Mayor's Bok claims just a pipe dream?
Her impulsive appetency for a Test match to be played at the Greenpoint-based stadium may be nothing more than a pipe dream.
De Lille, in the build-up to the Cape Town leg of the Sevens World series last week, told a media briefing that the city council is locked in negotiations with the South African Rugby Union to host a Springbok Test at the Cape Town Stadium.
However, rugby365 has it on good authority that the mayor's claims of 'negotiations' are more fantasy than fact.
It is understood that no such talks have taken place
And SARU, without criticising De Lille, pointed out that the decision of which stadium will be used rests with the host union.
"The right to determine at which venue a Test match will be staged lies with the hosting rugby union," a spokesman told rugby365.
"They are the only organisation that could negotiate with third parties over the choice of venues and the selection of Cape Town stadium – as any other venue in the Western Province – would be at the discretion of that union."
That means the Western Province Rugby Football Union, despite their financial woes, will be the go-to people if De Lille wants Greenpoint to host a Test.
The WPRFU and De Lille's city council don't exactly see eye-to-eye and – despite publicly putting up cordial fronts – are certainly at loggerheads over the issue of moving rugby from Newlands to Greenpoint, a stadium that was custom built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
In fact the WPRFU even blocked attempts by the City of Cape Town to host a European Cup match between current champions Saracens and French giants Biarritz.
De Lille hinted that the WPRFU could become an "anchor tenant" at the Cape Town stadium.
It is not certain what Test Cape Town will get next year.
The only confirmed venues are for the three-Test series against France in June – which will be hosted in Pretoria, Durban and Johannesburg.
Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit will compete for the three Rugby Championship Tests on South African soil.
Cape Town has not hosted an All Black Test since 2008, because of the vile behaviour by supporters of the New Zealand team – when they spat on players.
The Kiwis also have a superior win-loss ratio at Newlands.
Johannesburg and Durban have hosted most of the All Black matches, while the Boks have not lost to the Wallabies at Newlands since 1992.
By Jan de Koning
@king365ed
@rugby365com
