Gold Cup's North-South derby at Loftus
The weekend’s televised match sees Pretoria Police take on False Bay in a mouth-watering Blue Bulls versus Western Province club clash. Fittingly, the match takes place at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, as a curtain-raiser to the Currie Cup semifinal between the same two unions.
"Last week we had a Gold Cup pool match in Rustenburg that was a broadcast curtain-raiser to a Springbok-All Black Test and this week things have gone up another notch," said SA Rugby CEO, Jurie Roux.
"A north-south Gold Cup quarterfinal is big enough, but playing it as a curtain-raiser to a Currie Cup semifinal presents us with a unique double-header and provides yet more fantastic exposure for the clubs, their sponsors, and the Gold Cup brand itself.
"Once again I call on all rugby fans who want to watch some feel-good rugby to tune in and be part of the amazing revival currently happening in club rugby," he added.
The winner of the Police-False Bay quarterfinal will play a semifinal against the winner of the match in Cape Town between defending champions Durbanville-Bellville and SWD champions Evergreens, who pulled off three dramatic come-from-behind victories in a row, including a famous win against Wanderers in Windhoek last weekend, to reach the last eight for the second time in four years.
On the other side of the draw, Valke champions Siyaya Brakpan host PE Police, who this year have surprised friend and foe alike after finishing 16th in 2015. The winner of the battle of Bosman Stadium will then have to negotiate a semifinal against either 2014 champions and last year’s runners-up, Rustenburg Impala, or KZN champions Your Communications College Rovers, who clash in Rustenburg in the final quarterfinal.
The semifinal line-up will be confirmed on Saturday evening following the completion of the quarterfinals. The venue of both semifinals, as well as the final, shall be determined by which of the two teams ended the pool stages with the most log points. Should both teams have ended on the same amount of log points, then points difference in the pool stages will break the tie.
Should any of the quarterfinals end in a draw, two 10-minute halves of extra time will be played. If thereafter the scores are still level, the team that scored the most tries in the match will be the winner. Should there still be a deadlock, the teams will play sudden-death extra time until one team scores points of any description.
Knockout fixtures
Saturday, October 15
Siyaya Brakpan v PE Police
(Bosman Stadium, Brakpan – Kick-off: 15.30)
Rustenburg Impala v Your Communications College Rovers
(Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg – Kick-off: 15.30)
Pretoria Police v False Bay
(Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria – Kick-off: 15.15)
Durbanville-Bellville v RSK Evergreens
(Durbell RFC, Cape Town – Kick-off: 15.30)
