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Varsity Rugby set for big 2013

Cape Town - Eighty-two matches are set to take place across four different competitions in the 2013 Varsity Rugby season - as the Cup, Shield, Young Guns and Koshuis tournaments get set to combine to form the biggest student-based rugby competition in the world.

Back in 2008, the inaugural Varsity Cup began midway through February and ended in the first week of April, but these days the Varsity Rugby action will get underway at the end of January with the Varsity Shield tournament kicking-off on January 28.

In a slight change to the schedule, meanwhile, there will be two finals weeks in the 2013 Varsity Rugby competition. April 1 will see the Varsity Shield and Young Guns finals take place, followed by two more finals the next week; the Koshuisrugby Championships final and the Varsity Cup final - both of which will take place on Monday, April 8.

Duitser Bosman, the Varsity Cup Managing Director, explained: "We have a unique fixtures tool, developed by top mathematicians, which allows us, fairly, to draw up the new fixtures taking all permutations and the Varsity Cup constitution into account."

Twenty-three matches will be televised on SuperSport in the 2013 season and Bosman revealed: "It's written into our constitution that the top two teams from the previous seasons would have five matches televised, teams three and four would have four televised games, teams five and six would get three opportunities on television and the seventh- and eighth-placed sides would get two games on TV.

"Thus, Tuks and the Maties will head up the list of televised matches... but it's also pretty exciting to have a new team, in the shape of Wits, the Varsity Shield winners, in the Cup competition."

This is the sixth season of Varsity Cup and Koshuisrugby action, with eight universities taking part in both competitions. The Varsity Shield first began in 2011, with five teams competing, and the Varsity Young Guns tournament - a students-only, Under-20 competition - joined the fray last year for the first time.

Wits will, for the first time, feature in the Varsity Cup in 2013, having won promotion as Varsity Shield winners last year. The TUT Vikings, the wooden spoonists in the 2012 Varsity Cup, will play in the Varsity Shield, whilst 2011 Varsity Cup winners, UCT, staved off relegation in 2013 by beating Varsity Shield runners-up, CUT, in their promotion/relegation clash on the 2012 finals day.

The addition of Wits also adds another mouth-watering local derby to the Varsity Rugby calendar, with the all-Johannesburg battle between Wits and UJ taking place at the Wits Rugby Stadium in Round Four (Monday, February 25 – 16:45).

The match will be televised and will rival the all-Cape derby between the Maties and UCT (which takes place in Round Five - March 4) in terms of popularity and fervour.

2013 Varsity Rugby fixtures:

Varsity Cup - February 4 to April 8, 2013:

Monday, February 4:
FNB Maties v FNB UJ, Danie Craven Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)
NWU-Pukke v FNB UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 7pm (TV)
FNB UCT v FNB NMMU, UCT Rugby Fields - 7pm
FNB Wits v FNB Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium - 7pm

Monday, February 11:
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB UCT, Tuks Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB NMMU v FNB Wits, NMMU Stadium - 7pm (TV)
FNB UJ v FNB NWU-Pukke, UJ Stadium - 7pm
FNB Shimlas v FNB Maties, Xerox Shimla Park - 7pm

Monday, February 18:
FNB Shimlas v FNB UP-Tuks, Xerox Shimla Park - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB Maties v FNB NMMU, Danie Craven Stadium - 7pm (TV)
FNB Wits v FNB NWU-Pukke, Wits Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB UCT v FNB UJ, UCT Rugby Fields - 7pm

Monday, February 25:
FNB Wits v FNB UJ, Wits Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Maties, Tuks Rugby Stadium - 7pm (TV)
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB UCT, Fanie du Toit Sports Ground - 7pm
FNB NMMU v FNB Shimlas, NMMU Stadium - 7pm

Monday, March 4:
FNB UCT v FNB Maties, UCT Rugby Fields - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB Shimlas v FNB NWU-Pukke, Xerox Shimla Park - 7pm (TV)
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Wits, Tuks Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB NMMU v FNB UJ, NMMU Stadium - 7pm

Monday, March 11:

FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB NMMU, Fanie du Toit Sports Ground - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB UJ v FNB UP-Tuks, UJ Stadium - 7pm (TV)
FNB Shimlas v FNB UCT, Xerox Shimla Park - 7pm
FNB Wits v FNB Maties, Wits Rugby Stadium - 7pm

Monday, March 18:
FNB UJ v FNB Shimlas, UJ Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB Maties v FNB NWU-Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium - 7pm (TV)
FNB NMMU v FNB UP-Tuks, NMMU Stadium - 7pm
FNB UCT v FNB Wits, UCT Rugby Fields - 7pm

Monday, March 25:
Semifinal One: Log position 1 v Log position 4 - 4.30pm (TV)
Semifinal Two: Log position 2 v Log position 3 - 7pm (TV)

