A South African champion will be crowned in what will be a thrilling – and sold-out – inaugural Vodacom United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town on Saturday, June 18 when the DHL Stormers take on the Vodacom Bulls after booking the first all-South African final in the north-south showpiece last week.
The Capetonians will host the Grand Final at the DHL Stadium – where kick-off is scheduled for 19:30 on Saturday – in front of a capacity crowd of 31 000 who will brave the expected cold and wet winter weather, while the action will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
The DHL Stormers were granted this prestigious opportunity after finishing as the top-ranked team on the table following their Final Four victory against Ulster at home last week, while the Vodacom Bulls shocked log-leaders and tournament favourites, Leinster, in Dublin in the other semi-final.
Neither team is expected to give an inch in what will be an epic showdown as both teams try to use their tough forward packs and classy backlines to outclass one another.
The DHL Stormers won one more game than their Tshwane counterparts this season, but the Vodacom Bulls will draw confidence from the fact that they scored 54 points more than the opposition in the league stages of the competition, although the Cape side’s defense has been more effective conceding 77 fewer points.
This, however, will have little significance on Saturday, as finals rugby is about inches and the smallest margins will count.
Both sides will enter the match high on confidence as the home side have registered victories in their last 10 matches, while the Vodacom Bulls have lost only one of their last 11 fixtures, which interestingly was against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town in April.
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain). Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Sacha Mngomezulu.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Cornal Hendricks, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Mantanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Morné Steyn, 23 David Kriel.
Match information:
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
SA time: 19:30
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland, 80th league game)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (SA), AJ Jacobs (SA)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (SA)
TV: SuperSport, Premier Sports, RTÉ & URC TV
