A few more Varsity Cup experiments in store
JOHANNESBURG: Despite the setback of losing Steinhoff as one of its major sponsors, the 2018 Varsity Cup will be as good as ever, promised chairman and South African Rugby Union chief executive Jurie Roux yesterday when the 11th edition of the tournament was launched in Johannesburg.
The troubled retail giant, with operations in Africa, Australia, Europe and the US, withdrew their sponsorship of Varsity Cup a few weeks ago and last week also announced they would no longer be involved with the SA Sevens team as the main sponsor. Roux though stated yesterday that while it was a big blow to the competition, main Varsity Cup sponsor, FNB, had stepped in to make up for the shortfall of Steinhoff pulling out.
“It’s a setback, but FNB has stepped up and helped us out in the interim,” said Roux.
“We’ll now go to market, but it would have been unfair on anyone else to be asked to step in so quickly.”
With regards the Sevens team, who are the current World Series defending champions, Roux said: “We’re in the market. There are contracts that need to be considered and there are legal hoops we have to jump through ... but the good news is there is a long list of people interested in the Sevens team.
“They’re hot property at the moment, certainly hotter than the Springboks ... they’re a transformed team, they’re a winning team and they’re a vibrant bunch. Also, there is the World Cup coming up this year and the Commonwealth Games ... they’re a great sell and we hope to make an announcement soon.”
As the leaders of testing new laws and rules – like the once unusual Player 23, which has now become standard in just about all levels of rugby – the 2018 Varsity Cup competition will again trial a few new experiments. Among these are:
1. The Powerplay rule allows each team to expel two backline players from the opposition for a period of three minutes at any stage during the 80 minutes of the match. This will force both the attacking and defending team to think “out of the box” when it comes to trying to break down the opposition team’s defence and the defending team to use their players wisely in trying to keep out the attacking team.
2. The assistant referee (linesman) who is closest to where a scrum is awarded will move in from off his line to help the on-field referee to best manage the scrum – and prevent resets and get the call, either way, correct.
3. Thirdly, if the opposition doesn’t contest the throw in at the lineout the hooker will be allowed to throw the ball in crooked – or rather, it won’t have to be a straight throw; and the referee won’t blow his whistle for a skew throw in.