Monday, April 8:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two - 7pm (TV)

Varsity Shield - January 28 to April 1, 2013:

Monday, January 28:
FNB UKZN v FNB UFH, Peter Booysen Sports Park - 4.45pm (TV)
FNB UWC v FNB TUT, UWC Sport Stadium - 7pm (TV)
Bye: FNB CUT

Thursday, January 31:
FNB CUT v FNB UWC, CUT Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB TUT v FNB UKZN, TUT Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB UFH

Monday, February 4:
FNB UFH v FNB TUT, Davidson Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB CUT, Peter Booysen Sports Park - 7pm
Bye: FNB UWC

Monday, February 11:

FNB CUT v FNB UFH, CUT Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB UWC v FNB UKZN, UWC Sport Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB TUT

Monday, February 18:

FNB TUT v FNB CUT, TUT Stadium - 7pm
FNB UFH v FNB UWC, Davidson Rugby Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB UKZN

Monday, February 25:
FNB UFH v FNB UKZN, Davidson Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB TUT v FNB UWC, TUT Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB CUT

Monday, March 4:
FNB UWC v FNB CUT, UWC Sport Stadium - 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB TUT, Peter Booysen Sports Park - 7pm
Bye: FNB UFH

Monday, March 11:
FNB TUT v FNB UFH, TUT Stadium - 7pm
FNB CUT v FNB UKZN, CUT Rugby Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB UWC

Monday, March 18:
FNB UFH v FNB CUT, Davidson Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB UKZN v FNB UWC, Peter Booysen Sports Park - 7pm
Bye: FNB TUT

Monday, March 25:
FNB CUT v FNB TUT, CUT Rugby Stadium - 7pm
FNB UWC v UFH, UWC Sport Stadium - 7pm
Bye: FNB UKZN

Monday, April 1:
Final: Log position 1 v Log position 2 - 4.45pm (TV)

Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships - February 18 to April 8, 2013:


Monday, February 18:

Steinhoff Maties v Steinhoff NMMU, Danie Craven Stadium - 4.45pm
Steinhoff Wits v Steinhoff Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm

Monday, February 25:
Steinhoff Wits v Steinhoff UJ, Wits Rugby Stadium - 3pm
Steinhoff UP-Tuks v Steinhoff Maties, Tuks Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm
Steinhoff NWU-Pukke v Steinhoff NMMU, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 4.45pm

Monday, March 4:
Steinhoff UCT v Steinhoff UJ, UCT Rugby Fields - 3pm

Monday, March 11:
Steinhoff NWU-Pukke v Steinhoff UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 3pm
Steinhoff Shimlas v Steinhoff UCT, Xerox Shimla Park - 4.45pm

Monday, March 18:
Steinhoff UJ v Steinhoff Shimlas, UJ Stadium - 3pm
Steinhoff Maties v Steinhoff NWU-Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium - 4.45pm
Steinhoff NMMU v Steinhoff UP-Tuks, NMMU Stadium - 4.45pm
Steinhoff UCT v Steinhoff Wits, UCT Rugby Fields - 4.45pm

Monday, March 25:
Hertz Pool 1 v Pennypinchers Pool 2 - TBA
Pennypinchers Pool 1 v Hertz Pool 2 - TBA

Monday, April 8:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two - 4.45pm (TV)

Varsity Young Guns - February 18 to April 1, 2013:

Monday, February 18:
FNB Shimlas v FNB UP-Tuks, Xerox Shimla Park - 3pm
FNB UCT v FNB NMMU, UCT Rugby Fields - 4.45pm

Monday, February 25:
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB Wits, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 4.45pm
FNB NMMU v Steinhoff Maties Jrs, NMMU Stadium - 4.45pm

Monday, March 4:

FNB Shimlas v FNB NWU-Pukke, Xerox Shimla Park - 4.45pm
FNB UP-Tuks v FNB Wits, Tuks Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm
FNB NMMU v FNB UJ, NMMU Stadium - 4.45pm
FNB UCT v Steinhoff Maties Jrs, UCT Rugby Fields - 7pm

Monday, March 11:
FNB NWU-Pukke v FNB UP-Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 3pm
FNB UJ v FNB UCT, UJ Stadium - 4.45pm
FNB Wits v FNB Shimlas, Wits Rugby Stadium - 4.45pm

Monday, March 18:
Steinhoff Maties Jrs v FNB UJ, Danie Craven Stadium - 3pm

Monday, March 25:
Semifinal One: Log position 1 v Log position 4 - TBA
Semifinal Two: Log position 2 v Log position 3 - TBA

Monday, April 1:
Final: Semifinal winner One v Semifinal winner Two - 7pm (TV)

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