SA Rugby
and SuperSport announced on Friday that they will be broadcasting all 16
preparation fixtures live when the local rugby season kicks off next weekend.
As a
result, the fixtures have been amended. Eight local unions will each play four
matches – two at home and two away – from Friday, 26 February until Sunday, 28
March.
The series
of warm-up encounters has been specifically designed by the Rugby Department of
SA Rugby and the competing unions to meet teams’ high-performance needs against
the landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to prepare the players for the
season ahead.
Instead of
weekly encounters, matches will be played on a ten-day cycle to manage COVID
testing protocols. The eight teams have been split into two groups and will
play cross-pool matches.
Pool A
consists of the Vodacom Bulls, Lions, Tafel Lager Griquas and Toyota Cheetahs,
and they will play the four sides in Pool B, namely the Cell C Sharks, DHL
Stormers, NNC Pumas and Eastern Province.
Updated
preparation series fixtures (home teams named first, all matches live on
SuperSport)
Friday,
26 February
19h00:
Lions v NNC Pumas
Saturday 27 February
17h15: DHL Stormers v Toyota Cheetahs
Sunday 28 February
15h00: Vodacom Bulls v Eastern Province
17h15: Cell C Sharks v Tafel Lager Griquas
Tuesday 9 March
16h45: Toyota Cheetahs v Cell C Sharks
19h00: NNC Pumas v Vodacom Bulls
Wednesday 10 March
16h45: Eastern Province v Lions
19h00: Tafel Lager Griquas v DHL Stormers
Friday 19 March
16h45: NNC Pumas v Toyota Cheetahs
19h00: Vodacom Bulls v DHL Stormers
Saturday 20 March
14h00: Eastern Province v Tafel Lager Griquas
16h15: Lions v Cell C Sharks
Friday 26 March
19h00: Cell C Sharks v Vodacom Bulls
Saturday 27 March
15h00: Tafel Lager Griquas v NNC Pumas
17h15: DHL Stormers v Lions
Sunday
28 March
15h00: Toyota Cheetahs v Eastern Province
