Gold Cup fixtures for 2017 confirmed
Club rugby will take center stage simultaneously in three countries on 9 September when the Gold Cup kicks off with eight highly anticipated matches across the length and breadth of Southern Africa.
The fixtures for SA Rugby’s flagship three-nation champions’ league for non-university clubs, which were officially released on broadcast partner SuperSport on Tuesday night, see Windhoek, Harare, Rustenburg, Cape Town, East London, Welkom and Orkney hosting first-round matches.
Gold Cup champions Newrak Rustenburg Impala will kick off the defense of their title with a tough home fixture against Cheetahs champions Recall Security Bloemfontein Police, while last year’s runners-up, DirectAxis False Bay, host the as yet unconfirmed Boland champions in a mouthwatering WP-Boland derby in Cape Town.
The spotlight will fall squarely on the Mother City on the opening weekend, with wild cards Tygerberg also at home to Eastern Province’s champions, who will be decided this coming Saturday when Progress and Park contest the Grand Challenge final at Wolfson Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Elsewhere, fellow wild cards Swallow host Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians in the East London derby at BCMM Stadium, which will also see the Border Bulldogs play the Boland Cavaliers in what promises to be a vibrant club-province doubleheader.
Gold Cup newcomers Human Auto Welkom and Speedy Car Sales Vaal Reefs host Sasol Hydra-Arc Rugby and Northam Platinum Rhinos in the mining towns of Welkom and Orkney respectively, while Raiders and Go Nutz College Rovers will be packing their passports for historic away matches in Harare and Windhoek against Old Georgians and debutants FNB Western Suburbs respectively.
The Gold Cup, which runs to 29 October, is identical to the Rugby World Cup format, consisting of four pools of five teams each, with each club playing two home and two away matches over the five-week duration of the pool stages, with the top two sides from each pool progressing to the quarter-finals.
GOLD CUP 2017 POOLS
POOL A:
Newark RUSTENBURG IMPALA (defending champions)
Recall Security BLOEMFONTEIN POLICE (Cheetahs)
Human Auto WELKOM (Griffons)
SASOL HYDRA-ARC RUGBY (Pumas)
Valke champion (TBC 12 Aug – either East Rand United or Vereeniging)
POOL B:
QBR (Blue Bulls)
RAIDERS (Golden Lions)
Speedy Car Sales VAAL REEFS (Leopards)
Northam Platinum RHINOS (Limpopo)
OLD GEORGIANS (Zimbabwe)
POOL C:
Mike Pendock Motors OLD SELBORNIANS (Border)
SWALLOWS (Wildcard, Border)
EP champ (TBC 12 Aug – either Progress or Park)
SWD champ (TBC 26 Aug – either Progress, Bridgton, Evergreens or Mossel Bay Barbarians)
TYGERBERG (Wildcard, WP)
POOL D:
Boland champ (TBC 19 Aug – either Roses United, Robertson, Worcester Villagers or Hillcrest United)
IMT SISHEN (Griquas)
FNB WESTERN SUBURBS (Namibia)
Go Nutz COLLEGE ROVERS (Sharks)
DirectAxis FALSE BAY
FIXTURES:
ROUND 1 (9/10 Sep):
Pool A:
Newrak Rustenburg Impala v Recall Security Bloemfontein Police (Rustenburg)
Human Auto Welkom v Sasol Hydra-Arc Rugby (Welkom)
Pool B:
Speedy Car Sales Vaal Reefs v Northam Platinum Rhinos (Orkney)
Old Georgians v Raiders (Harare)
Pool C:
Tygerberg v EP champ (Florida Park, Cape Town)
Swallows v Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians (BCMM Stadium, East London)
Pool D:
DirectAxis False Bay v Boland champ (Cape Town)
FNB Western Suburbs v Go Nutz College Rovers (Windhoek)
ROUND 2 (16 Sep):
Pool A:
Sasol Hydra-Arc Rugby v Newrak Rustenburg Impala (Secunda)
Recall Security Bloemfontein Police v Valke champ (Bloemfontein)
Pool B:
Northam Platinum Rhinos v Old Georgians (Setaria)
QBR v Speedy Car Sales Vaal Reefs (Pretoria)
Pool C:
EP champ v Swallows (Nelson Mandela Bay)
SWD champ v Tygerberg (Venue TBC)
Pool D:
Boland champ v FNB Western Suburbs (Venue TBC)
IMT Sishen v DirectAxis False Bay (Kathu)
ROUND 3 (23/24 Sep):
Pool A:
Valke champ v Sasol Hydra-Arc Rugby (Venue TBC)
Newrak Rustenburg Impala v Human Auto Welkom (Rustenburg)
Pool B:
Old Georgians v QBR (Harare)
Raiders v Northam Platinum Rhinos (Johannesburg)
Pool C:
Swallows v SWD champs (Sisa Dukashe Stadium, Mdantsane)
Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians v EP champs (East London)
Pool D:
FNB Western Suburbs v IMT Sishen (Windhoek)
Go Nutz College Rovers v Boland champs (Durban)
ROUND 4 (30 Sep):
Pool A:
Human Auto Welkom v Valke champ (Welkom)
Sasol Hydra-Arc Rugby v Recall Security Bloemfontein Police (Secunda)
Pool B:
QBR v Raiders (Pretoria)
Speedy Car Sales Vaal Reefs v Old Georgians (Orkney)
Pool C:
SWD champ v Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians (Venue TBC)
Tygerberg v Swallows (Florida Park, Ravensmead)
Pool D:
IMT Sishen v Go Nutz College Rovers
DirectAxis False Bay v FNB Western Suburbs (Cape Town)
ROUND 5 (7 Oct):
Pool A:
Recall Security Bloemfontein Police v Human Auto Welkom (Bloemfontein)
Valke champ v Newrak Rustenburg Impala (Venue TBC)
Pool B:
Raiders v Speedy Car Sales Vaal Reefs (Johannesburg)
Northam Platinum Rhinos v QBR (Setaria)
Pool C:
Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians v Tygerberg (East London)
EP champs v SWD champs (Venue TBC)
Pool D:
Go Nutz College Rovers v DirectAxis False Bay (Durban)
Boland champ v IMT Sishen (Venue TBC)
QUARTER-FINALS (14/15 Oct):
QF1: C1 v D2
QF2: B1 v A2
QF3: D1 v C2
QF4: A1 v B2
SEMI-FINALS (22 Oct):
SF1: Winner QF1 v Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 v Winner QF4
FINAL & 3rd place play-off:
Sunday 29 October
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
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