bowl bid, the Spartans were invited to the Cure Bowl, which they accepted.


2015 Cure Bowl, Teams, San Jose State Spartans
This was the Spartans' tenth bowl game (with a 6–3 all-time record in bowl games) and their first since the 2012 Military Bowl, where they defeated Bowling Green by a score of 29–20


2015 Cure Bowl, Teams, Georgia State Panthers
After finishing 6–6 in their regular season, bowl director Alan Gooch extended an invitation for the Panthers to play in the game, which they accepted.


2015 Cure Bowl, Teams, Georgia State Panthers
This was the first bowl game in school history for Georgia State, seven years after football was approved, five years after they kicked off, and two years after joining the Football Bowl Subdivision. This ties the record for a team going from conception to a bowl berth, set the season prior by South Alabama.


2015 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic
The 2015 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic was held from October 9 to 12 at the Calgary Curling Club in Calgary, Alberta as part of the World Curling Tour. The event was held in a triple-knockout format with a purse of $50,000.


2015 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic
In the final, Rachel Homan and her rink from Ottawa defeated Chelsea Carey's Calgary rink to win the event. Homan dropped into the last chance C event early on in the tournament, and won six straight games to capture the title.


2015 Currie Cup First Division
The 2015 Currie Cup First Division was contested from 29 August to 8 October 2015. The tournament (also known as the Absa Currie Cup First Division for sponsorship reasons) was the second tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces.


2015 Currie Cup First Division
The tournament was won by the  Leopards for the first time after they beat the  SWD Eagles 44–20 in the final played on 8 October 2015. The Leopards also went through the season unbeaten, winning their five matches in the 2015 Currie Cup qualification that counted towards the First Division and the seven matches player in the First Division proper.


2015 Currie Cup First Division
After the season, all six teams joined the eight Premier Division teams and Namibia in an expanded 15-team Currie Cup competition for 2016.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Competition rules and information
There were six participating teams in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division. The six teams played each other twice over the course of the season, once at home and once away. The first series of fixtures were played as part of the 2015 Currie Cup qualification competition, with all results carried forward to the First Division except for the match against the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division qualifier,  Griquas. A second set of fixtures then followed between the remaining six teams.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Competition rules and information
Each team received four points for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points were awarded to teams that scored 4 or more tries in a game, as well as to teams that lost a match by 7 points or less. Teams were ranked by points, then points difference (points scored less points conceded).


