White River take the long way round to SARU Community Cup kick-off
Mpumalanga champions White River face the longest journey when the SARU Community Cup kicks off on February 16. For their match against wild cards Roses United in Wellington on the opening weekend, the Lowvelders face a return journey of more than 3,400km, starting with a bus journey of over 550km from White River to OR Tambo International Airport, before boarding a flight for Cape Town and thereafter a bus to the Boland.
“It’s a gruelling schedule but we’re very excited and privileged to be a part of the Community Cup,” said White River chairman Fanie Roos. “Teams (Evergreens and Broubart Old Selbornian) must also travel here, so it works both ways and we need to make our home ground advantage count.”
National club champions Jonsson College Rovers will travel to Port Elizabeth on Thursday for a friendly match on Saturday against the EP Kings’ Vodacom Cup squad. And their opponents in the opening match, Despatch, will play fellow EP Grand Challenge rivals Spring Rose this coming weekend before taking on the Kings next week.
“We’re very happy with our preparations so far and we’re on track,” said Despatch chairman Marius Swanepoel. “Head coach Adri Geldenhuys has been putting the guys through their paces and Monty Dumond is helping out with the backline. (Former Springbok centre) Danie Gerber has been taking the guys for some fitness sessions so we’ll be ready.
“Off the field, we’re painting the grandstand and the field is looking good ahead of our first match against Sishen on 2 March. There’s already interest building and we hope to attract a big crowd for the games.”
Wild cards African Bombers, who will host Welkom Rovers and Pretoria Police at Zwide Stadium in the coming weeks, have already got a match under the belt, having beaten Zwide in a friendly last week.
With just over three weeks remaining until kick-off, the 20 teams are gearing up for pre-tournament friendlies to sharpen their match fitness ahead of the World Cup-style tournament, which sees the sides divided into four pools of five.
A total of 40 pool matches will be played over the five-week period from 16 February to 16 March, with each club playing four matches – two home and two away. Incredibly, teams will cover a combined distance over 62,000km during the pool stages – an average return journey of over 1,550km per match.
The top two sides from each pool will then advance to the play-offs, which will be held at Outeniqua Park in George over the Easter Weekend. The quarter- and semi-finals will take place on 28 and 30 March respectively, with Shield, Bowl, Plate and Cup finals to be contested on Easter Monday, 1 April.
The winners of the SARU Community Cup will play the FNB Varsity Cup champions for the overall national club championship title, on a date to be confirmed.
The full schedule is as follows (all kick-off times to be confirmed):
Round 1 – Sat 16 February 2013:
Pool A – Jonsson College Rovers vs GAP Despatch (Durban); Villagers Worcester vs Aveng Moolmans Sishen (Worcester)
Pool B – Pretoria Police vs Durbanville-Bellville (Pretoria); African Bombers vs Welkom Rovers (Port Elizabeth)
Pool C – Rustenburg Impala vs Roodepoort (Rustenburg); BB Truck Noordelikes vs Raiders (Polokwane)
Pool D – Broubart Old Selbornian vs Brakpan (East London); Roses United vs White River (Wellington)
Round 2 – Sat 23 February 2013:
Pool A – Aveng Moolmans Sishen vs Jonsson College Rovers (Kathu); SK Walmers vs Villagers Worcester (Cape Town)
Pool B – Durbanville-Bellville vs African Bombers (Cape Town); Welkom Rovers vs Bloem Police (Welkom)
Pool C – Roodepoort vs BB Truck Noordelikes (Roodepoort); Raiders vs Bloem Crusaders (Johannesburg)
Pool D – Brakpan vs Roses United (Brakpan); White River vs Evergreens (White River)
Round 3 – Sat 2 March 2013
Pool A – GAP Despatch vs Villagers Worcester (Despatch); Aveng Moolmans Sishen vs SK Walmers (Kathu)
Pool B – Bloem Police vs Durbanville-Bellville (Bloemfontein); African Bombers vs Pretoria Police (Zwide)
Pool C – Rustenburg Impala vs Bloem Crusaders (Rustenburg); Roodepoort vs Raiders (Roodepoort)
Pool D – Evergreens vs Brakpan (Pacaltsdorp); Roses United vs Broubart Old Selbornian (Wellington)
Round 4 – Sat 9 March 2013
Pool A – Jonsson College Rovers vs SK Walmers (Durban); GAP Despatch vs Aveng Moolmans Sishen (Despatch)
Pool B – Welkom Rovers vs Pretoria Police (Welkom); Bloem Police vs African Bombers (Bloemfontein)
Pool C – Bloem Crusaders vs Roodepoort (Heidedal); BB Truck Noordelikes vs Rustenburg Impala (Polokwane)
Pool D – Broubart Old Selbornian vs Evergreens (East London); Brakpan vs White River (Brakpan)
Round 5 – Sat 16 March 2013
Pool A – SK Walmers vs GAP Despatch (Cape Town); Villagers Worcester vs Jonsson College Rovers (Worcester)
Pool B – Pretoria Police vs Bloem Police (Pretoria); Durbanville-Bellville vs Welkom Rovers (Cape Town)
Pool C – Raiders vs Rustenburg Impala (Johannesburg); Bloem Crusaders vs BB Truck Noordelikes (Heidedal)
Pool D – White River vs Broubart Old Selbornian (White River); Evergreens vs Roses United (Pacaltsdorp).
Easter Play-offs (Outeniqua Park, George):
Thu 28 March 2013 – Cup quarter-finals:
• QF1 – Winner C vs Runner-up D
• QF2 – Winner B vs Runner-up A
• QF3 – Winner D vs Runner-up C
• QF4 – Winner A vs Runner-up B
Sat 30 March 2013 – Bowl & Cup semi-finals:
• Loser QF1 vs Loser QF2
• Loser QF3 vs Loser QF4
• Winner QF1 vs Winner QF2
• Winner QF3 vs Winner QF4
Mon 1 April 2013 – Finals:
• Shield – Loser Bowl Bowl SF1 vs Loser Bowl SF2
• Bowl – Winner Bowl SF1 vs Winner Bowl SF2
• Plate – Loser Cup SF1 vs Loser Cup SF2
• Cup – Winner Cup SF1 vs Winner Cup SF2
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