This week saw another milestone for WP Club Rugby as we saw our first club rugby friendly since lockdown, we keep shining in the Varsity Cup and Varsity Shield and preparation for the Women’s Rugby Inter-Provincial championships continues amongst the many other current WP Rugby campaigns.
FNB CPUT has now scored three victories and remains unbeaten in the Varsity Shield after beating FNB DUT 109-6 in their most recent match this Sunday at the TUKS fields in Johannesburg. We are now firmly in first place on the log with the next match for FNB CPUT against FNB TUT at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Tuesday.
In the Varsity Cup FNB UWC face the MWU Eagles, FNB UCT is up against FNB UFS Shimlas and FNB Maties take on FNB TUKS on Thursday 22 April 2021.
After more than a year of lockdown regulations in place, this past Friday saw our first club rugby friendly take place as the Durbanville RFC u20’s took on Maties U20’s at the Durbell Sports Grounds. The fact that we are now at this stage where our clubs can play once again is testimony to the hard work our clubs have put in to ensure they have met all the COVID regulations.
This weekend saw sixty members of our DHL WP Rugby Women’s squad in action at the trials held at the HPC in Bellville on Saturday. The squad played a number of twenty-minute chukkas under the supervision of senior management and has now been trimmed to forty-four. After more than a month of preparation, we are happy to see the high standard of our Women players. The squad will go into a camp at the end of the month in final preparation first match in the Inter Provincials against the Boland Women’s Rugby side at City Park on 8 May 2021.
The focus on the development of Women’s Rugby continues and we are seeing several clubs now joining the campaign to support women’s rugby. This coming weekend will see False Bay RFC host a rugby workshop for girls where the local women and girls players will have an opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the national players. These initiatives are commended as we see our clubs actively recruiting women’s players to sign up at their respective clubs.
All clubs are reminded that we remain committed to our fifty per club campaign and that an active champion is required at your club. By ensuring we have active women structures at our clubs we are opening the door for women and girls who wish to play or participate in rugby at local clubs. To sign up as the Women’s Rugby representative at your club please click here.
This weekend sees us host our second World Rugby Level 2 Fifteens course and yet another Boksmart course for referees. Both courses are now sold out and we’re thrilled to see the enthusiasm for increased education from our clubs and coaches. Future coaching course dates will be announced shortly. In the meantime, anyone wishing to stay informed of our coaching courses may add their name to our coaching information mailing list by clicking here.
Our DHL Stormers side will get the Rainbow Cup started this weekend as we host the Cell C Sharks in the opening match at the Cape Town Stadium this Friday, 23 April 2021. Our next match will be against the Bulls on 1 May 2021, also at the Cape Town Stadium before we travel to Johannesburg to face the Emirates Lions In Johannesburg.
The DHL Stormers will wear the striking new BLK jerseys marking the beginning of an exciting new era for the team and their Faithful supporters at their new home. You can order your own home or away DHL Stormers replica jersey from stormersshop.co.za or blksport.co.za today.
We are thrilled to see that a number of our clubs are busy with team building events and friendly fixtures, and by all accounts, the turn out for practise sessions has been increasing by the day. Each week that goes by sees more clubs that are allowed to commence with friendly fixtures added to the list. We do however remind our clubs that all COVID regulations on and off the field must remain in place and that friendly fixtures may only go ahead if authorised by the WPRFU.