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2013 Varsity Rugby fixtures announced

PUBLISHED: August 31, 2012


The 2013 Varsity Rugby fixtures have been drawn up, with an incredible 82 matches set to take place next year across four competitions.

The inaugural Varsity Cup competition – back in 2008 – began midway through February and ended in the first week of April, but these days the Varsity Rugby action will get underway at the end of January with the Varsity Shield tournament kicking-off on January 28, 2013.

In a slight change to the schedule, meanwhile, there will be two finals weeks in the 2013 Varsity Rugby competition. April 1 will see the Varsity Shield and Young Guns Finals take place, followed by two more finals the next week; the Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships Final and the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International Final – both of which will take place on Monday, April 8.

Defending Varsity Cup champions, FNB UP-Tuks, will get their title challenge off to a tricky start when they travel to Potchefstroom to take on the FNB NWU-Pukke on Monday, February 4 at 7pm.

Former champions, and last year’s losing finalists, the FNB Maties, will kickstart the Cup edition of the 2013 tournament then they host UJ in the first fixture earlier in the day at 5pm. Both those matches will be televised – an exact repeat of the 2012 semifinals.

Varsity Cup newcomers, FNB Wits, will play their first senior fixture at home against the FNB Shimlas at 7pm, with 2011 champions, FNB UCT, entertaining FNB NMMU at the same time.

Looking at the jam-packed 2013 Varsity Rugby season, Duitser Bosman, the Varsity Cup Managing Director, said: “It’s always a thrill compiling the new fixtures for Monday-night rugby – in this, our sixth season of Varsity Cup rugby.

“We have a unique fixtures tool, developed by top mathematicians, which allows us, fairly, to draw up the new fixtures taking all permutations and the Varsity Cup constitution into account.”

Twenty-three matches will be televised on SuperSport in the 2013 season and Bosman explained further: “It’s written into our constitution that the top two teams from the previous seasons would have five matches televised, teams three and four would have four televised games, teams five and six would get three opportunities on television and the seventh- and eighth-placed sides would get two games on TV.

“Thus, Tuks and the Maties will head up the list of televised matches… but it’s also pretty exciting to have a new team, in the shape of Wits, in the Cup competition next season.”

 

ALL THE 2013 VARSITY RUGBY FIXTURES:

Varsity Cup – February 4 to April 8, 2013:

 

Monday, February 4:
FNB Maties v FNB UJ, Danie Craven Stadium – 5pm (TV)
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – 7pm (TV)
FNB UCT v FNB NMMU, UCT Rugby Fields – 7pm
FNB Wits v FNB Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium – 7pm

Monday, February 11:

FNB UP-Tuks v FNB UCT, Tuks Rugby Stadium – 5pm (TV)
FNB NMMU v FNB Wits, NMMU Stadium – 7pm (TV)
FNB UJ v FNB NWU-Pukke, UJ Stadium – 7pm
FNB Shimlas v FNB Maties, Xerox Shimla Park – 7pm

Monday, February 18:
FNB Shimlas v FNB UP-Tuks, Xerox Shimla Park – 5pm (TV)
FNB Maties v FNB NMMU, Danie Craven Stadium – 7pm (TV)
FNB Wits v FNB NWU-Pukke, Wits Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB UCT v FNB UJ, UCT Rugby Fields – 7pm

Monday, February 25:
FNB Wits v FNB UJ, Wits Rugby Stadium – 5pm (TV)
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Maties, Tuks Rugby Stadium – 7pm (TV)
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB UCT, Fanie du Toit Sports Ground – 7pm
FNB NMMU v FNB Shimlas, NMMU Stadium – 7pm

Monday, March 4:
FNB UCT v FNB Maties, UCT Rugby Fields – 5pm (TV)
FNB Shimlas v FNB NWU-Pukke, Xerox Shimla Park – 7pm (TV)
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Wits, Tuks Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB NMMU v FNB UJ, NMMU Stadium – 7pm

Monday, March 11:
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB NMMU, Fanie du Toit Sports Ground – 5pm (TV)
FNB UJ v FNB UP-Tuks, UJ Stadium – 7pm (TV)
FNB Shimlas v FNB UCT, Xerox Shimla Park – 7pm
FNB Wits v FNB Maties, Wits Rugby Stadium – 7pm

 

Monday, March 18:
FNB UJ v FNB Shimlas, UJ Stadium – 5pm (TV)
FNB Maties v FNB NWU-Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium – 7pm (TV)
FNB NMMU v FNB UP-Tuks, NMMU Stadium – 7pm
FNB UCT v FNB Wits, UCT Rugby Fields – 7pm

