Gold Cup to pioneer live Sunday rugby

Published 18th October 2016

Layle Delo of RSK Evergreens charges ahead during his team’s nail biting 27-19 defeat to champions Durbanville-Bellville in last Saturday’s Gold Cup quarterfinal played in Cape Town. Evergreens finished the tournament in fifth place – their highest ever placing. Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images.

Television history will be made this weekend in a massive boost for club rugby when both semi-finals in the Gold Cup – SA Rugby’s three-nation championship for non-university clubs – are broadcast back-to-back on Sunday afternoon.

The Sunday double-header is a first for a SA Rugby tournament – the only previous time a 15-a-side match has been broadcast in the country on aSunday was when New Zealand played England at DHL Newlands in the semi-final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

The first Gold Cup semi-final is a highly-anticipated, all-Western Province affair between defending champions Durbanville-Bellville and WP champions DirectAxis False Bay. The match will take place at Durbell Rugby Club, with kick-off at 13h00, live on SuperSport 1. The referee is Rasta Rasivhenge.

The Cape Town derby is followed by a heavyweight northern battle between last year’s runners-up, Rustenburg Impala, and Falcons champions Siyaya Brakpan. The match will take place at Impala Rugby Club in Rustenburg, with kick-off at 15h30, also live on SS1. The referee is Pro Legoete.

Western Province Group CEO, Paul Zacks, said his Union were looking forward to playing host to the ground-breaking match.“WP Rugby are proud of the fact that we have two clubs playing in the semi-finals of the Gold Cup and that we are guaranteed of being represented in the Final,” said Zacks. “It is indeed ground-breaking and we hope to see many supporters at Durbanville to watch two very good local clubs battle it out for a spot in the Final.”

Leopards CEO and former Impala chairman, Andries de Kock, concurred: “The Leopards are very excited about being part of what will be an historic occasion. Impala have done our Union proud and we call on rugby fans from far and wide to come to Rustenburg to watch club rugby of the highest calibre.”

Should either of the semi-finals 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.

The Final will be staged at the club who finished with the most log points after the pool stages. Should both finalists have accumulated the same number of log points, then points’ difference will determine the venue.