Two Championship derbies brought forward

Two Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies originally scheduled for February 2022 have been brought forward and will be played in Durban and Cape Town this weekend.

In the wake of the round six and seven matches that were postponed last week due to the emergence of a new variant of Covid-19, it was decided to move the two derbies forward.

As a result, the Cell C Sharks will now host the Vodacom Bulls in Durban on Friday evening (7pm kick-off at Jonsson Kings Park), while the DHL Stormers will face the Emirates Lions in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon (5pm kick-off at the DHL Stadium).

Limited spectators will be allowed at these matches as was gazetted by government in October.

“Our four teams have been hard at work, and in conjunction with the tournament organisers we’ve decided to bring forward two of the derbies originally scheduled for early in the new year,” Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby, said.

“Apart from providing our teams with much-needed game time, we are also trying to open up space in the calendar for a possible rescheduling of the matches that had been postponed this weekend.” —