Monday, March 25:
Semifinal One: Log position 1 v Log position 4 – 4.30pm (TV)
Semifinal Two: Log position 2 v Log position 3 – 7pm (TV)

Monday, April 8:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two – 7pm (TV)

Varsity Shield – January 28 to April 1, 2013:

Monday, January 28:
FNB UKZN v FNB UFH, Peter Booysen Sports Park – 5pm (TV)
FNB UWC v FNB TUT, UWC Sport Stadium – 7pm (TV)
Bye: FNB CUT

Thursday, January 31:
FNB CUT v FNB UWC, CUT Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB TUT v FNB UKZN, TUT Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB UFH

Monday, February 4:
FNB UFH v FNB TUT, Davidson Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB CUT, Peter Booysen Sports Park – 7pm
Bye: FNB UWC

Monday, February 11:
FNB CUT v FNB UFH, CUT Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB UWC v FNB UKZN, UWC Sport Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB TUT

Monday, February 18:
FNB TUT v FNB CUT, TUT Stadium – 7pm
FNB UFH v FNB UWC, Davidson Rugby Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB UKZN

Monday, February 25:
FNB UFH v FNB UKZN, Davidson Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB TUT v FNB UWC, TUT Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB CUT

Monday, March 4:
FNB UWC v FNB CUT, UWC Sport Stadium – 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB TUT, Peter Booysen Sports Park – 7pm
Bye: FNB UFH

Monday, March 11:
FNB TUT v FNB UFH, TUT Stadium – 7pm
FNB CUT v FNB UKZN, CUT Rugby Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB UWC

Monday, March 18:
FNB UFH v FNB CUT, Davidson Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB UWC, Peter Booysen Sports Park – 7pm
Bye: FNB TUT

Monday, March 25:
FNB CUT v FNB TUT, CUT Rugby Stadium – 7pm
FNB UWC v UFH, UWC Sport Stadium – 7pm
Bye: FNB UKZN

Monday, April 1:
Final: Log position 1 v Log position 2 – 5pm (TV)

Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships – February 18 to April 8, 2013:

Monday, February 18:
Steinhoff Maties v Steinhoff NMMU, Danie Craven Stadium – 5pm
Steinhoff Wits v Steinhoff Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium – 5pm

Monday, February 25:
Steinhoff Wits v Steinhoff UJ, Wits Rugby Stadium – 3pm
Steinhoff UP-Tuks v Steinhoff Maties, Tuks Rugby Stadium – 5pm
Steinhoff NWU-Pukke v Steinhoff NMMU, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – 5pm

Monday, March 4:
Steinhoff UCT v Steinhoff UJ, UCT Rugby Fields – 3pm

Monday, March 11:
Steinhoff NWU-Pukke v Steinhoff UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – 3pm
Steinhoff Shimlas v Steinhoff UCT, Xerox Shimla Park – 5pm

Monday, March 18:
Steinhoff UJ v Steinhoff Shimlas, UJ Stadium – 3pm
Steinhoff Maties v Steinhoff NWU-Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium – 5pm
Steinhoff NMMU v Steinhoff UP-Tuks, NMMU Stadium – 5pm
Steinhoff UCT v Steinhoff Wits, UCT Rugby Fields – 5pm

Monday, March 25:
Hertz Pool 1 v Pennypinchers Pool 2 – TBA
Pennypinchers Pool 1 v Hertz Pool 2 – TBA

Monday, April 8:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two – 4.45pm (TV)

Varsity Young Guns – February 18 to April 1, 2013:
Monday, February 18:
FNB Shimlas v FNB UP-Tuks, Xerox Shimla Park – 3pm
FNB UCT v FNB NMMU, UCT Rugby Fields – 5pm

Monday, February 25:
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB Wits, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – 5pm

FNB NMMU v Steinhoff Maties Jrs, NMMU Stadium – 5pm

Monday, March 4:
FNB Shimlas v FNB NWU-Pukke, Xerox Shimla Park – 5pm
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Wits, Tuks Rugby Stadium – 5pm
FNB NMMU v FNB UJ, NMMU Stadium – 5pm
FNB UCT v Steinhoff Maties Jrs, UCT Rugby Fields – 7pm

Monday, March 11:
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – 3pm
FNB UJ v FNB UCT, UJ Stadium – 5pm
FNB Wits v FNB Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium – 5pm

Monday, March 18:
Steinhoff Maties Jrs v FNB UJ, Danie Craven Stadium – 3pm

Monday, March 25:
Semifinal One: Log position 1 v Log position 4 – TBA
Semifinal Two: Log position 2 v Log position 3 – TBA

Monday, April 1:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two – 7pm (TV)