Baby Boks decider in CT Stadium
The Cape Town Stadium will host its first ever 'international' rugby match when the Under-20 teams of South Africa and England meet there on Tuesday.
Owing to adverse pitch conditions, the South African Rugby Union and the IRB have made the decision to move the remainder of the IRB Junior World Championship matches scheduled for the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.
The upshot of this is that the Baby Boks and England will go head-to-head in a Pool B decider at the Cape Town stadium – a venue that was at the centre of a stand-off between the Western Province Rugby Union and the City of Cape Town, before an amicable settlement was reached.
The match between the Under-20 teams of SA and England will be the first international match at the venue – with previous rugby matches having been pre-season affairs that involved Super Rugby teams like the Stormers, Western Force, Sharks and Lions.
The decision to move matches to Cape Town came after the surface at the Danie Craven Stadium was cut up significantly after two rounds of three matches in the flagship age grade competition and bad weather hitting the Western Cape area.
It was agreed between the organisers, SARU, and the IRB – following an inspection of the surface – that it is now unplayable.
The iconic Newlands Stadium will now host both semifinals and the fifth place semifinal on June 17, and the third place play-off and IRB Junior World Championship Final on June 22.
Cape Town Stadium will host the June 12 final round of pool matches – featuring Ireland v Italy, South Africa v England and France v Australia. Those were all previously scheduled for the Danie Craven Stadium.
Matches at the University of Western Cape Stadium in Cape Town remain as scheduled.
IRB Junior World Championship Tournament Director Philippe Bourdarias said: "With pitch conditions having deteriorated and little time for it to recover sufficiently between rounds and three match days left to play at the Danie Craven Stadium, including the semi-finals and IRB Junior World Championship final, all stakeholders, including the venue, agreed that it is in the best interests of the teams and the Championship to switch venues.
“The Danie Craven Stadium has been an outstanding and welcoming host and I would like to thank all of their staff for their hospitality and dedication to staging fantastic match days. It is a shame to move, but unfortunately the pitch could not withstand the demand placed upon it given the poor weather conditions.
“Newlands and Cape Town Stadium are world-class venues and I would like to thank SARU and Western Province for making them available. I am sure that it will be a fantastic host enjoyed by teams and fans. This tournament has been wonderful so far and I have no doubt that it will progress to be remembered as a resounding success and an exceptional event.”
SARU has confirmed that fans who bought tickets for the remaining matches at the Danie Craven Stadium will be able to swap them for tickets at other venues.
Andy Marinos, the SARU General Manager for Commercial and Marketing, said they are "obviously disappointed" that they had to move matches from the Danie Craven Stadium because of the deteriorating pitch conditions.
"SARU wants to thank the Maties Rugby Club and the University of Stellenbosch for their hard work during the past few months.
“Western Province and the City of Cape Town were also fantastic in their support and efforts to find a solution and SARU wants to thank them for making their venues available at such short notice. We are approaching the business end of the competition and there is still a lot of great Rugby action to see, so I would like to urge fans to buy their tickets as admission for the semi-final and finals will be snapped up quickly,” said Marinos.