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Competition rules and information
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 played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Teams
Following the 2015 Currie Cup qualification competition, the following six teams were confirmed as the competitors in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Log
The final log of the round-robin stage of the 2015 Currie Cup First Division is:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Log
The teams' playing records from the 2015 Currie Cup qualification series brought forward to the First Division were as follows:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Log, Round-by-round
The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Log, Round-by-round
For each round, each team's cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results
All the results from the 2015 Currie Cup qualification tournament was carried forward into the First Division season. The results against the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division qualifier –  Griquas – was discarded.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results
The following matches were played in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Eight
The  Leopards secured a semi-final spot after beating the  SWD Eagles 36–31 in a match in Potchefstroom. Leopards captain Juan Language scored a hat-trick and tighthead prop John-Roy Jenkinson got two tries, while SWD fly-half Leighton Eksteen contributed 16 points with the boot to secure a bonus point for the visitors. The biggest victory of the round came in Welkom, where defending champions the  Griffons ran in ten tries in a 62–24 win over the  Boland Cavaliers, with Boela Abrahams, Nico Scheepers and Martin Sithole getting a brace each, as did Danwel Demas for the losing side. Friedle Olivier and Jacques Verwey each scored two tries in the  Falcons' 48–27 win over the  Border Bulldogs to move the side from Kempton Park up to second spot on the log.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Nine
The  Leopards guaranteed themselves a home semi-final after beating the  Boland Cavaliers 47–12 in Wellington. Despite Boland taking the lead in the first minute through a Danwel Demas try, the Leopards responded with seven tries scored by seven different players. One of the try-scorers was Adriaan Engelbrecht, who also converted six of the tries for a personal haul of 17 points. The  Griffons moved into the top two after winning their second match in a row, winning 31–16 in East London against bottom side the  Border Bulldogs and picking up a bonus point for scoring five tries in the match.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Nine
Griffons captain Nicky Steyn scored a try in the first half in his 121st and final match for the side from Welkom. In the final match of the round, the  SWD Eagles scored a try in the final minute of the match to beat the  Falcons 21–17 in George, despite the home team playing the majority of the match with 14 players after the sending off of Clinton Wagman in the 28th minute.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Ten
The  Falcons secure a semi-final berth after demolishing the  Boland Cavaliers 76–12 in Kempton Park. They scored twelve tries in the victory from ten different try-scorers, with Etienne Taljaard and Shane Kirkwood getting two each, while Jaun Kotzé converted eight of the tries. The  Leopards won again, scoring nine tries in a 64–34 victory over the  Griffons, who also secure a bonus point by scoring four tries. Schalk Hugo and Tyler Fisher each scored two tries for the Leopards and Adriaan Engelbrecht kicked 17 points for the Leopards. In the other match of the round, the  SWD Eagles beat the  Border Bulldogs 31–19 in East London. Both teams scored three tries, but 16 points from the boot of SWD Eagles fly-half Leighton Eksteen proved decisive in the match.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Eleven
Defending champions the  Griffons secured their place in the semi-finals by beating the  Falcons 30–21 in a match in Welkom. Despite having three players sin-binned during the course of the match and being down to thirteen players at one stage, the home side won the match and secured a bonus point for scoring five tries in the match, with prop Danie van der Merwe and loose-forward Vincent Maruping getting two tries each. The  SWD Eagles finalised the semi-final line-up by beating the  Boland Cavaliers 57–14 in Wellington.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Eleven
Charles Radebe and Brian Skosana each got a hat-trick of tries in the victory as the SWD Eagles ran in nine tries to end Boland's play-off hopes. There was nearly a major upset in the top-versus-bottom match as the  Leopards needed a late Adriaan Engelbrecht penalty to beat the  Border Bulldogs 32–30 in Potchefstroom.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Twelve
The  Leopards concluded the round-robin stage of their Currie Cup campaign with a perfect record; not only did they win all five of their matches, as well as their five matches in the 2015 Currie Cup qualification series that were brought forward to the First Division, but they also gained a four-try bonus point in each of their ten matches to top the log on 50 points. Tyler Fisher scored two of their six tries in their 36–29 win over a  Falcons side that scored five tries of their own.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Round Twelve
The  SWD Eagles finished in third spot on the log with a late try from Kurt Haupt (his second of the match) securing a bonus point for the SWD Eagles in a 27–24 over the  Griffons, who finished in second spot. The  Border Bulldogs won the match between two sides without a victory to their name since the qualification tournament, beating the  Boland Cavaliers 44–20 in East London. Lundi Ralarala and Oliver Zono scored two tries each for the home side, who finished bottom of the log, one point behind the Boland Cavaliers.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Title Play-Off Games, Semi-Finals
In a repeat of the 2014 semi-finals, the  Leopards hosted the  Falcons and the  Griffons hosted the  SWD Eagles. The Falcons caused an upset in 2014 by beating the Leopards, but the Leopards prevailed on this occasion, despite being outscored three tries to two. Five penalties from centre Adriaan Engelbrecht secured a 29–17 win for the side from Potchefstroom to secure a home final. There, they will face the SWD Eagles, who beat defending champions the Griffons 47–40 in Welkom. Both sides scored five tries in the encounter, but six penalties from SWD Eagles fly-half Leighton Eksteen (who contributed 27 points in the match) decided the semi-final in the away team's favour.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Fixtures and results, Title Play-Off Games, Final
The  Leopards won the Currie Cup First Division by overturning a 10–20 half-time deficit to beat the  SWD Eagles 44–20 in Potchefstroom. Leopards captain Juan Language scored two tries for the hosts in the second half to aid his side's comeback, also becoming the top scorer in the competition in the process. The top points scorer in the competition was SWD Eagles back Leighton Eksteen, who scored ten of his side's 20 points on the night.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Honours
The honour roll for the 2015 Currie Cup First Division was:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Points scorers
The following table contain points which were scored in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Appearances
The player appearance record in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division is as follows:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Appearances
For each team, (c) denotes the team captain. For each match, the player's squad number is shown. Starting players are numbered 1 to 15, while the replacements are numbered 16 to 22. If a replacement made an appearance in the match, it is indicated by . "App" refers to the number of appearances made by the player, "Try" to the number of tries scored by the player, "Kck" to the number of points scored via kicks (conversions, penalties or drop goals) and "Pts" refer to the total number of points scored by the player.


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Players, Discipline
The following table contains all the cards handed out during the tournament:


2015 Currie Cup First Division, Referees
The following referees officiated matches in the 2015 Currie Cup First Division:


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division
The 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 77th season in the competition since it started in 1889 and was contested from 7 August to 24 October 2015. The tournament (known as the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division for sponsorship reasons) was the top tier of South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division
The competition was won by the  Golden Lions for the eleventh time in their history; they beat  Western Province 32–24 in the final played on 24 October 2015.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information
There were eight participating teams in the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information, Qualification
The six franchise 'anchor' teams automatically qualified to the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, as did the  Pumas by virtue of finishing in the top six teams in the 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division. Griquas, who finished 7th in 2014, as well as the six teams in the 2014 Currie Cup First Division, took part in a qualification tournament to determine the final participant.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information, Qualification
The qualification competition was won by Griquas for the second year in succession.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information, Regular season and title play offs
The eight teams were divided into two sections, based on their 2014 positions. Teams in each section played each other twice over the course of the season, once at home and once away. Teams also played cross-section matches, playing one match (either home or away) against the teams in the other section.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information, Regular season and title play offs
Teams received four points for a win and two points for a draw. Bonus points were awarded to teams that scored 4 or more tries in a game, as well as to teams that lost a match by 7 points or less. Teams were ranked by points, then points difference (points scored less points conceded).


