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Cape Town - The Cape Town Stadium is unlikely to host its first Test before the 2020 season.
Recent reports indicated that last Saturday’s Test between South Africa and England was the last one to be staged at Newlands.
The Western Province Rugby Union (WPRU) is believed to be on the verge of moving its headquarters to the Cape Town Stadium, but there won't be a Test staged there in 2019.
Due to next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan, there will be no incoming series against a team from the Northern Hemisphere, with the Springboks’ only two home Tests scheduled for the Rugby Championship.
And according to Netwerk24, none of those games are scheduled for Cape Town.
The Afrikaans website had reported earlier this month that WP Rugby would officially announce the move to Cape Town Stadium before the Newlands Test.
That did not happen, but Netwerk24 insists that an agreement has already been reached by the WPRU and the City of Cape Town.
After the news broke of WP’s intended move, the union’s president Thelo Wakefield said that they first “have to talk to the clubs before anything can be stated as a matter of fact”.
It is however believed that WPRU CEO Paul Zacks will meet with the union’s clubs this week to discuss the stadium move.
This comes after Remgro recently announced plans to seize property belonging to the WPRU if the union does not pay back a loan in access of R44 million by July 6.
WP's business arm was placed in final liquidation by the Western Cape High court in 2016 after the union was slapped with an R276 million lawsuit by Aerios for reneging on an advertising rights contract with the company.
Aerios recently confirmed it would challenge the WP’s liquidation in court while it planned to proceed with suing the union for breach of contract.
This past weekend’s Test was the 55th one contested at Newlands since 1891 when South Africa hosted the British Lions.
