This week has been a mix of reflection and excitement with league deciders, education, and more as general talking points.
Last week saw an incredible day of WP Club Rugby at City Park with our semi-finals rolling out amid the expected excitement of Western Province Club Rugby. The day started early with women’s rugby as Busy Bees Women faced CPUT Women and Bellville Women went head-to-head with Elto Towers Kuilsrivier Women in the first round of the women’s division knockouts. These matches followed an intense first and second division first round and now move to the finals.
Super League C saw Goodwood and Primrose go head-to-head with the knowledge that the winners would be promoted to Super League B, and the loser must go to the third and fourth-place playoffs with a hope to end third in the league and still have a chance to challenge thirteenth placed Strand in Super League B. Similarly, Macassar and Atlantis faced off. In the end, it was Primrose going through with a 24-13 win, and Macassar winning 30-17. The finals, scheduled for 14 September 2024, sees Goodwood go head-to-head with Atlantis and Macassar face Primrose for the Super League C title.
Super League B saw a dominant performance from UWC with a 34-13 win over Franschhoek and a close contest between Van der Stel and Kraaifontein. The end result sees a new look for Super League A next year as Van der Stel secures their spot and UWC moves back to where they were a year ago. Franschhoek and Kraaifontein will play for third place and the hope to face SK Walmers for a last chance to get to Super League A. The title will now be contested between UWC and Van der Stel.
In the day’s Super League A challenges, there were no considerations for promotion or relegation, only the option to win the league. The final matches of the day then contested between Uni-Miln and Durbanville, and Maties versus Hamilton. The end results saw a close contest and a narrow win for Durbanville, 22-19 in the dying minutes, while Hamilton dominated both halves to win 33-19 over Maties. Durbanville and Hamilton now play for the title of Super League A champions at City Park on 14 September 2024.
We still have a number of matches left in the Promotion League as this weekend sees Violets face off against Delft. This will be a major match as both teams lead the log followed by Watsonia. The top three in the Promotion Cup go up to Super League B.
The Challenge Cup has now concluded with the top 2 in each division going to the quarter-finals next week, 14 September 2024.
The Paarl Region last week saw a win for Young Standards, 18-13 over Young Gardens, and Riverstone’s 36-14 over Violets Paarl, leaving Lower Paarl still well in the lead on the Paarl Region log followed by Paarl Rangers and Young Gardens.
This weekend saw yet another successful World Rugby Level Fifteen coaching course at Newlands and the next Level One course also at Newlands on 2 August 2024, and our next Level 1 S&C course on 27 September 2024. Our members are reminded of the Women’s Rugby Referees Course scheduled for 14 September 2024 at Brackenfell Primary School. This is a World Rugby Introductory course, and we urge all our members to pass the message on to their women members or any interested women fans. They can contact Monray Colville at education@wprugbyrefs.co.za to get involved.