Return of Zim revs up contest

While it may have picked up an extra team in the form of former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers’ Zimbabwe, the SuperSport Rugby Challenge returns as a much more streamlined competition in its third year running.

Zimbabwe return to compete in a South African rugby competition for the first time since they played in the Currie Cup in the early 1980s.

This time around, the 16 teams participating have been divided into North and South pools of eight each – instead of having a Central group as well, as was the case in the past.

The return to the fold of Zimbabwe is the big talking point.

Led by the charismatic De Villiers, the Zimbabweans – who will go by the moniker Zimbabwe Academy – will camp in False Bay, where they will play two of their three home games, and travel to Villagers for the third to form part of the league day there.

SA Rugby’s director of the tournament, Duane Heath, said the arrival of the Zimbabweans was somewhat at short notice, given that they had only made their inquiries to play in the competition about a year ago.

But that cannot be as short notice as the Border Bulldogs, who must have nine lives when it comes to how fine they cut it in terms of finding ways to compete in this tournament.

The Bulldogs managed to hang on to their spot after being placed under administration late in 2018.

A last-minute bailout by the government means they are eligible to play again.

But they will have to quickly assemble a side because all their players were retrenched while under the franchise was under administration.

The streamlined nature of the tournament sees the eight teams playing single-round matches against the sides in their pools, with the top two from each group advancing to the semifinals.

This will cut the duration of the competition to nine weeks instead of 12.

As usual, the tournament will give the players an opportunity to take in some of SA’s less travelled venues in the form of the smaller community stadiums, particularly at the popular festivals.

The D’Almeida Stadium (Mossel Bay), Bosman Stadium (Brakpan), Despatch (outside Port Elizabeth) and Callie de Wet Stadium (Robertson) are the new venues added to the Sisa Dukashe Stadium (Mdantsane), Rustenburg Impala (Rustenburg) and Florida Park in Ravensmead (semifinals, Cape Town) as festival hosts.

Sections

North pool

Griffons, Leopards, Pumas, Blue Bulls, Namibia, Griquas, Falcons

South pool

Cheetahs, Sharks, Boland, Eastern Province, SWD Eagles, Western Province, Border, Zimbabwe Academy