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Competition rules and information, Regular season and title play offs
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 finish fourth, while the team that finished second had home advantage against the team that finished third. The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Log
The final log of the round-robin stage of the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division was:


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Log, Round-by-round
The table below shows each team's progression throughout the season. For each round, their cumulative points total is shown with the overall log position in brackets:


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results
The following matches were played for the 2015 Currie Cup Premier Division:


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round One
Defending champions  Western Province began their defence of the title with a 43–19 win over qualifier Griquas in Kimberley. They ran in six tries, with South Africa Sevens international Seabelo Senatla getting two tries, while Demetri Catrakilis scored 13 points for the winning side. The  Pumas won their home match against the  Sharks for the second year in a row, prevailing 33–24 in Nelspruit. Both teams scored three tries, two of those from Pumas loose-forward Marnus Schoeman, with the boot of Pumas fly-half JC Roos proving decisive, kicking 18 points by successfully converting all seven of his attempts at goal.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round One
2014 losing finalists the  Golden Lions won 51–14 against the 2014 bottom side, the  Eastern Province Kings. Golden Lions loose-forward Kwagga Smith scored a hat-trick of tries to help secure a four-try bonus points as early as the 16th minute of the match, while fly-half Marnitz Boshoff contributed 21 points, by successfully converting all nine kicks at goal during the match. The biggest win of the weekend came in Bloemfontein, where the  Blue Bulls ran in six tries to beat the  Free State Cheetahs 57–19. Blue Bulls fly-half Tian Schoeman topped the scoring charts after Round One, kicking five conversions and four penalties for a total of 22 points in the match, while scrum-half Francois Hougaard scored two tries for the Blue Bulls to send them top of the log.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Two
The Friday night action saw both the  Blue Bulls and the  Golden Lions extend their unbeaten runs in the competition by notching their second wins in a row. The Blue Bulls overturned a 6–12 deficit to score four second-half tries in a 36–12 victory over  Griquas, who lost for the second consecutive match. Fly-half Tian Schoeman kicked 16 points for the Blue Bulls and also scored one of the Blue Bulls' tries.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Two
The Golden Lions scored five tries – two of those penalty tries – to the  Pumas' three to prevail 44–27 in Johannesburg in a clash between two previously unbeaten sides that saw three players sent to the sin-bin. All eight tries in the match were successfully converted by the Golden Lions' Marnitz Boshoff (who also scored two penalties and a drop goal for a personal tally of 19 points) and the Pumas' JC Roos.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Two
There were no tries in the match in Cape Town as  Western Province won their second match in succession by edging the clash 9–3 against a  Free State Cheetahs side who had three players sin-binned, a result that saw the latter lose their second consecutive match, but gain a losing bonus point. The  Sharks and the  Eastern Province Kings each scored four tries in their clash in Durban, which saw the hosts get their first win of the season to move into fourth position on the log while the EP Kings' bonus points kept them in seventh, one point clear of Griquas.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Three
Despite scoring the only try of the match, the  Eastern Province Kings lost the first match of the weekend 13–15 to a  Pumas side for whom fly-half JC Roos slotted five penalties in five attempts. In a battle between two teams without any victories in the competition this far, the  Free State Cheetahs ran out winners by beating  Griquas 31–9 in Kimberley. The Cheetahs secured a bonus point by scoring four tries, with Fred Zeilinga scoring one of those in a personal contribution of 16 points, while Griquas remain bottom of the log with no log points to their name.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Three
The two teams from Gauteng remained the only unbeaten teams after victories in their matches – the  Golden Lions scored four tries to beat the  Sharks 31–16 in Durban, while the  Blue Bulls beat defending champions  Western Province 47–29 in the highest-scoring match of the weekend, with Jamba Ulengo scoring two tries and fly-half Tian Schoeman contributing 19 points with the boot, the same points haul as Western Province's Demetri Catrakilis.


2015 Currie Cup Premier Division, Fixtures and results, Round Four
The  Golden Lions overtook the  Blue Bulls at the top of the log on points difference after both teams extended their winning streaks to four matches. Kwagga Smith scored two tries and Marnitz Boshoff contributed 21 points with the boot as the Golden Lions scored a convincing 41–11 victory over a Pumas side that saw four of their players sin-binned during the course of the match. The Blue Bulls fought back from a 0–11 deficit after twenty minutes to secure a 46–32 victory over  Griquas in Kimberley.