DHL Western Province kick-off their Carling Currie Cup campaign on Saturday to start a season which will feature a double-round of fixtures and midweek games and last less than three months.
DHL Western Province are joined by the Vodacom Blue Bulls, Xerox Lions, Cell C Sharks, Tafel Lager Griquas, Toyota Cheetahs and New Nation Pumas in the competition and will play each of these teams home and away ahead of the play-offs.
The opening fixture for DHL Western Province is a North-South clash with the Vodacom Blue Bulls on Saturday, which will kick-start their quest for a record 35th Carling Currie Cup title.
The following three fixtures will all be held on a Wednesday as DHL Western Province face the Xerox lions away and then the Cell C Sharks and Tafel Lager Griquas at home before they have a bye.
During that bye the DHL Stormers will take on the British and Irish Lions at Cape Town Stadium on July 17.
The remaining league fixtures will be completed by the end of August, with the top four teams on the standing then going through to the semifinals on September 4, with the final set to be played on September 11.
With the Springboks away on national duty for the British and Irish Lions series, there will be some new faces in the blue and white hoops this season and every single player will be going all-out to play the type of rugby that the Faithful can be proud of.
Log points
Log points will be determined as follows: four points for a win; zero points for a defeat; two points to each team in the event of a draw; one bonus point for scoring four or more tries; and one bonus point for losing by seven points or less.
COVID regulation (2021)
If a match can’t take place due to a union not being able to field a team because of positive COVID cases, and there is no acceptable time to reschedule the match, regulations decided upon prior to the 2021 season determine that the fixture be deemed a 0-0 draw.
However, four match points would be awarded to the team who had not been the cause of the cancellation. This ensures that no artificial scoring points were added to the tries/points for and against columns.
If both teams are unable to play, two log points will be awarded to each side.
DHL WP Carling Currie Cup fixtures:
Saturday, June 19 at 16h00
v Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld
Wednesday, June 23 at 19h00
v Xerox Lions at Emirates Airline Park
Wednesday, June 30 at 19h00
v Cell C Sharks at Cape Town Stadium
Wednesday, July 7 at 16h45
v Tafel Lager Griquas at Cape Town Stadium
Wednesday, July 21 at 14h30
v Toyota Cheetahs at Toyota Stadium
Sunday, July 25 at 13h00
v New Nation Pumas at Mbombela Stadium
Friday, July 30 at 19h00
v Vodacom Bulls at Cape Town Stadium
Saturday, August 7 at 16h45
v Toyota Cheetahs at Cape Town Stadium
Saturday, August 14 at 14h30
v New Nation Pumas at Cape Town Stadium
Wednesday, August 18 at 19h00
v Xerox Lions at Cape Town Stadium
Saturday, August 21 at 14h30
v Tafel Lager Griquas at Tafel Lager Park
Saturday, August 28 at 19h00
v Cell C Sharks at Jonsson Kings Park
Saturday, September 4
Semifinals
Saturday, September 11
Final