Nothing to choose between Gold Cup Quarter-finalists
THERE IS nothing to choose between the eight remaining Gold Cup teams after a dramatic final round of pool stages in SA Rugby’s three-nation championship for non-university clubs confirmed a quarterfinal line-up that’s too close to call.
The weekend’s televised match sees Pretoria Police take on DirectAxis False Bay in a mouth-watering Blue Bulls v Western Province club clash. Fittingly, the match takes place at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, as a curtain-raiser to the Currie Cup semi-final between the same two unions (kick-off 15h10, DStv channel 197).
“Last week we had a Gold Cup pool match in Rustenburg that was a broadcast curtain-raiser to a Springbok-All Black Test and this week things have gone up another notch,” said SA Rugby CEO, Jurie Roux. “A north-south Gold Cup quarterfinal is big enough, but playing it as a curtain-raiser to a Currie Cup semi-final presents us with a unique double-header and provides yet more fantastic exposure for the clubs, their sponsors, and the Gold Cup brand itself.
“Once again I call on all rugby fans who want to watch some ‘feel-good’ rugby to tune in and be part of the amazing revival currently happening in club rugby.”
The winner of the Police-False Bay quarterfinal will play a semi-final against the winner of the match in Cape Town between defending champions Durbanville-Bellville and SWD champions RSK Evergreens, who pulled off three dramatic come-from-behind victories in a row, including a famous win against FNB Wanderers in Windhoek last weekend, to reach the last eight for the second time in four years.
On the other side of the draw, Valke champions Siyaya Brakpan host Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police, who this year have surprised friend and foe alike after finishing 16th in 2015. The winner of the battle of Bosman Stadium will then have to negotiate a semi-final against either 2014 champions and last year’s runners-up, Rustenburg Impala, or KZN champions Your Communications College Rovers, who clash in Rustenburg in the final quarterfinal.
- The semi-final line-up will be confirmed on Saturday evening following the completion of the quarter-finals, and will be published exclusively on the @GoldCupRugby Twitter handle and Gold Cup Rugby Facebook page.
- The venue of both semifinals, as well as the final, shall be determined by which of the two teams ended the pool stages with the most log points. Should both teams have ended on the same amount of log points, then points difference in the pool stages will break the tie.
- Should any of the quarterfinals end in a draw, two 10-minute halves of extra time will be played. If thereafter the scores are still level, the team that scored the most tries in the match will be the winner. Should there still be deadlock, the teams will play sudden-death extra time until one team scores points of any description.
Knockout fixtures (all matches 15h30 unless otherwise indicated):
Saturday 15 October:
QF1 – Siyaya Brakpan v Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police (Bosman Stadium, Brakpan)
QF2 – Rustenburg Impala v Your Communications College Rovers (Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg)
QF3 – Pretoria Police v DirectAxis False Bay (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, 15h15 – SuperSport Channel 197)
QF4 – Durbanville-Bellville v RSK Evergreens (Durbell RFC, Cape Town)
Sunday 23 October (both matches live on SuperSport 1/HD):
SF1 – Winner QF1 v Winner QF2 (Time & Venue TBC)
SF2 – Winner QF3 v Winner QF4 (Time & Venue TBC)
Saturday 29 October (live on SuperSport 1/HD):
Winner SF1 v Winner SF2 (Time & Venue TBC)
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
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