It’s all systems go for our professional players as the DHL Stormers went into their first match since the lockdown began and our WP Rugby u21 side prepares for their first match.
The DHL Stormers took on the Lions in the Super Fan challenge at Emirates Park in Johannesburg this past Saturday, with no less than eight Springboks in our line up. Considering that we’ve been out of action for more than six months and playing at altitude we played fantastic rugby and walked away with a 34-21 victory.
DHL Newlands will be the venue for the Springbok Showdown in a Best of the Best match next week 3 October. The tournament will take a draft format with players picked on the day to play in a Green vs Gold match.
Coach Jerome Paarwater and his thirty-five man WP Rugby u21 side held their first practice match in chukker format at the HPC in Bellville last Friday. The session played in rather wet weather saw the team prepare for the SA Rugby u21 national tournament which sees us start against the Bulls at Emirates Park in Johannesburg on Sunday 4 October.
The u21 tournament will see all teams play each other once, with two matches taking place every four days. The remainder of our fixtures is Thur 8 Oct (bye), Mon 12 Oct (Sharks), Fri 16 Oct (Free State) and Thur 20 Oct (Lions) with the semi-finals and finals on the 25th and 30th of October respectively.
With the change in lockdown levels and the fact that it was Heritage Day this week a number of our clubs took the opportunity to Braai with their members and extended this to their outreach projects, in some cases clubs such as Titans RFC giving away boerewors rolls in their neighbourhoods.
Heritage day also saw some of our clubs provide their facilities to practise the Jerusalema line dance and we look forward to seeing the videos.
It’s fantastic to see that even though there are no fixtures our clubs remain active and are constantly engaging their members. Some clubs such as Vineyards RFC have taken the opportunity to engage with their youth structures to show the value of club rugby and the role they play in the club. This is particularly important for us as we value the need to build our youth structures.
From a facilities point of view, we expect many clubs will look very good next year. While some clubs such as Uni-Mil RFC and Eersterivier RFC have been painting and renovating others such as Young Wesleys RFC and Hamiltons RFC have been busy with field preparations including levelling, removing thorns and reseeding.
Our WP Rugby referees last week went on a charity drive in collaboration with the Chester Williams foundation and referees from Boland. The event saw the referee’s cycle through Paarl and Wellington to deliver gifts as part of their outreach project and raise awareness for the referee’s society. You can see the video here
This week saw the conclusion of module one of the Media, Marketing and Sponsorship workshop. Each attendee is sent the module notes and their assessment forms. The course rolls out over four modules and will see several WP Club Rugby members certified as MMS team members who will then have a good knowledge of building the club value proposition and hopefully gain sponsorship for their club.
Our next wave of coaching courses being Level 1, Fifteens, Sevens and Strength and Conditioning will start in early November and prospective coaches are reminded to get their coaching passport up to date as soon as possible. The coaching passport essentially includes all the basics you need to cover before starting the course including Rugby Ready, Laws, First Aid and concussion. All these are free on the World Rugby website. Click here for the link.
Coaching Course dates will be sent to all clubs and schools this coming week. All coaches should also do the World Rugby COVID certification course before they attend.
When you have concluded the online courses the site will automatically generate a certificate for you, which is required before your course. The certificate should be emailed to nazeem@wprugby.co.za