Platteland showdown in Cell C Community Cup Qualifying

Oct 10 • Cell C Community Cup, General News • 4764 Views • Comments Off on Platteland showdown in Cell C Community Cup Qualifying

Photo: William Brown

PLATTELAND rugby will put its best foot forward in the Northern Cape on Saturday where Upington and Sasol Secunda will clash in a Cell C Community Cup qualifying match that will see the winners just 80 minutes away from booking their place in the 2015 tournament.

The Repechage semi-final between the lucky losers of the Central and North regions will be the first time that these two proud clubs have played each other. The match will take place at Upington Rugby Club with kick-off at 16h30.

Fifteen of the 20-strong field for 2015, which kicks off on 21 February, are already confirmed, with Jonsson College Rovers, who beat Upington in the Central final, and Vaseline Wanderers, who overcame Sasol in the North final at Loftus Versfeld last month, having already booked their places through the Qualifying rounds.

The new format – identical to Rugby World Cup qualifying, right down to the repechage round for lucky losers – will shift its attention to the southern unions after Saturday, with South East final set to take place on 25 October between SAPS PE and the loser of the SWD Premier League final, which takes place the week before.

2015 Cell C Community Cup Qualifying Matches – details TBC unless otherwise stated:

SOUTH WEST REGION:
Match 1 – Boland 2 (TBC) vs WP 2 (TBC) – Winner qualifies for Community Cup as South West 1, loser to Repechage Semi-final 1. The Boland Premier League runner-up and the second-best open club in the WP Super League A will contest this one-off match.

SOUTH EAST REGION:
Match 3 – SAPS PE vs SWD 2 – 25 Oct. Winner qualifies for Community Cup as South East 1, loser to Repechage Semi-final 1.

REPECHAGE:
Match 12 – Semi-final 1: Loser Match 1 (South West) vs Loser Match 3 (South East).
Match 13 – Semi-final 2: Upington (Central) vs Sasol (North) – 11 October, Upington Rugby Club.
Match 14 – Final: Winner Match 12 vs Winner Match 13. Winner is 20th & final team to qualify for Community Cup and plays in Pool A.

2015 POOLS:
Pool A – Rustenburg Impala (Leopards, defending champion), Kempston Old Selbornians (Border), Springs (Valke), repechage winner, regional qualifier.
Pool B – Raiders (Golden Lions), Pretoria Police (Blue Bulls), Bloemfontein Crusaders (Free State), BB Truck Noordelikes (Limpopo), regional qualifier.
Pool C – Hamiltons (WP), Boland champion (TBC), Aveng Moolmans Sishen (Griquas), SWD champion (TBC), regional qualifier.
Pool D – SA Home Loans Durban Collegians (KZN), Gap Management Despatch (EP), Eagle Towing Welkom Rovers (Griffons), Shumba Ferros (Mpumalanga), regional qualifier.