Rugby that keeps on rocking – The Varsity Cup!

Varsity Cup 2012 is the first bit of rugby that we will have the pleasure to enjoy this year in South Africa.

by Jacques

An exciting series await followers of arguably the most exciting format of the game in the days of professional area of Rugby Union.

Last year, we saw for the first time a team other than Maties lift the Cup when UCT beat Tukkies in an exciting final. Not only did UCT take the honors of the Varsity Cup for the first time but they also collected the WP Super League honours last season (their first WP club triumph since 1974). It sends a strong message out to all the other teams who is planning to wrestle the title away from the Tigers.

On the other side of the Bergriver, Maties is well away with their preparations to reclaim the trophy they basically owned since the tournament’s inception. They have a training match against Saracens Storm (B-Team) on the 11 January at Markotter.

Coach Chean Roux told www.varsitycup.co.za that the clash would be an ideal opportunity for him to test his squad against quality opposition as he plots to take back the Varsity Cup crown.

Another team that should be in the running this year is the men from Bloem. They would like to build on their semi-final result of 2010 in a belief that they can go one step further.

As we saw in the past the Varsity Cup will be again the trendsetters of Rugby Union when they will introduce a new point system to try and improve the running aspect of the game to reward teams scoring tries. Thanks to a special dispensation from the International Rugby Board, the Varsity Cup Rugby organisers have changed around the value of points for the four 2012 Varsity Cup Rugby competitions – conversions will be worth three points and penalties and drop-goals will be worth just two points.

Varsity Cup Managing Director Duitser Bosman explained on www.varsitycup.co.za : “Our intention with this trial is to cement a culture of try-scoring in the various Varsity Cup Rugby properties. After all, rugby is about entertainment… and tries are entertaining.”

The First games kick off on Monday 6 February 2012 with Tuks v UJ and following them we will have the defending Champions UCT take on Shimlas (both televised). The other games on the day will be against Maties and TUT and NMMU against the Pukke.

I would like to say before I get hammered by the 3 UCT supporters on this site: “Congrats on the 2011 win!!!”

Enjoy it while it last…….