Boksburg to play in Cell C Community Cup

Boksburg chairman Sean Scheepers expressed his excitement about the clubs inclusion, and called it the biggest thing to happen to them.

“We are looking forward to making the community proud,” said Scheepers.

Scheepers then proceeded to laying down the team’s ambitions for the tournament.

“The players are really excited and our main objective is to finish in the top two of our pool.”

Boksburg was recently named the club that achieved the best results at the Valke Union Awards.

The tournament, which will once again feature 40 pool matches to be played around the country, will kick off on March 8, 2014.

The two highest-placed clubs in each of the four pools will qualify for the Easter Championship play-offs, to be played once again at Outeniqua Park, in George, from April 17 to 21.

Defending champions GAP Despatch will face Eastern Province arch-rivals Spring Rose in the televised opening match of the cup, after the South African Rugby Union (Saru), on Monday, confirmed the New Brighton club as one of five wild cards, along with Boksburg, to be invited to participate in the country’s flagship tournament for non-university clubs.

Spring Rose, the only team in 2013 to beat Eastern Province Grand Challenge champions Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) en route to a third-placed finish behind the Madibaz and Despatch, will be joined in the 20-team field by Boland Premier League runners-up Wesbank, Griffons First League finalists Welkom, South Western District (SWD) Premier League finalists Mossel Bay Barbarians, and Valke premier league finalists Boksburg.

Boksburg are one of the remaining four wild cards that are yet to be allocated to a pool.

“The 2013 Cell C Community Cup was a great success and with 125 days to go until kick-off in Despatch we are hard at work to ensure that the 2014 edition will build on what we’ve achieved already,” said Saru CEO Jurie Roux.

“You just have to look at the increased interest and competition in the provincial premier leagues this year to know that the Community Cup has already established itself as a tournament in which the best clubs want to play.

“It is providing our club players with an aspirational platform and excellent exposure.

“This year we had to make some very tight calls on the wild cards and there are a number of very unlucky clubs, but we will be watching their performances closely next year,” added Roux.

“With this in mind, we have already begun to review the wild card system and are looking at options to expand the tournament beyond 2014, to give as many clubs as possible a chance to be a part of it.”

The wild card selections were made from nominated non-varsity clubs who finished as the second placed open club in their respective provincial championships.

The 2014 tournament fixtures will be released once the wild cards have each been allocated to a pool.

At the moment the pools are as follows:

Pool A:

Eastern Province (GAP Despatch)

SWD (Bridgton)

Border (Broubart Old Selbornian)

EP (Spring Rose, wild card one)

Wild card two (to be announced)

Pool B:

KwaZulu-Natal (Jonsson College Rovers)

Golden Lions (Roodepoort)

Griffons (Welkom Rovers)

Frree State (Bfn Crusaders)

Wild card three (TBC)

Pool C:

Valke (Brakpan)

Blue Bulls (Centurion)

Boland (Roses United)

Limpopo (BB Truck Noordelikes)

Wild card four (TBC)

Pool D:

Leopards (Rustenburg Impala)

Western Province (Hamiltons)

Griqualand West (Sishen)

Mpumalanga (Shumba Ferros)

Wild card five (TBC)

For more information on the Cell C Community Cup visit www.sarugby.co.za, mobile users visit www.communitycup.co.za or follow Saru’s official club rugby and Community Cup Twitter account @saclubrugby.

Boksburg holds two training sessions every Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7pm.

Players interested in joining the club can contact Scheepers on 083 785 3982.