The battle lines are being drawn for a Castle Lager Springbok Showdown, which will pit the best local stars and top, up-and-coming talent against each other on 3 October, as SA Rugby (www.SARugby.co.za) announced its plans today to reignite an exciting four-month local season.
Springbok assistant coaches Mzwandile Stick and
The selection process will take the form of a draft pick from an enlarged squad of 60 players with Green and Gold team bosses taking alternate turns in an old-style ‘school yard pick’ to assemble their match-day squads of 25 players each.
The drama will unfold live on
"This will not only be an opportunity to see the best of the best available in
"The players will be encouraged to showcase their skills — individually and in their teams — and while it will be full-on, we’re expecting to see a highly competitive match of quality players against each other.
"It will be exciting — from the moment we select the squads, with a number of twists thrown in for good measure — through the build-up to the match and the actual encounter in
To kick things off though, the local rugby season will resume on 26 September with a double-header at Loftus Versfeld in
These matches will be followed by the Castle Lager Springbok Showdown at DHL Newlands, after which a double round local competition, between seven franchises, kicks off on the weekend of 10 October.
Details of the local competition, with each of the teams facing the others home and away and every side enjoying two byes during the competition, will be released in due course.
In what is another first for South African rugby, the local competition will continue over Christmas and New Year and will culminate in semi-finals (16 January) and a final on 23 January next year.
"This is a very exciting plan for the next few months, considering all the challenges we’ve faced this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it will be great to see our best local rugby heroes battle it out from October to January," said
"We’ve worked very hard with Government,
"Unfortunately, spectators won’t be allowed inside the stadiums as we are still working with certain COVID-19 regulations."
Roux said that plans for the Springboks to play the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in
"We’re still not in a position to confirm plans for the Springboks, but it remains our wish that they play Tests this year," said Roux.
"It would not only be great to see the Rugby World Cup champions in action, but it would also give the Bok management valuable preparation for next year’s tour of the British &
Competition formats and all the fixtures will be confirmed shortly.
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For further information, please contact
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Phone: +27 (0) 82 926 0789
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Phone: +27 (0) 82 999 0022
Email: Rayaan@sarugby.co.za
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