The past week has been filled with good news from all our Western Province Rugby structures ranging across our clubs, juniors, schools, women, and senior rugby structures.
Last weekend’s crowd at the DHL Stadium once again showed that DHL Western Province Rugby is truly back as the DHL Stormers took on and beat Ulster in the URC semi-final. This result sees the DHL Stormers in the first-ever Vodacom United Rugby Championship Grand Final this Saturday against the Vodacom Bulls at the DHL Stadium. Achieving a home final at this level is a fantastic achievement for our team including the fact that we have now seen a number of players come through the Currie Cup ranks into the squad. Kick-off 19:30 with tickets available on www.ticketpro.co.za.
Western Province rugby fans and members will also be happy to know that nine DHL Stormers players including a number of former Western Province players have been selected for the Springbok squad for the upcoming international season. The Boks will kick off their 2022 season with three Tests against Wales in the Castle Lager Incoming Series starting in July.
Last Friday saw more opportunity for DHL WP Rugby exposure as our DHL WP Rugby Currie Cup squad took on the Cell C Sharks at the Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch. The team put in a fantastic performance in a tough Carling Currie Cup match that went down to the wire and our boys eventually taking the win 28-21.
Our WP Rugby girls u16 and u8 players are in preparation for the upcoming SA Rugby Girls National week which starts in Welkom on 26 June 2022. This Monday saw our squad of thirty-two girls go to final trials at City Park and the final team was selected this week.
We’re also happy to announce that twelve of our young ladies have secured their positions in the Western Cape u15 team which will be participating in the National School Sports Championships from 11 July 2022.
This Thursday is the continuation of our girl’s rugby festival at City Park on 16 June 2022 and also sees the celebration of Youth Day together with the rest of South Africa. WP Rugby fans can also look out for the start of the WP Women’s Rugby league as we get started on 2 July 2022. This is very exciting for our club structures who have worked so hard to contribute to the growth of Women’s rugby in Western Province.
On the junior boys front, we’re excited to say that our WP Rugby Craven week squads preparation has been going well as the teams prepare for the Craven week starting in Cape Town from 4 July 2022.
Additionally, we are thrilled to announce that we have had eleven DHL Western Province players selected for the Junior Springboks squad for the Under-20 Six Nations Summer Series in Italy, six of who have already experienced the Vodacom United Rugby Championships. The Junior Springboks will depart for Italy in the next two weeks where they will compete against the Six Nations sides and Georgia.
This past weekend saw just over eighty WP Club Rugby fixtures across all the leagues with just over ninety fixtures coming up this weekend. Many clubs have now passed the halfway mark in their respective leagues. Already we are seeing a slight shift in the conversation as we now see clubs talking about how to avoid the relegation zones.
Our members are reminded of the various coaching courses on offer with our next World Rugby Level One Fifteens course on 1 July 2022, Level two starts on 15 July 2022, and Level one Sevens coaching course on 5 Aug 2022. All these courses will be held at the High-performance centre in Bellville and the signup deadline is one week prior to the course. Participants should remember to complete their World Rugby passport in advance ( Click here ). If you are interested in doing this course please click here to sign up now.
In the event that you are interested in coaching, but perhaps not quite ready to register now we have an additional mailing for you to subscribe to which sees us send our general coaching notifications.