{"id":151846,"date":"2025-09-18T10:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/151846\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:22:09","slug":"womens-rugby-goes-bigger-and-better-than-ever-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/151846\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s rugby goes bigger and better than ever before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Both tournaments will take place in the week of 5-10 October in Gauteng \u2013 the Betway Women\u2019s Club Championship at Alberton Rugby Club and the U20 Women\u2019s Tournament at Queens High School.<\/p>\n

The inaugural Betway Women\u2019s Club Championship \u2013 the first of its kind in South Africa \u2013 will see 16 club teams (drawn from all 15 provincial unions plus one wild card) play each other over three match days, with the event aimed at elevating the domestic women\u2019s rugby further and developing the game nationally at grassroots level.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Betway Women\u2019s Club Championship marks an important milestone in the development of women’s rugby, providing a vital platform for players to showcase their talent in the level below provincial rugby,\u201d said Rian Oberholzer, CEO of SA Rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just building competitions \u2013 we\u2019re creating pathways for women to play, dream, and rise, and we are very grateful to Betway for coming on board as title sponsor and showing strong support for the women\u2019s game in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betway\u2019s Head of Marketing, Mark Rowles believes this is an important opportunity for the future of women\u2019s rugby in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a principal partner of the Springboks, Springbok Women\u2019s team and the Blitzboks, we are delighted to extend our commitment to rugby in South Africa by supporting the Betway Women\u2019s Club Championship,\u201d said Rowles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe at Betway believe that this tournament provides a vital platform for the next generation of women to showcase their unbelievable talent and hopefully one day represent the senior national team on a global stage like the Rugby World Cup. I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the Springbok Women\u2019s team on their performance at the 2025 World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competition will feature 16 teams from across South Africa. Similarly to the Pick n Pay Gold Cup, teams from the FNB Varsity Cup are not eligible although women\u2019s teams from three other tertiary institutions that did not participate in the Varsity Cup have been included amongst the 16 competitors.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The U20 Women’s Week will take place in Alberton next month.<\/p>\n

They are Durban University of Technology (Sharks), Sol Plaatje University Rugby Club (Griquas) and University of Limpopo (Limpopo Blue Bulls).<\/p>\n

They will be joined by Walker Bay (Boland), Mqanduli Sharks (Border), Harlequins (Bulls), Kwaru RFC (EP), Collegians Valkyries (Free State), Pirates (Lions), Van der Stel Evergreens (WP), Welkom Rugby Club (Griffons), Potchefstroom Dorp (Leopards), Embalenhle RC (Pumas), Titans (SWD), Kempton Park (Valke), and the wild card team, Raiders (Lions).<\/p>\n

The teams will be split into two divisions of eight, based on their provincial participation in the Women\u2019s Premier and First Divisions. Teams will play three matches each during the week in Alberton.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, this year’s U20 tournament marks a new milestone, with a record 14 teams confirmed to participate, up from 12 that played last year, with the Pumas and a Northern Invitational XV joining the action next month.<\/p>\n

Oberholzer said: \u201cThis tournament is of strategic importance as it serves as a critical platform for the development of women\u2019s rugby and a vital step in the pathway to the Springbok Women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also serves as a vital recruitment platform, enabling unions to scout and strengthen their First and Premier Division squads with emerging talent from across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two tournaments really underline our Participation & Development Department\u2019s mantra of #GrowTogetherPlayTogether.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 14 participating sides will also be split into two groups, according to the Women\u2019s Premier and First Divisions. Tier 1 at the 2025 U20 Women\u2019s Tournament in Johannesburg will consist of the Bulls, Boland, Border, Eastern Province, Cheetahs, Lions, Sharks and Western Province. Tier 2 will feature Griquas, Limpopo Blue Bulls, Pumas, SWD, Valke and the Northern Invitational XV.<\/p>\n

Matches in both tournaments will take place on 6, 8 and 10 October.<\/p>\n

Betway Women\u2019s Club Championship fixtures (day one \u2013 Monday 6 October at Alberton Rugby Club): <\/p>\n

First Division:
08h30: Sol Plaatje (Griquas) vs Raiders (wild card, Lions)
09h40: Titans (SWD) vs Welkom (Griffons)
10h50: Embalenhle (Pumas) vs University of Limpopo (Limpopo)
12h00: Potch Dorp (Leopards) vs Kempton Park (Valke)<\/p>\n

Premier Division:
13h10: Mqanduli Sharks (Border) vs Kwaru (EP)
14h20: Harlequins (Bulls) vs DUT (Sharks)
15h30: Walker Bay (Boland) vs Collegians Valkyries (Cheetahs)
16h40: Van der Stel Evergreens (WP) vs Pirates (Lions)<\/p>\n

U20 Women\u2019s Tournament fixtures (day one \u2013 Monday 6 October at Queens High School):
08h30: Valke vs Northern Invitational XV
09h40: Pumas vs Limpopo
10h50: SWD vs Griquas
12h00: WP vs Sharks
13h10: Lions vs Cheetahs
14h20: Border vs Boland
15h30: Bulls vs EP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Both tournaments will take place in the week of 5-10 October in Gauteng \u2013 the Betway Women\u2019s Club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-151846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}