There have been two significant developments on the South African rugby scene over the past couple of days.
On Friday, SA Rugby announced a series of preparation games to get the country’s top teams in shape for the Rainbow Cup, while Siya Kolisi yesterday officially confirmed weeks of speculation that he is leaving Western Province to join the Sharks.
The preparation games for the Rainbow Cup are a welcome addition to the rugby calendar for 2021. Although some details for the Rainbow Cup are still sketchy, the competition is meant to start on April 17 and will include South Africa’s four former Super Rugby teams, plus Europe’s current PRO 14 teams.
South Africa’s team need the challenge of physical games to stay in shape for the Rainbow Cup, which is where the preparation matches will come in very handy. Another welcome change is that teams will play every 10 days rather than every week to manage Covid-19 testing protocols. This will hopefully eliminate the issue of games being cancelled at short notice, as happened during the Currie Cup.
As for Kolisi’s departure to the Sharks, WP fans will obviously be deeply disappointed to see the World Cup-winning Springbok captain leave Cape Town, even though they have had a few weeks to get used to the idea.
Kolisi was part of an exciting new crop of youngsters (including Scarra Ntubeni, Eben Etzebeth, Steven Kitshoff and Damian de Allende) who helped the Stormers top the Super Rugby log in 2012, and he has been a much-loved figure in the Cape.
But moving between teams is a reality of the professional era – in any sport, not just rugby. Speculation that Kolisi would be joining the Sharks came to the forefront when American consortium MVM Holdings bought a controlling share in the Sharks. Kolisi is on the books of powerful worldwide marketing group Roc Nation, who have partnered with the Sharks as part of the MVM deal.
Kolisi’s move, the new competitions and hopefully the British and Irish Lions tour all add up to an interesting year ahead for South African rugby. But of course that all depends on whether the Covid-19 situation is under control or not.
The Star