This weekend sees several interesting permutations and timelines for our Western Province Rugby clubs as we now head into the second last round for clubs aiming for promotion league and challenges for our clubs in the super leagues who are either aiming to secure top six or avoid the promotion/relegation zones.
Within the next few weeks, we will see the start of the promotion league, which includes the top three from the City, Southern, and Northern leagues. The Northern league, with ten clubs, will most likely conclude this weekend as log leaders Delft face Excelsior, Sir Lowrians travel to Whistling Wheels, and Stell-Cor take on Whistling Wheels. Albions and Delft will be out of reach after Saturday, and third place looks like it will now be decided between Sir Lowrians and Wheels.
The City sees its final round with a must-win game for Elsies River against unbeaten Caledonian Roses, while Silvertree, also on 23 log points, faces Police. A win for both those teams will see a must-win match for Violets against Young Ideas. The Southern League, with ten teams, still has an additional round with Blue Stars, Young Wesleys, and Watsonia in the top three. Rocklands play their final match against Northerns, and any points there will see Watsonia in a nervous position next week. Young Wesleys face Titans, and Lagunya hosts Young Stars.
Super League A saw some major grit last week as underdogs Brackenfell scored a win over Helderberg and NTK gave Hamiltons a serious run for their money. This week, Brackenfell travels to Hamiltons for a chance for both teams to show their adjustments. The lower part of the log will all know that SK Walmers and CPUT still have three games in hand, and the margins are very close. SK Walmers host second-place Uni-Mil in what some might call a derby, while the same could be said for the Durbell versus NTK game. Considering last week’s NTK performance, Durbell in fifth will know they can’t rest on their laurels. Fans can look out for a big match between False Bay and Villagers, with both teams virtually even on match statistics.
In Super League B, Hamediehs host Kraaifontein at Vygieskraal, and Collegians this week have their home match against second-place Van der Stel at Caledonian Roses grounds in Noll Ave. Hamlets host Vineyards in another even statistics game, while Franschhoek travels to the Strand to take on All Saints, and Belhar hosts Langa. Vineyards and Hamlets are both on fifteen log points but with games in hand, while Langa, Kylemore, and Strand are in the bottom three.
We see a top-of-the-table clash in Super League C this weekend as log leaders Macassar host third-placed Pniel Villagers. A win for Pniel could see them jump to the top of the log. Strand United travel to Scottsdene, Rangers host Blue Jets, Goodwood go to Busy Bees, positions five and six see Atlantis and Young Peoples go head to head, and Eersterivier face fourth-place Primrose.
In the Paarl Region, where we see nine teams play in a home and away series, most of the teams are now going into their tenth match, barring Riverstones and Allandale, who both have games in hand. Lower Paarl lead the log on forty-one points, followed by Young Gardens on thirty-five and Paarl Rangers on thirty-three. Allandale will have their work cut out for them when they face Lower Paarl. Riverstones host Simondium, Paarl Rangers host Young Standard, and Young Gardens host Violets Paarl.
Last week saw us host another successful World Rugby referees course for fifteens, and we do the same again on 6 July 2024 in Sun Valley. The next level two course is on 21 July 2024 at Newlands. Last week also saw an amazing opportunity for women’s rugby with our level one rugby referees course for women, which by all accounts turned out successfully. Fans will know that our women’s rugby referees programme has started delivering several successful candidates as we now weekly see our women referees officiating across Western Province Rugby at major club games.