Draw announced for SAA National Club Champs – 24 days to go

NWU-Pukke will begin the defence of their SAA National Club Championships title against invited Limpopo side Noordelikes when the 35th edition of the tournament gets underway at the LC de Villiers sports grounds on the University of Pretoria’s Sport Campus on Sunday, September 20.

SA Rugby have also announced that the final will be played at Loftus Versfeld on 26 September, as a curtain-raiser to the Absa Currie Cup match between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Vodacom Free State Cheetahs. The match will also be televised live on SuperSport 1.

The seeding for the 16-team event is done by province and is based on the performances of the 14 provincial representatives at the previous year’s tournament. The two clubs invited annually by SARU to take part are automatically seeded 15th and 16th.

This year, the Leopards and KwaZulu-Natal are seeded first and second respectively because Pukke and College Rovers contested the 2008 final, won 17-12 by the Potchefstroom students.

Losing Cup semi-finalists from last year are seeded third and fourth, with losing Cup quarter-finalists ranked 5-8. Teams ranked 9-14 are determined by their progress in the previous year’s Plate event. The draw and seedings for Round 1 of the 2009 SAA Club Champs is:

Pukke v Noordelikes (1 Leopards v 16 SARU invited team)
College Rovers v Impala (2 KZN v 15 SARU invited team)
Hamiltons v Kuruman (3 WP v 14 Griqualand West)
Springs v Welkom Rovers (4 Falcons v 13 Griffons)
Pretoria Police v Buffalo (5 Blue Bulls v 12 Border)
Pirates v Middelburg (6 Golden Lions v 11 Mpumalanga)
Shimlas v Park/SAPS (TBC) (7 Free State v 10 Eastern Province)
Rawsonville v Great Brakriver (8 Boland v 9 South Western Districts)

Of the 16 teams that will take part this year, only NWU-Pukke, College Rovers and Buffalo played in the 2008 tournament, while the only Varsity Cup sides who managed to qualify are Pukke and Shimlas.

The only province yet to confirm its entrant is Eastern Province. That will be decided this coming Saturday, when the Grand Challenge final is contested between Port Elizabeth teams Park and SAPS. The match will take place at Park’s home ground of Londt Park. Kick-off is at 15h30.

Outeniqua Park in George will host a number of SWD club finals this Saturday, with the Premier League final between Club Champs qualifiers Great Brakriver and Barbarians of Mossel Bay.

In last weekend’s semi-finals, Great Brakriver beat Silver Stars 25-13 while Barbarians edged out Evergreens 26-20.

The President League Top 6 final will be contested by Crusaders and Oudtshoorn, while Albertinia and Stilbaai will play for the Bottom 5 title.

The Western Province Super League is going down to the wire, after log leaders and Club Champs qualifiers Hamiltons were beaten 27-13 at home by champions Maties.

It was Hammies’ first defeat of the season and they will now in all likelihood have to win their last three matches to be assured of a first WP title since 1936. The Green Point side are on 66 points while second-placed Maties are on 52.

The Stellenbosch students do however have five games remaining, which means they could finish on 77 points, leaving Hammies needing 12 points from their last three fixtures to seal a historic title.

At the other end of the table, the relegation battle is between bottom-placed Kraaifontein (10 points with five games remaining) and ninth-placed Villager (23 points with two games left).

One team is automatically relegated each year, and while Kraaie have looked certain of doing exactly that for much of the season, two recent wins have given them hope of survival once more.

Looking to move up to the top flight in 2010 are Super League B front-runners False Bay and Bellville-Tech, who are locked in a two-horse race for the single promotion spot. False Bay hold a two-point lead and have played one match fewer than Bellville, which means they need nine points from their remaining three matches to take the title.

This weekend’s fixtures include an intriguing clash between Maties’ second team in the league, Vics, and Hammies. The venue is the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch and kick-off is at 16h10. Other matches on Saturday see Villager at home to UCT in the traditional southern suburbs derby, Helderberg hosting Durbanville-Bellville and Parow’s NNK at home to Maties.

Meanwhile, the central provinces tournament between the top three open clubs from each of KZN, Free State and the Griffons kicked off last week with Rovers beating Welkom club 56-10 in the Welkom derby.

Durban Collegians won both their opening matches, against Bloem Crusaders (65-3) and CUT Ixias (43-14) respectively. KZN champs and Club Champs qualifiers College Rovers suffered a 33-10 home defeat at the hands of Bloem’s Old Greys but made amends with a 50-17 win over Welkom. KZN’s third team, Old Boys, lost 23-17 to CUT Ixias but beat Old Greys 35-3.

This Friday’s fixtures: CUT Ixias v College Rovers (Bobbies Park, 20h00); Old Greys v Welkom Rovers (Bobbies Park, 18h30); Bloem Crusaders v Old Boys (Clive Solomon stadium, 19h00); and Welkom v Durban Collegians (Welkom club, 19h00).

Sunday’s final round: Old Greys v Durban Collegians (Old Greys, 11h30); CUT Ixias v Welkom Rovers (Old Greys, 14h00); Bloem Crusaders v College Rovers (Clive Solomon Stadium, 11h30); and Welkom v Old Boys (Welkom, 11h30).

The final will take place on Saturday, September 5.

Issued by SA Rugby