This week again saw more positives for Western Province Rugby as we saw highlights from our Junior players, more friendly fixtures for our clubs, good news from the Varsity Cup, and our DHL Women’s Rugby squad keeps on shining with yet another victory.
Our DHL WP Rugby Women’s rugby side beat the Cell C Sharks Women’s Rugby side 10-0 in the Inter-Provincial, in Durban this Saturday. The match which live-streamed for more than 110 minutes via Springbok Rugby saw the fitness and conditioning work our team put in during pre-season paid off in what was arguably their toughest this season.
We remain top of the log with four from four and now return home to face Border Ladies at DHL Newlands in what will now be a top-of-the-table clash.
After ten rounds of FNB Varsity Cup fixtures, FNB UCT goes into the finals against TUKS this Monday. This comes after their 54-36 win over FNB NWU this past Friday. FNB UCT will be looking to lift the FNB Varsity Cup for the third time.
After lots of hard work, we’re thrilled to see that we have eight DHL WP Rugby players called up for the Junior Springbok squad in the upcoming International series. Many of our players were part of the u18 International Series in 2019 and this again shows the success of our player retention program. The team will begin their U20 International Series campaign against Uruguay on Friday, 18 June, and will line up against Argentina on Wednesday, 23 June, and Georgia on Monday, 28 June.
This past Thursday saw a fantastic turnout for our Lotto funding workshop for our clubs at DHL Newlands. This workshop series continues from our previous engagements with regard to various funding opportunities. Lotto funding is particularly important for clubs who look to secure funds for the club structures. It’s clear that our clubs have since been working hard at ensuring all administrative boxes are ticked in order to qualify for application to Lotto funding.
After last week’s successful World Rugby level one course for our Junior Referees our campaign to build on Junior Referees structures continues with our next course to be held at the Brackenfell Primary School on 12 June 2021.
To attend the course, it is compulsory that the applicant completes the course material on the World Rugby website. Upon completion, the applicant will receive a certificate which must be emailed to referees@wprugby.co.za The closing date for applicants is 2 June 2021. Please click here to go to the new World Rugby passport domain now.
This weekend saw in excess of sixty club rugby friendlies involving more than fifty clubs, scheduled across the province including several u20 matches. Amongst these friendlies, we again saw a number of derbies on the cards. Notably, Hamilton’s hosted Villagers, St Georges hosted Sir Lowrians, Paarl Rangers were are up against Franschhoek and Caledonian Roses traveled to Violets while Hamediehs hosted Rangers.
Although these matches are friendlies we have no doubt that there will be no love lost in any of the challenges as clubs will be seeking bragging rights. It’s important to point out that no friendlies are going ahead without prior approval from the WPRFU.
We have now structured the remainder of the year’s coaching courses. Our next World Rugby Level one for Sevens is on 23 July 2021 and our Level two Fifteens on 25-26 June 2021 and this coming weekend sees the final Level One course for this month. For a full list of courses and to sign up now. Please click here.
On a final note, we again remind all our clubs to make every effort to abide by and enforce all COVID regulations. We are aware of the fact that matches have now taken on a new dimension with the exclusion of spectators, but we urge all our clubs to adjust to the regulations and use every other possible tool at their disposal to reach their fans.